Petrucci: “Carraro senior for Coni? And then Trump?”

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“Giovanni Malagò? A family friend. Stefano Binaghi and Paolo Barelli? The best federation presidents. Luciano Buonfiglio? More than appeals, he must be able to run for the presidency”. Gianni Petrucci , born in 1945, for 14 years – from 1999 to 2013 – president of Coni and today head of the Italian Basketball Federation – of which he was already general secretary at the beginning of his career, from '77 to '85 – has a good word for all the leaders of Italian sport. And yet, those in the know say, in the end, when on June 26 at Acquacetosa there will be a vote to choose the new president of the Olympic Committee, his vote, that of the FIP, will go to Franco Carraro , who even more than him is the true eternity of the forest of Italian sport . A career longer than a telephone directory: president of Milan, of Coni, of Mediocredito, minister of Tourism, mayor of Rome ... Today he is 86 years old, won't it be too late for this return? "Absolutely not", Petrucci blurts out. "And Trump? He is the president of the United States and was born in 1946. But do you hear how lucid I am too? There's nothing wrong with that, even the presidents of the regions would like to return by now. Personally, I can only say thank you to him", acknowledges the president of the FIP. “A large part of my career was signed and sealed by him: he took me to the Lega Calcio Professionisti and then to the secretariat of the Federcalcio when he was a minister. But I do not vote for anyone, I will only express my preference”. In the meantime, it has been written that you met Giovanni Malagò together with Gianni Letta and another candidate for the presidency, Luca Pancalli. “I have not seen any candidates – neither Pancalli, nor Carraro, nor Buonfiglio – I only met Malagò to talk about the candidacy of our federation representative, the captain of Armani Pippo Ricci, who will be elected to the council”.

Carraro, Malagò who supports Buonfiglio, in Italy nothing ever changes, someone says, even in sports the managers are always the same, and increasingly older. "And politicians then?", Petrucci defends himself. "Aren't they always the same? Are they all children? But why doesn't anyone say that Trump is 78 years old or that the President of the Republic Napolitano was reconfirmed at 88?". Malagò hoped for a change in the rules for the fourth term. "I was in favor of this solution, but it wasn't accepted", Petrucci replies. "I've always had an excellent relationship with him. We are family friends. I was a true friend of his father, a great man who I felt until his last days". Unlike Petrucci, the outgoing president of the CONI supports Buonfiglio, president of the canoe federation, whose candidacy however hangs over the shadow of an appeal . This newspaper wrote : an old legislative decree would prevent federation presidents from running. "It's sad - says Petrucci - when people cling to these quibbles". And who knows if he is also thinking about the other appeal. The one that yesterday the candidate that FdI and FI like, Luca Pancalli, announced he will not make against the candidacy of Carraro who in theory has already served three terms at Coni.

Meanwhile, in the complicated race for the Olympic Committee, a Conclave that has the presidents of the federations as cardinals, another controversy has emerged that at least for now no one in the Vatican has ever raised: among the 11 candidates for the presidency there is not even one woman. "But this is true for many sectors, it's not like a choice has been made", Petrucci replies. From the new president, regardless of who it will be, what do you expect? "I expect him to have relationships with all the interested parties, from Sports and Health to the government". Don't you think that politics weighs too much today in the sporting life of the federations? "Look - replies Petrucci - politics is everything in life, it doesn't just mean the parties". Meanwhile, among the presidents of the federations there is one who has ended up in the eye of the storm for the less than stellar results of the national team: the president of the FIGC Emanuele Gravina. Should he give up? "I - says Petrucci - will always defend him, for non-experts it is too easy to attack him. But it is not him who scores or not scores".

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