Perugia president attacks female footballers for snubbing Serie A

ECCENTRIC Perugia president Luciano Gaucci has slammed two female footballers who snubbed his offer to make them the first women to play in Italy’s Serie A.

Gaucci says he is determined to have a woman in his team for next year and has spent months trying to lure Swedes Victoria Svensson and Hanna Ljungberg to Italy to play alongside the men.

But the pair, both strikers for Sweden’s national women’s team, spurned his advances saying they could not compete with the likes of Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta.

“We’ve wasted three months and time is precious,” he said yesterday. “If they didn’t want to come to Perugia they should have told me straight away.

“Anyhow, I won’t give up. A woman will play in my team and there are many out there who would happy to come,” said Gaucci.

Last week Svensson, a Swedish international striker, said it was unrealistic to think a woman could play in a professional league against men.

“I don’t think that women can compete against men on a regular basis,” she said.

“Quite simply we would not be able to get the better of players such as Maldini and Nesta.”

Perugia made headlines in June by signing Libyan international Saadi Kadhafi on a one-year contract. The son of Libyan leader Moamer, Saadi Kadhafi tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone.

The Umbrian club also hired disgraced sprinter Ben Johnson to take charge of pre-season training. Johnson was stripped of his 100 metres gold medal for testing positive for the steroid stanolozol at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.