Calcio Femminile

Women’s Serie A TIMVISION cancelled. Mantovani: “A tough decision, we’ll now start planning for the new season”

The Federal Council has resolved to bring the league to a premature end. The Scudetto won’t be assigned, while the agreed-upon algorithm will be used to decide other positions

Monday, June 8, 2020

Women’s Serie A TIMVISION cancelled. Mantovani: “A tough decision, we’ll now start planning for the new season”

At today’s meeting, the Federal Council resolved to bring the current women’s Serie A TIMVISION season to an end. “We’ve decided, and we regret to do so, to suspend the women’s division,” said FIGC President Gabriele Gravina. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s not a positive development. It would have been a great advert for the whole of the women’s game for the girls to also be able to play and at least bring the most important division to conclusion on the pitch.”

Back during a meeting held on 20 May, it was decided that further assessments would be made regarding a possible restart with just six matchdays remaining. The aim was firstly to avoid a situation where the momentum gained in the women’s game and the exposure it has received were lost. At the same time, there was a desire to see the fast resumption of sporting activities and group training, ensuring the health of the players and maintaining quality standards in doing so.

Since then, the Board of Directors of the Women's Football Division has met three times, while the Assembly of Serie A Clubs has also held a meeting. "We examined and discussed all the initiatives that the Federation had proposed to create favourable conditions to resume the league season,” said DFC President Ludovica Mantovani.“ This encompassed an ad hoc protocol to protect the players and provide and distribute tests and swabs, as well as medical assistance, concrete support from the AIAC and the allocation of specific contributions.”

Mantovani continued: “The Federation has followed international guidelines, always trying to prioritise sporting merit. The final play-off and play-out possibility would have seen teams play at a venue selected by the Federation, who would have been in charge of making sure that the protocol was applied from both an organisational and health point of view. This would have successfully tackled the critical issues relating to travel and guaranteed a longer period to carry out collective training.”

The DCF concluded by saying the following: “Unfortunately, despite everything, the clubs’ positions on the matter have continued to diverge and there has been no unified front in favour of wanting to play from the players. I therefore reluctantly understand the proposal to indefinitely suspend the Serie A division, something which is at odds with the reopening that is fortunately now taking place across the country. We’ll now wait to be able to fix a date for its eventual restart earlier than what was originally planned, taking into account the Women’s National Team in doing so. The 2019/20 Scudetto won’t be assigned, while promotion and relegation places and qualification to the UEFA Women’s Champions League will be decided using the agreed-upon algorithm where the same corrective criteria valid for the professional men’s game will be used.”