Perugia line up star of Sweden’s women’s World Cup squad

ITALIAN club Perugia is courting the star of Sweden’s World Cup women’s football team Victoria Svensson apparently to play in the Serie A.

Controversial Perugia president Luciano Gaucci, who said recently he would like to put a woman into his team, claimed yesterday that he had contacted Svensson’s Djurgaarden club.

“We want her to join us as soon as possible,” Gaucci said yesterday.

“My sons and I watched ‘la Svensson’ during the World Cup, we watched the matches on TV and she was brilliant. We want her,” he added.

But Victoria and her team manager, Per Darnell, remained sceptical.

“It doesn’t look very serious. One can ask oneself why Perugia would want a female player, no matter how good she is,” Darnell said.

“The important thing for Victoria is to prepare for the Olympics next year and for that she can’t be sitting on the bench on a men’s team, regardless of how much money she gets. And it’s ridiculous to believe that she’d get to play for Perugia,” he said.

Sweden lost the World Cup final 2-1 to Germany in overtime when Nia Kuenzer headed in a free kick.

Perugia made headlines in June by signing Saadi Kadhafi, the son of Libyan leader Muammar, to a one-year contract.

The team has also hired the disgraced sprinter Ben Johnson who was stripped of his 100 metres gold medal for using drugs at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, to put the Perugia players through their paces in July.