Serie A Perugia on verge of signing female player

PERUGIA could be within a week of becoming the first leading men's football club to sign a female player.

The Serie A club's president, Luciano Gaucci, revealed yesterday negotiations to sign a top Swedish player would get under way next week.

Gaucci said representatives of his club would travel to Sweden next week to negotiate a deal for either Djurgarden's Victoria Svensson or Umea's Hanna Ljungberg.

Even by the standards of a club who have already made some audacious transfer coups, it would be an unprecedented move in world football to sign a woman, though Svensson and Ljungberg are highly regarded.

Gaucci, who plans to field his new signing in Italy's top flight, said: "We are going next week to Sweden to start negotiating the signing of either Svensson or Ljungberg."

With Serie A rules not expressly forbidding such a deal, Gaucci said he saw no reason why the move could not go ahead.

"I don't see why not," said Gaucci. "They [Svensson and Ljungberg] are among the best, which is a sign that they are capable of playing in Serie A.

"We have youth players in Serie A so I don't see why women cannot be allowed either.

"We are in 2003. Men go to discotheques and go naked on the beach. I can't see why players would have a problem having a woman on the team."

Both Ljungberg, Sweden's Player of the Year in 2002, and Svensson played in the recent women's World Cup. Sweden finished runners-up to Germany, losing the final in extra-time.

Svensson, 26, scored three goals and claimed four assists, while 24-year-old Ljungberg managed three goals, including the opener in the final, and one assist.

Gaucci has previously attempted to break the gender barrier when he appointed Carolina Morace as coach to another club, Viterbese, in 1999.

The short-lived experiment, a first in world football, did not succeed and Morace quit after eight matches and later took charge of the Italian women's team.

Then Gaucci broke into new markets by signing Japanese player Hidetoshi Nakata and South Korean Jung-Hwan Ahn for Perugia.

When Ahn scored the golden goal which eliminated Italy from the 2002 World Cup, Gaucci promptly drummed him out of the club.

However, this summer Gaucci again stunned all in Italian football by signing Saadi Gaddafi, son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Gaddafi, awarded the number 19 jersey, has yet to make his Serie A debut.