Italy: FIGC recognised by the Italian Paralympic Committee as a National Paralympic Sports Federation
The Italian Football Federation (FIGC
Federazione Italiana di Giuoco Calcio, the Italian Football Federation.
) has been recognised by the Italian Paralympic Committee (CIP) as a National Paralympic Sports Federation, announced Gabriele Gravina
Vice president @ UEFA
, president of FIGC, Marco Giunio De Sanctis, president of the Italian Paralympic Committee (CIP/Comitato Italiano Paralimpico), and Franco Carraro, president of the FIGC's ”Paralympic Football Division,” on 28/01/2026.
"Since 01/01/2026, the CIP has delegated to the FIGC the management (technical, organisational, educational and financial) of football activities for amputee athletes and players with brain injuries, which were previously overseen by the Italian Paralympic and Experimental Sports Federation (FISPES/Federazione Italiana Sport Paralimpici e Sperimentali), at both national and international level," said the bodies.
"This activity will be added to that of the FIGC’s ”Paralympic Football Division,” which currently includes 300 teams across the country, with around 3,500 registered athletes."
"A new fundamental step" (FIGC)
The recognition of the FIGC as a “National Paralympic Sports Federation” marks a new fundamental step in the history of the Italian paralympic football movement, following the protocol signed in 2019 by the FIGC and the CIP that established the FIGC’s “Paralympic Football Division”, and the more recent agreement (2024), which defined a joint strategy aimed at reshaping the organisation of paralympic football, presented at the meeting held on the day.
FIGC, press release, 28/01/2026
"Football can truly be accessible to everyone, by overcoming all barriers" (G. Gravina, FIGC)
When, in 2019, we expanded our scope by creating a federal division specifically dedicated to athletes with cognitive and relational difficulties, we set ourselves several objectives, the first of which was to make inclusion through football one of our missions.
Thanks to the experience we have gained and to the sensitivity that characterises us — social before even being sporting — we have finally achieved the goal of becoming part of the great Italian paralympic family. This represents a further step in the process of the growing openness of the football world, in which the athlete is an integral part of a much broader community.
In this way, football can truly be accessible to everyone, by overcoming all barriers. In this respect, the FIGC represents a national and international best practice".
Gabriele Gravina, president of FIGC, 28/01/2026
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"Sporting activity is not only good for the body, it also improves overall wellbeing, particularly for girls and boys involved in paralympic sports," said Franco Carraro, president of the FIGC’s “Paralympic Football Division”.
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# 2113, created on 28/05/14 at 03:09 - Updated on 28/04/26 at 10:13
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