Football most popular sport in Italy: Ambassador Andreas Ferrarese
Newswire
Islamabad: Italy’s Ambassador to Pakistan Andreas Ferrarese has said that football is the most popular sport in Italy.
The envoy, who is on a visit to his country, said Italy’s national football team is one of the world’s most successful teams with four FIFA World Cup victories -1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006.
He said Italian clubs had won 48 major European trophies, making Italy the second most successful country in European football. Italy’s top-flight club football league is named Serie A and is followed by millions of fans around the world.
Other popular team sports in Italy, he said, include basketball, volleyball and rugby. Italy’s male and female national volleyball teams are often featured among the world’s best, he added.
Ambassador Ferrarese said the Italian national basketball team’s best results were gold at Eurobasket 1983 and EuroBasket 1999, as well as silver at the Olympics in 2004.
He said Lega Basket Series A is widely considered one of the most competitive in Europe. Rugby union enjoys a good level of popularity, especially in the north of the country.
Italy’s national team competes in the Six Nations Championship, and is a regular at the Rugby World Cup. Italy ranks as a tier-one nation by World Rugby. The men’s volleyball team won three consecutive World Championships (in 1990, 1994, and 1998) and earned the Olympic silver medal in 1996, 2004, and 2016, he added.
Ambassador Ferrarese said Italy had a long and successful tradition in individual sports as well. Bicycle racing is a very familiar sport in the country, he said.
Italians, Ambassador Ferrarese said, had won the UCI World Championships more than any other country, except Belgium.
The Giro d’Italia is a cycling race held every May, and constitutes one of the three Grand Tours, along with the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, each of which last approximately three weeks, he said.
The envoy said Alpine skiing was also a very widespread sport in Italy, and the country is a popular international skiing destination, known for its ski resorts.
Italian skiers achieved good results in Winter Olympic Games, Alpine Ski World Cup, and World Championship, he added.
Ambassador Ferrarese said tennis had a significant following in Italy, ranking as the fourth most practised sport in the country.
The Rome Masters, founded in 1930, is one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world. Italian professional tennis players won the Davis Cup in 1976 and the Fed Cup in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2013, he said.
Motorsports are also extremely popular in Italy. Italy has won, by far, the most MotoGP World Championships. Italian Scuderia Ferrari is the oldest surviving team in Grand Prix racing, having competed since 1948, and statistically the most successful Formula One team in history with a record of 232 wins, Ambassador Ferrarese said.
He said the Italian Grand Prix of Formula 1 is the fifth oldest surviving Grand Prix, having been held since 1921. It is also one of the two Grand Prix present in every championship since the first one in 1950. Every Formula 1 Grand Prix (except for the 1980) has been held at Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Formula 1 was also held at Imola (1980–2006, 2020) and Mugello (2020)
Historically, Italy has been successful in the Olympic Games, taking part from the first Olympiad and in 47 Games out of 48.
Italian sportsmen have won 522 medals at the Summer Olympic Games, and another 106 at the Winter Olympic Games, for a combined total of 628 medals with 235 golds, which makes them the fifth most successful nation in Olympic history for total medals. The country hosted two Winter Olympics and will host a third (in 1956, 2006, and 2026), and one Summer games (in 1960), he added.
