Italian official calls players lesbians

An Italian football official is under pressure to resign after allegedly referring to female players as a “bunch of lesbians.”
Felice Belloli, the president of the county’s amateur football association, allegedly made the comments when discussing funding for women’s football in the country.
The Italian Football Association (FIGC) opened an investigation after it was sent the minutes of the meeting of the Lega Nazionale Dilettanti (LND). Belloli allegedly said: “That’s enough, we can’t always talk about giving money to this bunch of lesbians,” but he denied having used those words. “I never signed those minutes,” Belloli said. “Can you see my signature on them? No, and I can tell you why – because minutes can be taken and amended by anybody. I know how the minutes are taken at the LND. All I am saying is that I did not utter that phrase.”
However, Sonia Pessotto, a former player and a member of the council that looks after women’s football for the FIGC, said that she was at the meeting and that Belloli had used the term. “I was there and he did use the phrase ‘bunch of lesbians.’ Now he has to resign from his position as the president of the amateur football association.”
Luisa Rizzitelli, the president of Assist, the national association for female athletes, agreed that Belloli should resign. “We don’t consider the word lesbian to be offensive, but in this context it is unacceptable and homophobic,” she stated. “Obviously, the Italian women’s team winning bronze in the World Cup last year is not enough for him to respect athletes in this discipline, their coaches and managers.”
Patrizia Panico, the Verona and Italy midfielder, said that if the comments had been accurately reported then they were “sexist, male chauvinist, and ignorant”.