Swedish striker Kosovare Asllani strongly criticized the Italian Football Association (FGIC) for its choice of venue in the Women’s Nations League match between Sweden and Italy.
Despite being the third-place winners in the Women’s World Cup, Sweden secured a 1-0 victory over Italy with an early goal from Johanna Kaneryd. However, the goal was witnessed by only 2,500 spectators at the modest Stadio Teofilo Patini, which has a capacity of 7,200 seats. This stadium is located in Castel di Sangro, a small town in central Italy with just over 6,000 inhabitants, and the nearest significant city, Pescara, is a 90-minute drive to the north.
This experience was a stark contrast to the previous week’s match against the reigning world champions, Spain, where they suffered a 3-2 defeat at the Gamla Ullevi stadium, which can hold 18,416 spectators.
Asllani, who plays for AC Milan, expressed her frustration with the Italian Football Confederation’s choice of venue and what seemed to be a lack of adequate support for the senior women’s team. She stated, “I have seen more animals than people here.”
“You have to pay tribute to your women’s national team and put it in a bigger arena and see how much you can pull. You can’t put the match out in the woods. It is under all criticism.”
Asllani’s comments came after her teammate Magdalena Eriksson also criticized the underwhelming venue selection. Eriksson pointed out, “Women’s football is on such a sharp upward curve.”
“We are coming from a World Cup with such fantastic attendance numbers…”
“It’s an important match and obviously we would have liked to see and test the limits of how many people would have come if we had played in a bigger arena, but also in a bigger city.”
The FGIC faced scrutiny leading up to the Women’s World Cup due to disputes between European broadcasters and FIFA. FIFA President Gianni Infantino threatened a TV blackout for Europe because of lower offers for television rights compared to the men’s tournament several months earlier. Italy, whose women’s team was participating in the tournament while the men’s team failed to qualify for the Qatar World Cup, was reported to have made a particularly low offer.
It wasn’t until 2020 that the FGIC managed to eliminate government regulations, allowing Serie A Femminile to become fully professional.
Sweden performance and stats
Sweden is currently playing the Euro Qualification. It lost its previous match 1-3 against Austria.
