Abodi after Malago compromise: ‘There are no winners or losers’

CESENA, ITALY - MAY 24:Andrea Abodi during the Women Supercup match betweeen AS Roma and ACF Fiorentina at Dino Manuzzi Stadium on May 24, 2024 in Cesena, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

Sports Minister Andrea Abodi insists there are “no winners or losers” after Giovanni Malago was appointed commissioner of the FIGC, and says the priority now is reform.

With quotes via TuttoMercatoWeb, Abodi was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a Mondadori Academy presentation, a day after CONI voted unanimously to place the federation under special administration.

Malago was elected FIGC president in June, but CONI ruled the vote invalid because he was not a registered member when he stood. Under Tuesday’s compromise he steps down as president but runs the federation as commissioner until fresh elections, in which he is expected to stand again.

“The most important thing is that we’ve turned the page. After that, as Mandela also said, in sport you have the chance to win or to learn, and if you learn, you don’t lose. That way we can put yesterday behind us, starting from the premise that for me there are no losers and winners. I don’t see life as a clash between teams, and I said that to Malago in our last meeting too: we have to think about the good of the system. The idea of politics taking over is a recurring caricature, but it has no foundation.”

Abodi: ‘I would have felt defeated if nothing had happened’

Abodi insisted the government never set out to overturn the election.

“Nobody wanted to overturn the outcome of an assembly on the president of a private association. I would have felt defeated if nothing had happened. I hoped the rules would be respected by everyone, always and everywhere. Since football has shown that the idea of justice being equal for all doesn’t always prevail, I think the step forward made yesterday, and made in harmony, is positive.”

Asked whether he agreed with CONI president Luciano Buonfiglio that sport had been the winner, Abodi was more guarded, but he offered to work with Malago on reform.

“I’ve learned one thing: thoughts and facts count for little, what matters is the way they’re told. And in this situation, the telling hasn’t always matched what was actually happening. I’ll stop there. What interests me is working on concrete things, as I’ve always told Malago. With him as commissioner too, we have to work, if it’s true that football needs to change and reform itself, questioning itself with a bit of self-criticism. That goes for me too. The time has come to sit around a table and tackle the necessary issues, and I reiterate that I’m available.”

He also praised Roberto Mancini’s Italy after their four-game Nations League window. He said he hopes football’s leadership, himself included, can now follow the national team’s lead.