FSGC, Tura: "If the player’s involvement in the Verona case is confirmed, the club may act to terminate the relationship"

With reference to the events recently attributed by the Verona Court to an Italian resident registered with a San Marino football club, the San Marino Football Federation – through its President, Marco Tura – wishes to share the following statements. "In the last few hours a local news outlet has published a name as the alleged recipient of the first‑instance ruling that has been widely discussed in every forum in recent days. Naturally, this cannot yet be regarded as an official communication, but it does allow us to take steps to verify – through either a denial or confirmation by the person concerned – the accuracy of the information. We therefore expect the player involved to deny what has been reported in the press; otherwise, the club will feel entitled to freeze its relationship with the player. The issue of Safeguarding is highly topical for San Marino sport as well: the San Marino National Olympic Committee approved a regulation on the matter – based on the IOC model – last July, which all sports federations were expected to adopt by January 2025. We have not yet adhered to it because, in line with the approach taken by the NOC, since July 2024 one of our officials has been attending a Safeguarding course organised by FIFA. This programme with FIFA will conclude in May and will then allow us to deepen and further complete the expertise that the FSGC already has, having also worked on it in synergy with UEFA, which has issued a related certificate to our qualified staff. Each affiliated club has also appointed an internal contact person (Child Safeguarding Focal Point) who can liaise with the one designated by the FSGC. These roles were specifically requested by the Football Federation before UEFA had even made them mandatory. In any case, all of them have completed an online training course promoted by UEFA. Naturally, the document that the FSGC will adopt in the coming months – like all codes of ethics – will only be applicable once there is certainty as to the identity of the person who has committed a specific offence. In practice, this has been the main issue we have had to deal with in recent days". It is also worth recalling that the San Marino Football Federation has already taken an initial, important step on this crucial subject. For some time now it has had in place a Child Safeguarding Policy (published on the FSGC website and available at this link), which will be expanded and finalised upon completion of the above‑mentioned FIFA course.

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