Italian Football Federation president Carlo Tavecchio is surrounded by controversy once again, after a recording surfaced in which he allegedly makes homophobic and anti-semitic remarks.
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The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published extracts at the weekend of a recorded conversation between Tavecchio and Massimiliano Giacomini, director of the Italian sports website SoccerLife, which took place prior to the former becoming head of the federation.
The alleged remarks were made while Tavecchio was talking about the sale of an amateur league’s headquarters to a Jewish-Italian property investor, Cesere Anticoli.
“It was bought by that lousy Jew Anticoli”, Tavecchio is heard saying on an audio recording of the conversation posted on Corriere’s website.
“I want to add that I’ve requested – urgently – a detailed report from the FIGC to investigate the incident in question and the unique dynamics of the case on which it is based, as well as the subsequent clarifications and complaints of President Tavecchio”. “I have nothing against homosexuals but keep them away from me, I am perfectly normal”, he is also alleged to have said.
Tavecchio claimed he was being targeted for blackmail and that he doesn’t “recall” making the comments, suggesting they “might have been manipulated”. “I am clearly the victim of a blackmail attempt”, he said.
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But the 72-year-old politician, who was elected president of the Italian Football Federation in August 2014, has a long history of making offensive comments.
