FC Zurich president criticises "disloyal", "spoilt" male footballers and has praised the women's game

By David Gold at the Dolder Grand in Zurich

November 7 – Speaking at the International Football Arena conference in Zurich, the President of FC Zurich, Ancillo Canepa, has criticised male footballers for being disloyal and “spoilt” and said that women are naturally fairer and more sporting.

“It is a question of character – that’s the difference between men and women,” he said.

“[In the business world] if you see a chief executive and women’s manager there is a big difference.

“In my opinion it is a genetic difference, women are just fairer.”

In a stinging rebuke for the men’s game, Canepa added that “there are some aspects of men’s football I just don’t like.”

He added: “I have been for over six years the President of FC Zurich and I know the problems of professional men’s football.

“In my opinion many games are getting more and more boring – not every team is like Barcelona, many games are too physical.

“The environment of professional football is not always clean, we have scandals, problems, some of the professional football players are spoilt.

“Sometimes they are helpless without their agents, they can’t even find the toilet! A lot of players are no more loyal to the clubs.

“So that’s the reason why I like women’s football players – they don’t moan, they are not spoilt, and they are grateful. They recognise the support that we are giving the club and you can see and feel that they enjoy playing football.

“They play football – they just don’t fight.”

Canepa’s words were echoed by FIFA’s head of women’s competitions, Tatjana Haenni, who said: “We feel that women’s players have more respect for each other and for referees.

“They don’t dive…yet!

“Usually women’s players try to score and not to defend.

“Marta in Brazil [the five time World Player of the Year] represents what women’s football is – she is skilful, quick and elegant at the same time.”

Conversely, the Olympique Lyonnais midfielder, Lara Dickenmann, who scored the second goal in her club’s European Champions League final victory last season, expressed concern that women’s football could adopt some of men’s football’s worst habits if they are not careful.

“The German national team before the World Cup (held in Germany earlier this year) got a lot of media attention.

“I saw some negative reactions of the players, it really got to them so they started to react like men.

“The negative sides we see that the media can have on players is something we have to learn to deal with.

“We have to use the media to get our attention but we have to do it in our way. I see it a little bit that we are starting to fall into a little bit of a negative path.”

Whichever way you look at it, it was a good year for the women’s game after the successful World Cup held in Germany this summer.

Japan won the competition for the first time after a thrilling penalty shoot-out victory over the USA in the final. Attendances were high and audiences watching on television were similarly impressive, with €7.6 million being made in net profit.

Haenni suggested that a FIFA Women’s Club World Cup could be introduced to help continue the development of the women’s game.

Ulrich Wolter, the General Coordinator of the World Cup this summer, said: “The number of spectators in the stadia and [outside] was enormous…no one expected such high numbers abroad.”

One thing that is definitely changing is the number of teams at the World Cup, with 24 scheduled to participate in the 2015 competition in Canada, and Haenni says that North America is the perfect place for the women’s game to develop.

“In Canada as many women are playing football as men – the USA is a very strong country in women’s football…we believe we can build up the momentum of Germany and make it bigger and more powerful.”

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