October 15, 2001

Going nowhere! Chronic lack of proper promotion for women's soccer in Italy

Mario Rimati

Two of the biggest complaints heard in the circles of Italian women’s soccer is that the game has difficulty catching on in the world of Italian sports, and that it gets very little attention from both the media and fans alike. One of the major problems though is that there appears to be a lack of marketing know-how in order to find a solution towards the general apathy surrounding the women's game.

Let's take the example of the Lazio-Foroni match played in Rome on a gorgeous summer-like day (temperatures throughout Italy hovered around 90°F). This match was played in Rome’s second largest stadium, the Flaminio. It can hold up to 30,000 fans and was officially used prior to the 1990 men’s World Cup as the Olympic stadium was being refurbished.

The Flaminio stadium is about a mile away from Rome’s major sporting complex, the Olympic stadium (capacity: 80,000 people). The Olympic stadium was the sight of the 1990 W. Germany-Argentina final. The women’s match was played at 3:30 pm. Over at the Olympic stadium the men’s Serie A match between Lazio-Atalanta (spectators present: 40,000) was being played at the exact same time! For those die-hard Lazio fans, which match were they going to choose? The men's or the women's? In Italy, the answer is rather obvious, the former one. Now, had the women's match been programmed for AFTER the final of the men's match and had the Olympic stadium announcer informed the fans that "over at the Flaminio stadium Lazio's 1st division women's team will be playing", that figure of 300 fans would have certainly exceeded the 4-digit mark. Along with some good advertising a few days before the match, no doubt more than one Lazio fan would have gladly taken in both matches (including many women too). One of the problems though in re-programming matches lies in the fact that some teams come from far away, as in Foroni"s case. They may fly into town in the morning and fly out again in the evening in order to avoid added hotel costs.

Perhaps the Female Division and clubs could meet half away to offset these costs. Having more than 1,000 people present at a women's soccer match (free entrance by the way!) is no small thing for Italian standards and just the fact that the legend of women’s soccer, Carolina Morace, was also present at the Lazio match is well-worth the admission in terms of publicity for this sport.

Italian women's soccer needs all the help it can get right now after last week's loss to Russia during the 2003 China World Cup qualifying match, Italy's second loss in a row after the one against Iceland. The road to China has now gotten even bumpier. Are the bets now open whether or not Morace will last until 2003?