The Amateur Sports Association ( it, Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica "Sport in Vaticano") is an Italian sports association of employees who work in the
Vatican City.
The Association is headquartered in Italy and has an operative office in the Cortile di San Damaso inside the Vatican.
The current President is Domenico Ruggiero.
History
The association was founded in 1972 by Dr. Sergio Valci, a Vatican employee. He remained President of the Association until his death in 2012.
has been held for members of the Association at
Saint Peter's tomb
Saint Peter's tomb is a site under St. Peter's Basilica that includes several graves and a structure said by Vatican authorities to have been built to memorialize the location of Saint Peter's grave. St. Peter's tomb is alleged near the west end ...
below
St. Peter's Basilica in the
Vatican Grottoes.
In May 2023, the association celebrated the conclusion of its fiftieth anniversary with dignitaries, including
Cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
Mauro Gambetti. Among the topics discussed was the possibility of the association joining
UEFA. It was revealed that
Pope Francis spoke with UEFA President
Aleksander Čeferin about the possibility when the latter visited the pope ahead of the
UEFA Euro 2020 final.
Sports
The Vatican Amateur Sports Association is currently involved with
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
, and remains open to other sports.
Football
Vatican City is one of the eight officially recognized and independent states whose national football team is not a member of
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
(the others are
Monaco,
Tuvalu,
Kiribati,
Federated States of Micronesia,
Nauru
Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Ki ...
,
Marshall Islands, and
Palau).
However, Vatican City has fielded a
men's national team since as early as 1994
and a
women's national team since 2019.
In 2006
UEFA spokesperson
William Gaillard William Gaillard is the director of communications and public affairs for the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). He is also the Senior Advisor to the President of UEFA Michel Platini.
Gaillard, who was born in France, came to wide pr ...
told a media outlet that he saw no reason why the Vatican should not have a national team in international competitions. He said, "We already have states of 30,000 citizens like
San Marino,
Liechtenstein, and
Andorra. If the Vatican wants to become a member of UEFA all it has to do is apply. If it meets the requirements, it will be accepted". At that time Cardinal
Tarcisio Bertone insisted that the Vatican's football future lies only in amateur games and competitions.
In May 2014, Domenico Ruggerio, president of the national football association, stated, "I prefer to be amateur...To join FIFA, at that level, will be like a business" after stating, "The important message of friendship and love is demonstrated by the sport — the real sport, not the business that is in football these days...It is not just important to win a match; it is how you carry yourself." Therefore, that, he added, meant that "the
ethos of the Vatican's soccer team was, at odds with FIFA membership.
In addition to the national teams, the Association organizes the
Vatican City Championship
The Vatican City Championship ( it, Campionato della Città del Vaticano) is the top men's association football league of Vatican City. Founded in 1972 as the Coppa Amicizia, teams are composed of workers representing various state departments. T ...
,
Coppa Sergio Valci
Coppa Sergio Valci is the annual men's domestic round-robin association football cup competition in Vatican City
Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticana ...
,
and the
Vatican Supercoppa.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vatican Amateur Sports Association
European national and official selection-teams not affiliated to FIFA
Sports Association
1972 establishments in Europe
Sports organizations established in 1972