The winner, who started from 64%, saw his consensus increase up to 73.45%: “We couldn’t stop, we didn’t have to stop, we won’t stop.” Then he defends the European Championship: “I also hope with the fans”
February 22
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Ore 16.30
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Gabriele Gravina expresses his condolences for the victims of the attack in Congo which cost the life of the ambassador Luca Attanasio, the carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci and his driver. Thus begins the first press conference of the reconfirmed president. The first thought is for the European to come. And that someone, see the English proposal, is now thinking of changing by canceling the traveling formula. Gravina does not fit. “I am grateful for the words of the Uefa Deputy Secretary spoken right here, who mentioned our desire and our determination. There are all the prerequisites so that on 5 April, when we will meet with UEFA and the federations involved, the entire program can be confirmed and the possibility of the presence of the fans being considered “. The federal president talks about the dialogue with the CTS and identifies the most realistic target in 25-30 percent of the capacity. As for the possibility of applying for the organization of a European, cited by Malagò as the only possibility to move the situation of the delay in our country on the issue of stadiums, Gravina focuses “not only on the big event” and also relies on the possibility that the presence of a person close to sport (the federal prosecutor Giuseppe Chinè was appointed cabinet at the Mef) to help us unlock these issues in the institutional sphere. Then the reform of the leagues. “Everyone has to give something to make football more modern.” Reform that must be inspired by the theme of “quality”, required to support hypotheses of new formats. Gravina then announced that he wanted to run as a candidate for the Coni council “by sharing with the other federations that recognize the role of football”. The confirmed president undertakes to heal the “laceration” of these days. But he wants to do it without compromise, respecting the interests of all the components but without thinking about personal ones. Gravina will make his debut as president reconfirmed tomorrow in an initiative in a suburb of Rome, the “social football” in Corviale.
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Ore 15.40
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“And now the second half of the match can begin.” Thus Gabriele Gravina in his first words as president reconfirmed. And again, referring to the restart and the future: “We could not stop, we should not have stopped, we will not stop”. Gravina has evidently made full use of all components, including Serie A, taking away some consensus from Sibilia even in the context of the National Amateur League.
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Ore 15.30
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Gabriele Gravina reconfirmed president of the Football Association with 73.45 percent of the votes. Sibilia stopped at 26.25
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Ore 14.20
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The speeches of the two presidential candidates have concluded. Many arrows between Gravina and Sibilia. The outgoing federal president summarized the uncertainties of recent months by claiming his role in the restart: “I could not wreck our football”. Gravina said that “Now there is the second half to play”. He spoke of sustainability and “Qualitative reform of the championships”. And he took it out on those “professional traders” who “muddy the electoral campaign”. Gravina then underlined: “Whoever says that the NLD will be marginalized knowing they are lying”. Paolo Rossi recalled and quoted Mauro Bellugi’s courage. Sibilia – among his quotes Steve Jobs, Einstein and Pasolini – invoked “Collegiality in governance” and pointed the finger at too many professional teams. He then called for changes in sports justice where there have been too many reform decisions. Then he came to the theme of the disregarded pact with Gravina, “Signed in 2018 with a former federal president”. Reference to Giancarlo Abete and the fact that Gravina had assured him that he did not want to come back after the first term. Voting has begun. To be elected, it takes 50 percent plus one of the votes. Verification of powers closed: 96.38 percent of the electoral body is present.
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Ore 14.00
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Giuseppe Pasini and Alessandro Marino for the Lega Pro, Stella Frascà and Daniele Ortolano for the Amateur League, as well as Florio Zanon (north area), Francesco Franchi (central area), Maria Rita Acciardi (south area) were elected to the new FIGC federal council. ). Representing the elected professional athletes Davide Biondini and Umberto Calcagno, for the amateurs Valerio Bernardi and Chiara Marchitelli. For professional technicians Mario Beretta and for amateurs Zoi Gloria Giatras. In council the presidents of the Leagues (Paolo Dal Pino, Serie A), Mauro Balata (Serie B), Francesco Ghirelli (Lega Pro), Cosimo Sibilia (Dilettanti) and of The Hague, the newly elected Alfredo Trentalange.
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Ore 13.00
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Federal councilors elected. Lega A has designated Claudio Lotito and Beppe Marotta.
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Ore 12.50
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“A European, a World Cup or a Summer Olympics. Only by hosting a major international event will the problem of stadiums be solved ”. Thus Giovanni Malagò, president of Coni, in greeting to the elective assembly of the Football Federation.
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Ore 12.40
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Giorgio Marchetti, Uefa Deputy Secretary, took the floor. Complimenting the Federcalcio, he recalled the appointment with the Europeans at the Olimpico, “we hope with many spectators”. There is no reference to the English proposal to be able to host the entire continental exhibition without a traveling format.
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Ore 12.30
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The assembly starts again. In the meantime, the electoral audience is now close to the en plein: all present except a representative of the National Amateur League. There is also Zibì Boniek, guest of the assembly and president of the Polish football federation. It begins with a video message from Gianni Infantino. “Congratulations to Italy for the way in which football has reorganized itself in these terrible months. I recommend women’s football, structures, reforms and young people ”.
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Ore 11.30
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The Italian Referees Association, which accounts for 2% of the electoral cake, has made it known that it will abstain from voting
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Ore 10
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The elective assembly of the Football Federation has begun in Rome. In the count of the voters, some absences too many: 89.49 percent is represented, with 247 delegates out of 276. Gabriele Gravina, the outgoing president, proposed – in agreement with the CONI – the name of Franco Carraro to direct the ‘assembly. The former FIGC and Coni president therefore suspended work to allow the election of the federal councils, component by component (the presidents of the four leagues, players and coaches are still members by right). The assembly work will resume at noon.
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the point
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The doubt is not about who will win. But how it will win. A few hours from the finish, the appointment is for this morning at the Cavalieri Waldorf Astoria in Monte Mario in Rome, Gabriele Gravina’s advantage seems too substantial to question his confirmation as president of the Football Federation. It is more complicated to understand if Cosimo Sibilia will be able at least in part to gnaw something on the opponent, than to stay on the map of the preferences of the components he is ahead 64-34 in percentage terms (the referees, who have 2%, do not give indications of vote).
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Certainly, the tones of the morning will not be exactly soft, the two candidates will not exchange caresses in the two speeches illustrating the program. First, there will be greetings from Coni (there will be Giovanni Malagò), Uefa (with the general secretary Giorgio Marchetti) and Fifa. Then the representatives of the components will speak, then it will be up to the challengers for the presidency. No marathon, it is likely, if not taken for granted, that the verdict will arrive at the first try: 50 percent of votes plus one will suffice. Also because, if the president were not elected immediately, with so many blank or null ballots, the second and third votes would be besieged by the specter of the commissioner. Spectrum that the Football Association knows very well. On January 29, 2018, the square was not found between the three candidates – Sibilia, Gravina and Tommasi – and the factual nothing paved the way for the appointment of Roberto Fabbricini.
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CLASH ON THE “PACT”
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A few months after the failure of the agreement between the three blocks, an agreement was found around the name of Gravina. And it is precisely on that understanding that the atmosphere has heated up in recent days. For Sibilia there is a signed agreement, which provided for a new president at the end of Gravina’s mandate. Gravina reduces the affair to a programmatic pact and not to a kind of appointment “by succession”, as he calls it, of the new president.
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THE MAP
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So what do the (non-confidential) polls say on the eve? The outgoing president could lose a few votes in Serie A, where the recent splits on TV rights and funds would shift some consensus towards Sibilia. 18 clubs have signed Gravina’s candidacy (all except Lazio and Benevento), it could be assumed that the president could lose 3-4, maybe 5 votes. In practice, a quarter of 12 percent of Serie A. In Serie B, Gravina should be practically full (Salernitana aside), while in Lega Pro the federal number one has collected 54 signatures on 58 clubs, even here he could (but it is not obvious) to lose some preferences. The support of players and coaches, on the other hand, seems to be flawless.
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Gravina, however, could also find some consensus in the fort of Sibilia, the National Amateur League, in particular Lombardy and Emilia Romagna (in the balance Umbria and Puglia). In the end, the score at the start of the race, 64-34 for Gravina (2% of the referees have to be divided), even with the cards reshuffled, could also be confirmed.
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REFORM TEST
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After the electoral verdicts, for the federal council everything is taken for granted except in Lega Pro (Lotito and Marotta are the two designated by the Lega di A), but it will have to start again from a divided federation. The first test will be that of the reform of the championships. An urgency, however, postponed over the years by a mutual game of selfishness and unavailability. Gravina has promised to want to play attacking in his second term and even today will be able to tell us something more about the possibility that the right time will finally arrive on this front.
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February 22, 2021 (change February 22, 2021 | 16:36)
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