Abuse, harassment, lost wages: female footballers report Pomigliano – Calcio

It seemed like a fairy tale. Promoted to B in the first year of activity after the foundation (2019). Second in B and immediately promoted to A the following season. So two years in the top flight (2022 and 2023) ended with a good salvation. The history of Pomigliano women’s football it seemed like an example for all other companies. Instead, in the space of a few months, a downward spiral began (he is now in Campania Excellence after the relegation and the failure to request admission to Serie B due to bankruptcy this summer, ndr) which turned into a nightmare for the players who reported a crazy situation to Fifpro (the international union of professional footballers): falsified contracts, unpaid salaries, medical negligence, harassment and physical attacks.

Female footballers subjected to threats and harassment

It all started halfway through last, a troubled season in which the club first changed 4 coaches and then, in fact, stopped operating due to lack of liquidity. One player reported being physically attacked, others reported having their apartments raided without warning by people close to the club’s top management. Yet another reported having had her contract terminated after refusing to pay for shoulder surgery on her own.

“Fantastic situation: without salaries and medical care”

“It was a shocking situation”, says one of them who wished to remain anonymous. “We remained several months without receiving our salary. Some never even received it for the whole year. Those who were injured still received a call-up for the next match and if she signaled that she couldn’t play she was threatened with having her contract terminated. At one point the president even refused to organize transport for the matches and we had to share the car. Then there were those who did is seen changing the duration of the contract with forged signatures from both parties,” he says. “Fortunately he had kept the original copy and it was easy to prove that they had manipulated it.”

A player victim of unpleasant advances

The worst thing happened to a player who reported receiving harassment from a man associated with the property who sent her numerous inappropriate WhatsApp messages. “He insistently asked me to dinner several times. I repeatedly refused but the messages continued unabashedly: ‘I want to spend an evening with you’, ‘I would have pampered you and made you feel less alone’ and ‘You look gorgeous in your profile photo, you’re at home ?’When the third coach of the season arrived, he and the manager were laughing and saying things like: ‘When are you going to let him take you out to dinner?’. They seemed to be all in on his perversion. One morning, I was cleaning my apartment wearing only a t-shirt and underwear, I had headphones on, I turned around and he was in my hallway staring at me…”.

The AIC hopes to recover the girls’ salaries

The situation has been reported to the AIC (the Footballers’ Association) which is providing legal assistance to try to get the girls to recover, first of all, the salaries not received. Since all Italian clubs issue a guarantee to guarantee any debts when registering for the championship, the union hopes to be able to obtain the missing sums. Then, regarding the falsification of contracts, the AIC supported the players in filing reports with the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the FIGC. “This extremely negative case must remain isolated, it cannot be the norm”, underline the AIC. “It is clear that the system must do more to avoid such situations which, fortunately, professionalism is helping to totally eliminate.”