The world of women’s football in Italy is experiencing a phase of great effervescence and development, at a technical, tactical and managerial level. The World Championships in France, where Italy has established itself as a positive surprise by reaching the quarter-finals, have helped to increase interest in this sport even more. Also thanks to this push, a Cesano Boscone, a new reality in women’s football in the southwest of Milan with girls determined to achieve their dreams.
The path towards professionalism is still long, because it is not only a purely sporting theme, but which involves the sphere of diversity & inclusion. A further boost was given, thanks also to its historical sensitivity for these values, by Grenke Italia who for some years has already decided to support the Italian women’s football movement.
“The project that a sponsor like Grenke has married has the aim of creating a chain of women’s teams to address the territory. We started from scratch with the women’s team but the long-term project is to create a female youth supply chain and make the leap in two years in Serie C “, explained Luca Garaffoni, coach of Cesano Boscone Idrostar, a reality of female excellence at the Adnkronos.
“Coaching a women’s team is very different from coaching a men’s team, from managing the locker room, to managing personal relationships with the players. There is a different way to approach, in management, in daily life and in the pre and post game. ”, Added the technician explaining that in Cesano Boscone out of a squad of 24 players only one is resident in the municipality while the others live almost all in the hinterland, two in Piedmont and many in Milan ”, but the requests continue to increase.
“There are a lot of girls who want to start. After the women’s world championship, where Italy did very well, the trend is on the rise and consequently the numbers have increased, both in Promotion and in Excellence there have been important numbers with 4-5 new teams, everyone is riding the possibility to have a women’s team in their category or club “.
And the girls aim for professionalism. “In recent years, especially after the World Cup, women’s football has gained more visibility and is growing. This growth, however, mainly concerns the top categories such as Serie A, Serie B or the national team, since the lower categories such as ours and Serie C are not yet enjoying these privileges. However, we hope that things can change as soon as possible. I think professionalism is a great goal for our football and for the future “, is the comment of the defender Serena Labanca.
“I hope that people can fall in love with women’s football without comparing it with men’s football, because it’s something different and it’s beautiful that way. The players are the idols of my and previous generations, but I believe that the little players can also be reflected in women like Sara Gama, Valentina Giacinti and all the others, who are the image of this change, ”added Labanca.
The striker Gaia Mocci is also of the same opinion: “In Italy the category that has had the greatest development is Serie A and B, especially after our national team participated in the World Cup.. The rest of the categories, however, remain in the shadows, despite the growing number of people who are passionate about this world. Obviously football is made up of rules and these apply to everyone: if a player can define himself as a professional, it is right that a footballer can do it too, turning his greatest passion into a job. Obviously women’s football is made up of idols inspired by the male world, but it’s nice to hear that the new generations now aspire to become like Serie A footballers, ”added Mocci.
“As for women’s professionalism, ambition depends a lot on age, having players between 16 and 38 years old, the younger ones aspire to become professionals, and making the step towards Serie C is short, to then move up to Serie B and Serie A. Clearly, with a team with ambitions you can aim for a Serie C championship, then for the bigger series must also be noticed, while in promotion the girls have less ambitions. After all, in Italy we started with a bit of delay, the USA and Sweden are a bit far away, as well as in England where there is a Premier-style championship ”, concluded Garaffoni.