International Football
ITALIAN MINISTER KICKS AGAINST ITALIAN SUPER CUP IN SAUDI ARABIA
BY NANCY GILLEN.
Italy’s Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has branded the decision to hold the Italian Super Cup match in Saudi Arabia as “disgusting” due to the country’s ban on women attending football games unaccompanied.
The tie between Serie A winners Juventus and Coppa Italia winners AC Milan will be held at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on January 16.
Due to Saudi Arabian restrictions placed on female football fans, women will not be able to attend the game unaccompanied.
Women can only buy tickets if they are situated in mixed gender family sections, with all other sections reserved for men only.
Salvini, the leader of Italy’s right-wing Lega party, has branded the decision to host the Super Cup match in Saudi Arabia as “disgusting” in a Facebook Live post.
“That the Super Cup is to be played in an Islamic country where women can’t go to the stadium unless they are accompanied by men is sad, it’s disgusting,” he said.
Despite being an AC Milan fan, Salvini announced that he would not watch the game.
“Where are the Italian feminists and Boldrini?” he added, referring to Laura Boldrini, the former President of Italy’s lower chamber and a women’s rights activist.
“I don’t want a similar future for our daughters in Italy.”
Boldrini had in fact commented on the decision on Twitter.
“Women at Super Coppa Italiana go to the stadium only if accompanied by men,” she tweeted.
“Are we joking?
“The lords of the football even sell the rights of the
matches but they shouldn’t be allowed to trade women’s rights.”
Serie A defended the decision, however, claiming the situation in Saudi Arabia is progress compared to a year ago when women could not attend football games at all.
“Until last year, women in Saudi Arabia could not attend any sporting event,” head of Serie A, Gaetano Micciché, said.
“We are working to ensure that in the next games that we play in the country, women can access all the stadium seats.”
The backlash comes at the same time as the news that Iranian women will be allowed to watch a friendly between the Iranian and Russian women’s teams at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran.
Last October, 100 Iranian women were allowed to watch the men’s national team friendly against Bolivia following pressure from FIFA, marking the first time women in Iran were allowed to watch a live football game since 1981.
Five hundred women were then permitted to join a 80,000 strong crowd to watch the second leg of the Asia Champions League final between Persepolis and Japan’s Kashima Antlers in Tehran the following month.
Despite the recent relaxation on the ban on female football fans, attitudes in Iran still remain hard-line with the country’s chief prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri describing the attendance of women at the friendly against Bolivia as “sinful.”
Iranian women have also struggled to attend volleyball games,
with a law in 2012 banning female spectators from the sport.
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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