A Juventus football club chief has triggered outrage after saying that buying the wrong footballer was akin to discovering a girlfriend was “not good” because she did not do household chores.
Cristiano Giuntoli, the top-flight club’s sporting director, made the remarks during a discussion at a sports festival in Trento.
Giuntoli explained how he assessed the talent of a footballer before beginning negotiations to make a purchase. In response to a question from a journalist, he replied: “When you buy a player, it’s like a girlfriend. You think she’s the right one and you take her to dinner but then, along the way, you realise when you bring her home that she’s not good – she doesn’t cook, she doesn’t do the washing, she doesn’t iron.”
The comments were reportedly met with laughs from the audience, but elsewhere sparked calls for his resignation.
Mauro Berruto, a politician with the centre-left Democratic party, called on Juventus to “take a stance” over the remarks made by Giuntoli, who until June was sporting director at Napoli, which in May won their first Serie A title after 33 years.
“The sexist words would be disgraceful if said in a pub, let alone on the stage of a big sports event,” he said. “Unfortunately, the football world seems to be doing its all to habituate us to the worst.”
Luisa Rizzitelli, the president of Assist, the national association for female athletes, said Giuntoli should resign.
She said: “I admit it’s difficult to find the words to describe the indignation, disgrace and anger at the comments made by the Juventus sporting director. Pure sexism should only have one consequence: immediate resignation.”
Despite the advances in women’s football in Italy, sexism is still prevalent, and in sport in general. A referee was criticised after appearing to snub the handshake of a female official after a Serie A match this month. In July, the state broadcaster, Rai, suspended two male commentators after they made racist and sexist remarks during the World Aquatics Championships in Japan.
