Italian women’s football in CHAOS as top-flight side Pomigliano withdraws from the league ‘with immediate effect’ over a penalty decision… as the club claims they ‘are fighting against invisible opponents’

Italian women’s football has been thrown into disarray after Pomigliano withdrew from the top-flight Serie A Femminile ‘with immediate effect’ after just six games.

The news was announced on Saturday, and triggered by a referee’s decision to award a penalty for Sampdoria against Pomigliano earlier in the day, which proved to be the matchwinner.

Pomigliano’s Gaia Apicella was sent off five minutes into the second half for a second yellow card, before the visitors were awarded an 82nd minute penalty which was converted by Taty – a former Pomigliano player. 

It was their sixth game of the season, and Antonio Contreras’s side had picked up only a solitary point during the campaign to date, ahead of only Napoli in the standings.

Serie A Femminile switched to full professionalism from the beginning of the 2022/23 season, but this has created problems for some teams, and the league consists of just 10 teams. 

Antonio Contreras’s side had picked up only a solitary point during the campaign to date

Sampdoria announced in the summer that they were removing their women’s team, but were then announced for the top-flight just two weeks before the 2023/24 season started. 

In a press release published by Tuttosport, the club hit out at the Women’s Football Division of the Italian Football Federation. It reads: ‘Fighting against any type of opponent makes any defense futile. 

‘The company, at the end of today’s match, met with its Board of Directors and in the presence of all the members, respecting its investments, in nobility of the sporting project that it has been pursuing for years, in the belief that the principles of sport in women’s football have become a true utopia, says enough! 

‘Fighting against invisible opponents becomes an unequal struggle that takes away your energy and the desire to continue. 

‘By virtue of a Division that on the one hand demands compliance with the payment deadlines and methods, while on the other hand it is unable to guarantee a certain planning for the management of the payments to be made, conditioning the actual internal planning of the company, forcing a company to operate without deadlines certain and without specific methods.’

Pomigliano went on to contest that the refereeing decision surrounding the penalty call was the final straw in their decision to quit Serie A.

They continued: ‘In addition to the refereeing management of the match against Sampdoria where the referee and fourth official managed and directed the outcome of the match in favor of the Ligurians, implementing a one-sided attitude from the beginning to the end of the match. 

‘Excessive severity towards our players, permissive in similar episodes against the Sampdorian players. A double yellow card for a Sampdoria player was transformed into a warning for a member of our bench at the “suggestion” of the fourth official who actually managed the refereeing on the pitch. 

‘Not to mention the invented penalty kick, as shown by the television images, with the visiting player who was not touched in the slightest by our defender; a decision that determined the final result. 

‘For all this and for other information communicated directly to the Women’s Football Division, the company announces the withdrawal of the team from the championship with immediate effect.’

Pomigliano’s withdrawal, if confirmed, will create logistical problems for the rest of Serie A 

As of Sunday afternoon, the statement does not appear on the club’s website, although their social media platforms have been silent since Saturday’s defeat.  

If Pomigliano’s withdrawal is confirmed, it will create logistical problems for the rest of the Serie A Femminile season, with only nine teams remaining in Italy’s top league.

Their next league fixture was supposed to be away to Inter Milan next Sunday.  

Serie A Femminile leaders Roma – who won 3-1 against Juventus on Sunday – are Italy’s sole representative in the Women’s Champions League group stages. They will face Ajax, Bayern Munich and PSG across the next three months.