Serie D Viareggio Team

Background

In February 1933, at Via Stoppani 12 in Milan, the Gruppo Femminile Calcistico was founded, considered the first organized women's football club in Italy. Initially, the players wore skirts on the pitch. The initiative lasted approximately nine months. After the publication of a photographic report in the newspaper Calcio Illustrato, other women's teams began to emerge in the country. Reacting to the sport's growing popularity, the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) prohibited women from participating in tournaments and friendly matches, redirecting the athletes to track and field.

In 1946, two teams were founded in Trieste: Triestina and San Giusto. In 1950, in Naples, several clubs created the Associazione Italiana Calcio Femminile (AICF), which remained active until its dissolution in 1959. Despite the entity's dissolution, the sport continued to be played unofficially.

In 1965, in Milan, Valeria Rocchi founded two teams with the support of the then-president of Internazionale, Angelo Moratti. During the fourth Inter Club-Pepsi Cola tournament, held at the Arena Civica in Milan, an exhibition match named Bologna versus Inter was played. The teams consisted of young Milanese girls aged between 14 and 17, with Valeria Rocchi acting as both coach and referee. The event received positive coverage in the press and attracted public attention. In September of the same year, a rematch was held with more than a thousand spectators in attendance.

Foundation and splits

In 1968, the Federazione Italiana Calcio Femminile (FICF, also known as the Viareggio Federation, in reference to the leader of the promoting committee, Mazzoni) was established. The first Italian championship was organized under the entity's management, structured in two groups of five teams. The final, held in Pisa, resulted in Associazione Calcio Femminile Genova winning the title by defeating Roma.

On 31 January 1970, a split occurred when ten clubs left the FICF to found the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio Femminile (FFIGC), under the presidency of lawyer Giovanni Trabucco. In the following season, Trabucco was succeeded by Aleandro Franchi. In 1970, Trabucco's administration had requested recognition of the entity by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) for eventual affiliation with CONI. However, a commission appointed by the FIGC, chaired by Franco Bettinelli, issued an unfavorable opinion on the request.

In 1972, the two federations merged under the name Federazione Femminile Italiana Unificata Autonoma Giuoco Calcio. However, a dissident group of about fifteen clubs, led by Paolo Savini, recreated the Viareggio Federation under the acronym FIGCF. This federation organized a parallel championship restricted to clubs from Piedmont, Lombardy, Liguria, and Tuscany.

Reunification took place the following season, with the return of the dissident clubs to the main federation. In January 1973, during an Extraordinary Assembly, the entity removed the term "Autonoma" (Autonomous) from its name, becoming the Federazione Femminile Italiana Unificata Giuoco Calcio (FFIUGC). On 16 February 1975, it adopted the name Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio Femminile (FIGCF), operating under this nomenclature until its official integration into the FIGC in 1986.

Following the 1972 unification, a qualification championship was organized with 45 teams divided into four groups. In 1973, Serie B ceased to be a strictly regional competition and became a national championship, being called Serie A Interregionale (Inter-regional Serie A) during its first three years.

During its period of independence from the FIGC, the FFIGC recorded an expansion in the number of clubs and competitions. In 1979, a regional championship for youth categories (beginners) was created, which was transformed into Serie D in 1982.

FIGC Era

The inclusion of women's football into the structure of the FIGC formally occurred in 1986, when the sport was housed under the Lega Nazionale Dilettanti (LND). Starting from the 1986–87 season, commissions were created to regulate the sport, and in 1989 Maurizio Foroni was appointed as the sector's first president.

On 1 May 1997, the Serie A and B teams elected Natalina Ceraso Levati as president of the Women's Football Division. The national structure was then composed of a single-group Serie A (16 teams) and a Serie B divided into three groups (14 teams each). The Supercoppa Italiana was established to be contested between the winner of the Coppa Italia and the Serie A champion. In 1998, Serie B was restructured into four groups, adopting a playoff system to determine the three promotion spots to Serie A. During the same period, regional Under-14 tournaments were implemented to foster the sport's development.

At the 2009 federal assembly, Giancarlo Padovan was elected President of the Women's Football Division.

Starting from the 2018–19 season, the FIGC took over the direct management of the Serie A and Serie B championships. The LND filed a legal appeal in an attempt to retain the organization of the tournaments, but the request was rejected by the sports courts.

Professionalisation

Although Serie A Femminile traces its origins back to the 1960s, the players maintained the status of amateur athletes for decades. The transition process towards professionalism gained momentum in 2019, driven by the Italian national team's campaign at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, where they reached the quarter-finals. The movement was supported by FIGC President Gabriele Gravina. Later that year, the Senate of the Republic passed an amendment to the 2020 Budget Law, establishing the legal basis for female athletes to become professionals.

On 25 June 2020, the FIGC formally announced that Serie A Femminile would achieve professional status by 2022.