The president of the FIGC, in the storm following the global failure, took a step back. The successor within three months. What happens now and the scores to settle with politics.
Gabriele Gravina he resigned. He could not and did not resist two days of political, media and popular storm after the shock of the national team’s failurethe third consecutive in the history of Italian football and the second under his leadership. Gravina resigned without waiting for the formal passage of the convocation of a Federal Council, as announced on the dramatic night in Zenica. The venue chosen was the meeting with the presidents of the components, summoned to Rome to collect the reflections of the FIGC president in the storm.
Gravina resigned because he was aware that his presence risked stalling the entire activity of the Football Federation. The level of conflict linked to his person is too high, the clash with politics (which designated him as solely responsible for the collapse) is too harsh and the internal relationship with the opponents who began working to achieve his surrender from a minute after the end of the match against Bosnia is full of unknowns. In summary, a painful step back but explained as necessary to free the field from the main reason for the war that is open in Zenica.
Gravina resignation, what happens now
Gravina’s resignation has immediate consequences. Meanwhile, the process that will lead to the election of a new president begins. The date set is June 22nd and the next two months will be used to find the right name on which to channel the majority of consensus. The onslaught of politics has been rejected. The Minister of Sport, Andrea Abodi, did everything to ensure that the FIGC was placed under commissionership until the number one of the CONI, Luciano Buonfiglio, had to publicly explain that the conditions did not exist according to current rules and statutes. The political crisis of Italian football will be resolved within the system, unless it proves unable to find a successor.
Who for after Gravina? The starting point is that we will vote in July with the electoral weights resulting from the latest reform. The majority remains in the hands of the amateur football area and the Lega Pro, but Serie A strongly wants to count for more. The name of Giovanni Malagòfor example, was pronounced publicly by De Laurentiis and could be an important card. Be careful, however, of figures who are already present in the Federal Council such as Matteo Marani (Lega Pro) more than Giancarlo Abete which would represent a return to the past that is difficult for fans to digest.
Politics dreams of being able to involve some former champions of the past such as Paolo Maldini or Alex Del Piero even if we should then have the consistency not to dump them at the first crisis claiming that they had no CV and experience.
Gravina resigned: the press release
In the statement with which he announced his resignation, Gabriele Gravina also wanted to clarify some of the statements that had put him at the center of the controversy after the match in Serbia. He said he was “regretted by the interpretation of his words on the difference between amateur and professional sports, which were absolutely not intended to be offensive towards any sporting discipline, but rather were a reference to the different internal rules and regulations (for example, the presence in the governance of some League Federations with their related autonomies) and external ones (with express reference to the corporate nature of professional football clubs which must submit to national and international legislation different from amateur clubs)”.
Gravina leaves, the games that remain open
The agenda for the next few weeks is full of appointments. The one for the next few months, however, sees issues circled in red that should not be underestimated to prevent Italian football from getting hurt more than it has already done. In the immediate future it will be necessary to manage the ordinary technical administration, the transition between Gattuso (who is leaving) and the next coach: a couple of dates are scheduled for June and we need someone to go on the bench while waiting for the new president to appoint a coach for the future.
Then there is the very delicate dossier of the European Championship 2032. Italy is clearly behind schedule, not due to Gravina (on the contrary) but to the traditional difficulties in building new stadiums. The president of UEFA, Alexander Ceferinissued a warning that should greatly worry the politicians who today are busy, instead, suggesting the name of the coach or something else: “”Euro 2032 is scheduled and will certainly take place: I hope that the infrastructures will be ready. Otherwise, the tournament will not be played in Italy” he said, underlining how Italy has become the third football world due to its structural delay and nothing else. Gravina is a close collaborator of Ceferin and his role must be maintained to avoid a sensational own goal.
Gravina and the farewell to poison with respect to politics
It is a central issue and Gravina’s step back is accompanied by some reflections that resemble recriminations. “I have a clear conscience,” he told his aides, while he believes that many of his political enemies cannot claim as much of themselves. Any examples? The atavistic difficulty in renovating stadiums and structures has been said and it also applies to athletes of other sports, multi-medalists forced to train on athletics tracks full of holes or in swimming pools to be shared with public courses once the spotlight of selfies and palace parades has turned off.
Football, however, had recently requested, without obtaining a hearing, a series of measures to support investments in nurseries and the sustainability of clubs that many people are talking about today. Examples? A favorable taxation to make the contracts of under-achievers more attractive, the stop to the new law which abolished the restriction putting nurseries and football schools in crisis, the transfer of a part of the betting revenues that the State collects but which it does not recognize to those who generate the business and which would have been used, in Gravina’s plan, for infrastructures and youth sectors. Or, again, some investment with the Pnrr treasure for which sport has been practically ignored.
To translate it into numbers, respecting an industrial supply chain that generates over 12 billion euros a year, guarantees 1.5 in taxes and contributions to the Treasury, employs 141 thousand workers and produces cascading benefits for the entire supply chain by relying on the investments of a few (indebted) clubs. It didn’t happen and behind Zenica’s poisonous words that triggered Minister Abodi’s reaction there was all the frustration over what others could have done and wasn’t done.
