ROMA – It’s not enough to say that you don’t like each other. It is more correct to say that the government will not miss an opportunity to attack the Football Federation and its president, Gabriele Gravina. The League, above all, does it in an almost blatant way. Even at the cost of stumbling. Because the party of Matteo Salvini he circulates notes in which he attacks Gravina, accusing him of “thinking about giving tax discounts to foreign athletes who earn millions in a time of difficulty for many Italian families”. A reference to the growth decree which favors tax relief (also) for foreign footballers. The only position that clearly emerges from Gravina’s comment, however, is his “absolute opposition to the growth decree”. Even if, of course, he thinks about the system of which he is president, he dilutes his opposition and explains that “we are working on a gradual repeal”.
Salvini’s war against Gravina
But the attack from the sovereignist right is not accidental. Gravina’s mandate will expire in a year – like that of all other sporting positions – and he has not yet decided whether to run again. To date, the prospect of running for a third term is a possibility. And the feeling is that the right this time is ready to participate in the game. But not all in the same way. The war of the more Salvinian wing of the government began explicitly when the betting case and the investigations into the footballers Beans e Tonali it became the pretext for Minister Salvini to ask for his head: “Resign immediately”, the invitation obviously falling on deaf ears. However, the relationship with Fratelli d’Italia is different. Which, it is true, in the days of the football betting scandal, “marked” the Northern League position with a softer – so to speak – request for the FIGC to be placed under commissionership. From there, then, nothing more.
Gravina, the frost of Fratelli d’Italia
Certainly, relations between the government of Italian football and Italy’s leading party are frosty. Not with Giorgia Meloni, to whom the No. 1 in football has never missed an opportunity to show his personal respect. Gravina is not an “enemy”, in short. But in his party he is considered a man of the opposing camp: it is no mystery that, as always, the FIGC president’s network of contacts is more solid on the other side of parliament. This is demonstrated by the Democratic Party’s request to nominate him for the Abruzzo regional elections. And the “In politics neither now nor ever” opposed by Gravina is of little value. On the right no one forgets that in 2019 his wife Francisca Ibarra – the sister of Maxim Ibarraformer CEO of Sky, now at Engineering – ran in Abruzzo in support of Giovanni Legnini, undersecretary in the Letta and Renzi governments. In short, Fratelli d’Italia does not give in to indulgences towards Gravina. And the desire not to leave sport in the hands of enemies will inevitably lead, sooner or later, the prime minister to also address the Gravina topic.
Fears and the European dossier
Which, to be honest, is not at all frowned upon by the party base. Not managing to get to the head of the party, Gravina was able to move with the large group of Brothers of Italy which has among its upstarts enthusiasts, fans, simply curious people with whom it is very easy to build relationships of trust and sharing. It is more difficult to make inroads at the head of the party. Who – someone whispers – also fears that old events linked to the life as sports manager of the Football Federation’s no.1 could resurface. In short, the right on football is divided in two, between war and frost. And with the 2032 European Championship dossier open on the government’s table, with the need to start projects for new stadiums within 3 years in order not to lose the candidacy, this cannot be good news.
2023-12-20 19:57:06
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