2024-07-22 07:28:36
MERANO. Black smoke. The FIGC has declared the appeal of the Merano Women company inadmissible, ordering the non-admission of the company to the women’s Serie B championship for the 2024-25 season. Document signed by Gabriele Gravina, federal president, and Marco Brunelli, general president. The provision calls into question, in the premises that support the decision, the contrary opinion of Covisof, the Supervisory Commission on women’s football clubs, the body that controls the accounts of the clubs.
The developments.
From euphoria to disillusionment, the step can be short. When football is involved, history is overflowing with examples. Just think of the last European Championships: England hoping for an incredible comeback in the final, suffocated by Spain’s deserved 2-1 goal.
It also happens at a corporate level, when the rush to meet the requirements for registrations has condemned prestigious clubs to start from the bottom, it also happened in Naples and Fiorentina, for example.
With due proportions, the same is now happening to Merano Women. The team earned its historic promotion to the second division of national football on the pitch, with full merit, after a triumphal ride that has involved more and more Merano football fans. But some creaking, not on the grass but in the corporate bed, had begun to be felt until it exploded in the revolution of the management apparatus a few months ago.
The girls brought the result home, the new management withstood the shock. But once the wave of enthusiasm had passed, they had to face reality: on the horizon was the important stage of the national B series, which brings with it a considerable financial commitment. To face the tournament with ambitions calibrated to the possibilities, a budget of 250 thousand euros was estimated. Thirty thousand are needed only for the surety.
The appeal.
The registration deadline expired at the beginning of July. An extension had been requested from the federation. In the meantime, an appeal had been launched that could also shake up the institutions, given the opportunity to have the name of Merano appear at the second level of national women’s football, in a more general context in which South Tyrolean footballers have made their way – Katja Schrofenegger and Eva Schatzer are in the national team, many others are growing.
There was talk of the involvement of the Province, of the mediation of the Municipality to solicit the local economic fabric for support. Evidently the time was too short. “Yes, something had moved” explains Andrea Marcolini, general manager of the club. But there were not the necessary conditions for registration nor even to hope that the appeal would be accepted. The company leaders are meeting to understand which path to take. A last glimmer of hope would be provided by the repechages. There are two free places in B, one is the same as Merano Women, the other Pomigliano. But the road seems very uphill. And the future immersed in fog.
No benevolence.
“I am deeply sorry for the outcome,” commented Nerio Zaccaria, the city councilor for sport who had taken action to encourage the local community to support the club. “I was counting on the benevolence of the federation, the same one that for example it had offered to Sampdoria last year, giving the club time to put the pieces together. But unfortunately it went differently.”
2024-07-22 07:28:36