Italy: "Women's football will be professional from 01/07/2022" (Gabriele Gravina, FIGC)

"The regulations concerning the practice of women's football at professional level have been approved. This is an important day. As of 01/07/2022, these rules will apply. The FIGC is the first Italian sports federation to implement this major innovation," said Gabriele Gravina, president of the Italian Football Federation, after a meeting of the federal council on 26/04/2022.

"This is excellent news, I'm very happy. I hope that Lega Serie A will soon have two divisions - male and female - so as to be able to further enhance a rapidly growing movement," said Lorenzo Casini, president of the Italian professional league, which manages the Serie A TIM championship.

In concrete terms, this means that the contracts of the players of the 10 teams (compared to 12 in 2021-22) that will take part in the 2022-23 Italian championship will have to be modified on the basis of a collective agreement negotiated and signed before 30/06/2022.

"I am delighted, it has been a long and hard fight. We are reaping the fruits of so much hard work! We have to start at the top to allow the system to grow in…