A disappointing forecast from a high-ranking official for Ukrainian fans
The president UEFA Aleksander Ceferin shared his opinion about the Italian national team and its chances of getting into the finals European Championship 2024.
“Italy must qualify for Euro 2024. Otherwise it will be a disaster. Italy is too important.”
“I think Italy will defeat Ukraine,” added the Slovenian functionary.
Also, the head of Europe’s governing football body commented on the latest bookmaking scandal in Italian football:
“Should footballers be role models? Yes, they should. Some of them are, others, unfortunately, are not.”
Let us recall that in September Ceferin said that Russian football clubs and national teams of the Russian Federation will be under a UEFA ban until the end of hostilities in Ukraine. However, at the end of the month, UEFA decided to admit the Russian U-17 national team to international competitions, and only under a barrage of criticism and serious public pressure it reversed this decision.
A scandal is currently raging in Italy over football players playing on illegal betting. Juventus midfielder Nicolo Fagioli has already received a 7-month disqualification, national team player Sandro Tonali faces an equally severe ban, and these are far from the only defendants in the process.
The Italian national team in qualifying group C (England from there has already qualified for the Euro ahead of schedule) is three points behind second-placed Ukraine, having a match in hand. For second place in the remaining matches, with North Macedonia at home and Ukraine in Leverkusen, Luciano Spalletti’s team needs to take four points.
Squadra Azzurra won the European Championship in 2021, but at the same time – for the first time in its history – failed to qualify for two consecutive World Cups.
Source: Sportarena
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