Gianni Petrucci lapidary on Gabriele Gravina

Continues, even several days after the bitter penalty lottery in Zenica, the debate on the future of the Italian Football Federation (Federcalcio), also in the light of the very recent announcement of resignation by Gabriele Gravina, who ended up in the eye of the storm not only for the goal missed by the national team, out of the World Cup for the third consecutive time, but also for the controversial statements in a press conference in Bosnia itself, which raised a sea of controversy from fans and insiders even far beyond the borders of soccer.

With just a few significant words, the president of the Italian Basketball Federation, Gianni Petrucci, also commented on Gravina’s decision: “He couldn’t do anything else, Gabriele,” the executive number one of Italian basketball told the ‘Corriere della Sera,’ without indulging in further arguments. Gravina’s successor will be appointed next June 22 by the FIGC’s Federal Council: in the meantime, in addition to the now former president, Gigi Buffon, until a few days ago head of the national team delegation, and coach Gennaro Gattuso have also stepped down.

In the now infamous post-elimination press conference, Gravina had responded to a question about the successes in other sports, while the national soccer team continues to flounder, calling them “amateurish” and thus attracting the ire of athletes, former athletes and insiders from every sporting latitude: among the harshest was precisely a basketball figure, Andrea Bargnani, who said that “the problem is not the result. The problem in some cases is who leads our sports, and with what depth/know-how”.

“Earning 10 million dollars a season in the NBA or 2 thousand euros at the Fiamme Oro with athletics does not change the level of professionalism – wrote the ‘Magician’ on his LinkedIn profile, referring to Gravina’s words -. On the contrary, from direct experience, knowing all colleagues in the various sports, those who do athletics or skiing in most cases train many more hours than an NBA star (but many many), and this is a fact. To call them amateurs requires a ‘courage’ that I do not have.”