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Beyond the Pitch Episode 84 : The most feminist city, Women's sport funding and SuperCoppa Frecciarossa
8 Plays2 days ago
Join Nat and Cate as they chat about some interesting topics on their first pod of the year.
Umeå, in Sweden, the most Feminist city in the world and why?
What is happening with women's sport fundings in Italy and what are the consequences
Supercoppa Frecciarossa which is played between Roma and Fiorentina
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Transcript
Introduction to Beyond the Pitch
00:00:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hello, hello, and welcome back to Beyond the Pitch, a daily women's football podcast brought to you by the Global Sport Podcast Network. And today you have the two OG Italians.
00:00:21
Nat
which
00:00:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
We love you, Paige. We are the OG. And it's me, Kate, and I have Nat with me.
00:00:30
Nat
Hello everyone.
00:00:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
and Happy New Year to you as well, Nat, as this is our first podcast, I mean, joined Podcast UNI of the Year. So, yeah.
00:00:40
Nat
It is indeed.
00:00:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
New Year, same old podcast.
00:00:44
Nat
Same old people because we are just getting older.
00:00:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
and Anyway.
00:00:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh yeah, that's also true. But ah older and wiser, apparently. Anyway, same as
WSL Break and Hosts Return
00:00:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
usual. We have our three topics of the day. ah WSL in England, Lion SS, everything is still on a break. Everybody's having a rest.
00:01:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
beside myself and i I think beside you as well because I saw you're back to work already so we are going to talk a bit more about wider topics um something that came across to both myself and not this week that was last week actually sorry that was about uh the world's most feminist city so the Umea experience or Umea
00:01:08
Nat
Yeah.
00:01:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
not sure how you pronounce it exactly, but you've studied in the Nordics country, so you can you can maybe tell us all about it.
00:01:28
Nat
Mel. Mel.
00:01:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
And then we are going to have a quick chat about the government funds towards women's sports and football, how different they are in different countries, even in within the same continent, and how certain countries are literally putting a stop on their women's development and some other instead are really raising it up. And we are going to close with a really, really good ah event in tomorrow's Italian football, which is a cap and there's a super cup for each Rosa.
00:02:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
obviously women super Cooper and we'll chat about it on the later stage of the podcast.
Umea's Feminist City Policies
00:02:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
But I'm going to start with the Umea experience.
00:02:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
Um, I gotta say like the more I read about it, the more I'm like, I think I should move to any, like I did to Sweden or to Denmark.
00:02:30
Nat
dark over them katerina Can you cope with the dog?
00:02:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
I don't know, but then but then you have six months of like a lot a lot a lot of lights. So maybe I can...
00:02:40
Nat
is to
00:02:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
So maybe I can kind of like find something that I can do like three or four months in the winter, maybe I can move, maybe a little bit southern and then the rest of the time I can move, I can leave up there. I don't know, debating, Sweden or Denmark. Every time there is like a feminist women ride, all of that, you know, maternal, paternal, all of that sort of thing. They are always in competition, these two countries. We actually, I read something the other day um If you think about the two names, Sweden and Denmark, so when they play ah football, you know, you have Sweden,
00:03:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
den
00:03:21
Nat
Mm hmm.
00:03:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
right? Because is the is the is the the two name is a combination of the first name. And if you have a look about the three letters that are left is Denmark.
00:03:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
I know I saw it the other day and I signed it to Catherine as well. And I was like, look at this. Like someone actually went to the extent of thinking about that. Anyway, I love those two countries and I'm really strongly considering maybe I should, if they want me to.
00:03:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
If they are going to welcome in me, maybe just, yeah, I love that. But anyway, so what happened is that it all started with a post on Instagram from Progress Network, which labeled Dumea as the world's most feminist city. So the Guardian did an article a few months ago. There has been a few different articles and everything, but this is really what strikes our attention.
00:04:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
So Umea is a city in the northeast Sweden, which is situated on the Ume River, which is I guess that's what it takes its name. Umea is the largest locality in Norland and the 13th largest is Sweden. um I mean, what makes it the world's most famous city is that it is the Swedish first municipality to divine training our equally between men's and women's team. If we are talking about football,
00:04:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
but it's so much more that goes beyond there to make it like the most feminist city. But obviously here we're talking about football. So this is something that is really interesting as I'm gonna pass to my lovely Nat now.
00:04:54
Nat
ah Well, you know, I think I've never been to Ummu. I lived in Sweden, as you know, and I probably shared here, but a little bit south there.
Umea IK's Success and Supportive Policies
00:05:02
Nat
Very close actually to Copenhagen, like on the other side of the bridge. So if you go from Copenhagen to Sweden, there is a bridge, and that's where I lived, around Malmö and Lund. So I've never been so north, in a way. ah But I'm not surprised because, you know, like,
00:05:22
Nat
um
00:05:24
Nat
Sweden is where, as you were saying, is ah where equality is. But, and also in the U-MIL specific, which, funny enough, got into this policy in early 2000s, so ah millennium generations is for you, um they have a very successful um women's football ah team, which is U-MIL IK, and very famous players that everyone should know ah in the women's game at least came out from there but
00:05:59
Nat
The fact that they put this policy in place allow the growth of women football in the region. And Umea IK is a professional of football um club that um is playing in the Damalsvenskan, which is the Swedish ah top tier of women football, basically.
00:06:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, the WSL of Sweden, really.
00:06:23
Nat
Exactly, exactly, good that.
00:06:24
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:06:25
Nat
And they won the the the champions the Women's Champions League twice in 2003, 2004. And if we think about when the policy started, that isn't didn't take long to to Sweden to embark into this is a very strong and women's cohort of players.
00:06:49
Nat
And they also won seven, and I'm seven, seven, seven British championships between 2000 and 2008. As I was saying before, some very known players, at least for the ones that are following international football and WSL.
00:07:08
Nat
ah First one definitely to what I mentioned is Sofia Jakobsen that played for Umeå for four years 2007 to 2011. She also played in Austria and Even in Chelsea ah talking about Chelsea. We have and another known the player who is Ramona Bachman um Swedish and international she has been um in we have seen her playing for so ah this is for ah Not Swedish, but Swiss international my bad. Sorry Ramona um We have seen her playing for Swiss ah also ah in them both in Europe
00:07:55
Nat
um and then and in ah recently, um and she also played for Chelsea. She's in the Chelsea documentary. Last but not least, ah the Queen of Everyone and Everyone and that knows a women's football, which is Marta.
00:08:13
Nat
Yes, Marta the Brazilian, Marta. ah And Umo in the before 2020,
00:08:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:08:22
Nat
2004 and the score goes in the women's UEFA Cup final. So ah this is a proof that, you know, when um authorities prioritize equality or equity, as I would say, because MSS means equity, um especially in sports, it's easier for women not just to access, but also to succeed.
00:08:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. And just in case, uh, we weren't very clear when we were explaining, I just want to recap a little bit. What not was speaking about it before. It's the fact that in, in 2000, so we are talking about a long time ago, not just now, because we have ride in the wave of what is fashionable or anything in 2000, you may have decided to divide training hours.
00:09:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
equally between men's and women, and what that happened had a very, you know, like a ripple effect going all the way to the bottom of the pyramid, to the grassroots, to everything else, but also to the fact that, of course, one, you know, when when girls at school, especially at a very young age are presented with opportunity, they ah they have exactly the same opportunity. So what do you want to do? Do you want to do ABCD or football? The boys are ABCD or football. So it's ex exactly the same.
00:09:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
And that, again, we always talk about it. It creates a really, really good, you know, pathway to like the national team or to higher success or obviously to the, you know, to the Swedish WSL, et cetera. And it's very important, but a question I have is, that um, what, I mean, okay. Also Sweden is a very, oh my God, it's, it's a country that in a sort of way is like so far ahead in so many ways.
00:10:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
like, you know, visionary and and and and they put policies in there and they do things in there that the rest of the world catches up a little bit later on it. And some other of the Nordic countries as well. What do you think will take some of the, let's say more traditional Southern Europe countries to
Sweden's Gender Policies vs Southern Europe
00:10:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
maybe consider something similar and for their government to start to maybe thinking to introduce something similar to their politics?
00:10:39
Nat
I think this is a very good question, but you know, it's very funny what they, I always had, after, sorry if I bumped into that, but after I've lived two years there, because I just lived two years there, and that was quite a while ago. It was around 2011, 2013. What I can say as Italian is that I feel more, closer I feel closer to Southern Europe,
00:11:06
Nat
in terms of mentality and ah uprising and food and everything else than there. Like I feel paradoxically them very far away and you know in a good way and a bad way as everything. um And as I feel as in a good way and a bad way met football by myself. But I think, you know, when when not we always think about all of them, this is not right. This could be possible. And actually you see with your own eyes that things can work differently just because they um meant differently.
00:11:37
Nat
I think the main thing is that there are less women involved in the south of Europe in making decision. There are less women involved into the important places where decisions are made.
00:11:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:11:48
Nat
ah So there is no voice. um and ah it Whereas if you go in Nordic countries, I thought maybe There is no such a hierarchy, especially in Sweden. that It's not so hierarchy or it's more flat, like it's more ah horizontal organization, which leads to other problems. We want to say that. But I think anyways, around the table, in a horizontal table, you see a mixture in gender-wise of men and women. You won't see a prevalence, I would say.
00:12:18
Nat
I think that there isn't the problem that you might find, but that is my opinion from external and that I'm talking about 10 years ago, ah what I experienced 10 years ago, so we we need to be mindful of that, is that there wasn't at the time so much diversity. Yes, in gender-wise, yes, but that was it. There was no really what I can actually see more right now in ah that they are trying to do to be here in the UK. For example, there is diversity, not just in term of background, but also in term of ah um ah abilities or disabilities and stuff like that. So I think that
00:12:55
Nat
Is something that is quite striking and maybe and I'm talking about again 10 years ago And I if I think when I write when I came here that was 10 years ago was even different wise now So probably things have changed. I don't know that but definitely They when I went when I lived there, I was like, oh my everything I was like, oh my god So this is actually possible.
00:13:17
Nat
So it's not my dream. It's not my head I don't know if you I recently I and I'm going a little bit out of topic but but to come back here I've recently watched the movie Barbie. I don't know if you watch it ever ever watched it and I
00:13:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, won when it came out of the movies.
00:13:32
Nat
Okay, and just spoiler here, if you haven't seen Barbie, just pause for a bit and then recap probably in a minute time. But I really like the fact that in her imagination, well, we run the world, like women run the world.
00:13:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
boy andla
00:13:50
Nat
And then, so it was very weird when the word that she went to was not run by women. I had the same experience on the other way around, like, oh, hold on a second. Actually, we care around the world, we have a say, we can do things, we can go and and bike in the park in the in in the dark and there is no danger.
00:14:10
Nat
You know, stuff like that that were very surprising for me that brought up 35 years in Italy. Sorry, I just skipped.
00:14:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
No, no. Do you know what? As an Italian, I totally understand it. And actually this thing really made me think. I totally understand the comparison between what happened in the Barbie movie and how you lived, you know, the experience in reverse. And I can, I can,
Linda Gustafson on Gender Equality Methods
00:14:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah, I feel that. But I wanted to, we need to close this topic. So I wanted to just have a little close remark on this topic. um In the Guardian article that was written a couple of months ago that I read,
00:14:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
Linda Gustafson, who is one of the gender equality officer at the city of Umea, actually is really interesting because she mentioned in the article that when an Italian colleague was introducing her and explaining the type of work and the kind of work they do in the city, but got you know, around all these feminists, et cetera, the colleague simply stated that the methods are not very complicated. They just do the work and it works.
00:15:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
And so I'm just thinking maybe other countries can also learn from that.
00:15:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right, back for topic number two. So government funds towards women's sports and football. So here is a bit more, let's say we are going wider on the topic is about,
Italy's Funding Cuts for Women's Sports
00:15:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
it's around obviously women's sports in general, but ah we care about football as well as the rest, but in here we talk more about football. So that's what we're going to focus a little bit in. um So there's always been a bit of an issue around that, less fundings for women,
00:16:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
women's board not funded in the same way the visibility of the athletes as well not there in the same way if not sadly uh you know portrayed in um kind of sexualized images you know pretty athletes that type of things um but um there's this this ah This is an issue that happens in many countries, but as I stated at the beginning, you have the two OG Italians, so we also want to explain a little bit what has happened recently in Italy.
00:16:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
so um in Women's football in Italy has I mean back in the day was one of the best not the best but it was quite advanced and i say this many times on this pod you know there were some of the some of the english players and foreigner players as well they used to go and play theirs in the 90s a yeah mid-80s, 90s, that type of early 90s before the Berlusconi area a sorry era um and then kind of like it had a massive decline thanks to the Cavalier for me anyway um and so what happens is that ah we have now a new government and a new prime minister that after the four-year cycle of what happened before which we're going to talk about in a second has decided to actually cut
00:17:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
by a lot the funds ah for women's sports and of course also for women's football and we need to remember that um you know this area so the WSL in Italy went professional not long ago July 2022 if I'm not wrong right and this happened um and only this year so yeah this year because we are in 2025 now so at the end of this season it will go from 10 team to 12 So it will kind of like get a little bit on board to what is happening generally around Europe with the WSL or with the women leagues anyway around Europe. And this is causing a lot of problems because a lot of the teams that are in, you know, the the championship of women
00:18:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
League in Italy rely on these fundings because they don't get enough ah sponsorship. They don't get enough money coming in from anywhere else. And this is going to take a massive impact on the development of those teams. Because as we know, to develop a team, it's not just about the players on the field, the coach and the technical staff. You need like a wider staff and member on the staff, et cetera. And if you don't have the fundings, then you're not able to work.
00:19:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
to do the work properly and to do everything else. And we'll have, again, a ripple effect, but a negative ripple effect. So it it was crazy because if we think that, you know, in 2020, the government actually approved nearly 11 millions of euros.
00:19:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
No, yeah, millions, right?
00:19:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Billions?
00:19:22
Nat
millions
00:19:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
Pardon?
00:19:24
Nat
I don't know the word in English. and Let me find it.
00:19:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
Is it billions?
00:19:30
Nat
Billions, yeah.
00:19:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah Sorry, so my bad, 11 billion. So that's like nine billions of UK pound to be invested in women's sports in four years.
00:19:37
Nat
Mm hmm.
00:19:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah So there's still a huge amount in infrastructure, in sponsoring athletes, in helping with the Olympics and with everything else. And now it's being cut. like quite a lot and that really is a lot of money and is a lot of money that will be missing. um Yeah, so it's quite sad and I know that it's happening in different countries ah around Europe and of course around the world as well and then you know you and I live in a country that is actually doing completely the opposite and try to find always more way
00:20:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
to to fund women's sports and women's football, but also women's sports. The UEFA has just announced that the price money for the women Euro this year is nearly double compared to last time, which which is fantastic because that money will go to the Federation, of course, to some of the players, but also to the Federation to be able to push again down the pyramid to the grassed level to develop the pathway. And then you turn around and there is a country like Italy you know who who is quite developed and supposed to be quite forward thinking that does this. So I don't know.
00:20:51
Nat
To me, um what is a tonishing? If you read a little bit deeper in, if you go a little bit deeper in the conversation, first of all, it happened. I found it funny the time that of the year they happened, which was around Christmas, you know, so the things that people tend not to pay attention to or forget, ah which is already, I think that people that tend to pay attention and forget. So what is a tonishing is that passing from 11 billion you rose at to zero,
Lack of Professional Opportunities in Italy
00:21:20
Nat
it's it's not a hit, it's like a big, big hole in the ground. um Because you raise up, you started to put the base to, um as you were saying, Katarina, to a healthy environment for women to be able to express their um competitive level and to be able to perform and be ah professional athletes.
00:21:47
Nat
um as the main counterpart and you are scrapping that completely. um So basically you not even started the the the the basement and you're just ah hitting the the um the house to the ground. There is that. But I also think that um There are no many, in Italy, there are no many professional sports for women because most the Olympic sports or the athletes that that are competing at high level representing the country are actually embedded within the army forces, which is a unique way, um in a certain way, to grant them
00:22:28
Nat
um a salary for them to keep competing and training because otherwise they wouldn't be able to. um So it's you know it's really scrapping everything. And I don't think, um and I think there is still a cap in term of salary for ah players. I'm talking about football football players at least. So in their contract, they are bounded to a maximum, which if you see the the amount is quite funny to watch it because it's basically the average amount in general of a professional in Italy. So anyways, there is all that that in the back. Plus you think that
00:23:06
Nat
you know, like if you see the comparison of their counterpart everywhere in the north side of Europe at least, um it's just different in terms of sponsorship and money. And then you you make them less viable to be independent. How many teams in the Italian leagues, not just the the first league, which is Serie A, but also Serie B, have been had like had to leave like they were into they registered into ah the kind ah the the league and then they had to be scrapped with players out of contract out of the blue when transfer window were done and they were let go without any place to go and that because they were relying on and the male counterpart or they were relying in founding they never arrived. um So
00:23:58
Nat
very disappointing, especially seeing the way for strategy, especially seeing what UK has been putting in place ah since ah the push of the lionesses of ah winning the Euros. And then I don't want to hear the foul, but they won the Euros though they were able to do that. you They won the Euros because they were able they were in a position to be able to achieve that ah za a level because there have been funding through all the pyramid to allow players to flourish and be able to to achieve and get to a certain level of play, which I think is not happening in certain countries.
00:24:35
Nat
And I found funny that our cousins, as we say, like Spain, for example, they are investing. They had they won the World Cup and that happened. What happened? I'm not going to go there. But nevertheless, the government has a strong belief in the development of women's sports in specific women football with a strategy plan in place so and ah together with our package in terms of visibility, um which includes is not just media in terms of broadcasting, but it's a wider idea of a visibility of um of the game. And funny enough, this afternoon I was watching a friendly game or with Barcelona on it, you know, is on on telly.
00:25:21
Nat
so It doesn't have always to be the north side of Europe, because sometimes they say, oh, well, you know, in the north side they have more money, they have, there is that, there is Denmark, there is Sweden, there is Germany, they always had the lead. Now it'll be the UK. And I think France is not far away from, for the development of football. Always, they have other problems at the moment. But what I'm saying is like, if Spain can do it, why can't we, you know, intermove Italy?
00:25:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I mean, it's a little bit like, I get what you're saying because we are closer and with regard to
Impact of Funding Cuts on Player Movement
00:25:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
like culture, et cetera. There's a little bit of what we were saying before, like if Sweden does it so easily, like why can the other country not do it? Well, i it was very disappointing. i i heard I don't know. I don't know if this is something that can be turned around quicker than four years. ah If we have to wait another four years for you know, the sport women of Italy to to have more rights, etc.
00:26:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
Maybe they should all move to Umer. Maybe that would that would be really good. I think maybe the Swedes would like them.
00:26:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
um
00:26:32
Nat
No, but that is going to be the problem because I think what is going to, in my opinion, that what I can see happen is like all the the the players will do this season and once the Italians won or the ones that are in the Italian league will probably reach out to their agents like, hey!
00:26:48
Nat
Listen, what is going to happen with this? What does it mean? Will I have a team next year? And then again, most of them will move abroad, which doesn't make any sense when you're trying to implement the the league. And when there is, as UEFA said, there is a boom. And you said you you started the the um podcast saying that there is ah such a ah push for women's football. And now we are the only countries that are like, actually, yeah, that's a great investment. but We, no, we don't, we we don't like that.
00:27:21
Nat
We want to be conservative and and don't do that.
00:27:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:27:24
Nat
So for me, it just doesn't make sense. But again, who am I? that I'm very passionate. I'm trying to and I'm looking around here what have been doing, what we are doing.
00:27:35
Nat
And I'm glad we both are here. So we are able to actually see what success in women's football is and looks like.
00:27:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, it's also interesting and controversial. And we're going to talk about it in a second in our last ah um topic, which we only have a few minutes left for, because there's actually quite a lot of women, football players that are moving into Italy to play for some of the top teams. So I don't know, just just very interesting. Anyway, um yeah, let's move on to the next topic.
00:28:07
Nat
Here at Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform. Then Castor came out the clear winner. With 4K video recording from your phone and AI editing that automatically removes all those um's and ha's, it's super easy to start a podcast that sounds great and is it delivered efficiently. If you are ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description to learn more about Then Castor.
00:28:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, last but not least, we only have a few minutes left. um I don't know, maybe the future of this area in Italy is the same as the WSL in England, moving over from
Serie A's Self-Sustainability Potential
00:28:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
you know the Federation and relying on state funding and just kind of like, you know, go a little bit more private, build their own self-sustainable ecosystem.
00:28:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
If I think about, you know, what the Premier League has done, I've done in the past, was that 30 years and what, you know, what they became and, you know, what I think, I still call them the new call, though I know it's called WPLL. They also will be doing, I mean, you can see already one year and wow, what a difference is made. Maybe that's where we need to head to. But anyway, it's interesting because again, the demand for women football in Italy is increasing.
00:29:24
Global Sports Podcast Network
And, you know, today, actually, because we we will be podcasting this, this will be we'll go live tomorrow, really. So and there will be an important game played, which is the Super Copa Freta Rosa. Obviously, women. It's basically it's played between the winner of the Syria and
Super Copa Freta Rosa Global Broadcast
00:29:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
the winner of the Copa Italia. So very similar to what we do here in the Premier League with our community shield. And what is really great is that for the very first time, at least in this competition,
00:29:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
it will be shown in 148 different countries. This is thanks to a partnership that ah the Serie A has with S&T Sports and another thing that is really interested is that they actually will use the highest amount of cameras to actually you know broadcast which as we know the more camera the nicer it is because then you know it makes it super dynamic it's really beautiful they can touch in and out and doing that side of thing very interesting this is really really really great it's going to be a really great game well i mean on paper at least it should be a really great game but what's interesting is that the tickets are selling ah only seven euros so it's still extremely affordable um i love that they're still keeping it that way to try to push more and more people to go and
00:30:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
You know, watch the games and yeah, I mean, the team players are Roma and Fiorentina. So Roma is the team that won the, the league last year and Fiorentina, the one who won the Copitalia. Very competitive in the seasons as well. And there is a bit of history as well between these two clubs, but I'm going to let Nat tell you about it.
00:31:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
Nat is muted. Nat, come back.
00:31:15
Nat
I am back, I never left.
00:31:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
What happened to you all?
00:31:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
I don't know, we couldn't hear you anymore.
00:31:21
Nat
oh probably probably is the computer that doesn't like me anymore but I think it would be it would be interesting ah so if you are able to tune in at 2.30 I think it's 2.30 p.m. GMT time um and you will watch a game which is happening seven months after they had um they actually another cup final i'm among the two ah which was the Coppa Italia final, and Roma was able to make a stunning comeback and win it on penalty. So I hope it will be as dramatic as then. um Roma is not doing at the the greatest at the moment as always second in the league, but we know that Giuliano was the top player last year. She even went for the Ballon d'Or as nominated, at least for the Italian nominated for the Ballon d'Or, so
00:32:19
Nat
probably something to keep an eye on uh julian and definitely my favorite player which is Valentina Giacinti as everybody knows you should know and uh Fiorentina seeks ah to rekindle past glories having one last trophy in 2018 so definitely um both coaches Alessandro Spunez there has been a
00:32:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah yeah do we do
00:32:42
Nat
Coaches of Roma for three seasons now, and yes, at least three seasons. And Sebastian de la Fuente really emphasized the importance of this title for their moral, but also for the momentum that the two teams are living at the moment.
00:32:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we do.
00:32:59
Nat
ah We have ah Emily Heavy for Roma coming back from an injury, and she really,
Significance of Italian Women's Football Match
00:33:05
Nat
really is keen to play. and the the captain of Fiorentina, Alice Tortelli, is pushing for Fiorentina to get ah back to ah from the ah history. um The game is going to be played at La Spezia, which is in the north region and near Cinque Terre for the ones that that are not um fully aware of ah Italian geography, which is a mess.
00:33:32
Nat
And there would be a minute minutes of silence before starting of the game because Agropio was a former player and a former coach from ah ah Florence, ah Tuscany region ah died and in the week. I think that's it, Carter. We took a lot.
00:33:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, um, I love seeing more, it's just so controversial, right? So you've got like the Federation, some parts of the Federation, some of the teams, some external investment coming in
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:34:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
into, into, into the Italian football women football right now that they really are doing all of that. They're using that technique, you know, the fan engagement, bringing more people in, et cetera.
00:34:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
And then you go on the top of the pyramid, you know, where the people should really support you, et cetera, and you get a slap in your face. So that's how I would like to end this this podcast with a slap in the face from the Italian government that turns my face on the other side and make me look at the Swedish Umea city.
00:34:28
Nat
It doesn't happen the face.
00:34:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
which is the most feminist city in the world, has been a pleasure chatting to you again, Nat. I hope whoever is listening, I hope you enjoy the podcast. Please see if there is anything you want us to talk about, you want to look into, you want to banter about or anything.
00:34:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
Do let us know either on our Instagram or TikTok or any of our socials or if you know us personally, just drop us a message and just say, look why don't you banter about this? And if you also want to be a guest on our podcast, please reach out to us and let us know. We'd love to have more people bantering and more opinions. That's what I think keeps it quite nice and fun.
00:35:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
And I think it's a goodbye for me and thank you for joining. We look forward to welcoming you to the next episode of Beyond the Pitch.