Vatican buys soccer club

2007-10-03 17:28

Milan - The players of Italian third division side Ancona will most likely think twice before misbehaving on the pitch after the club was bought by the Vatican.

La Stampa reported on Wednesday that the Centro Sportivo Italiano (CSI) has bought 80% of the club through a group of Milanese Catholic entrepreneurs, leaving 20% to the former president Sergio Schiavoni.

CSI, which is run by the Vatican's Conference of Bishops, has drafted an ethics code both for players and fans and will invest the profits in projects to help developing countries and Catholic youth in Italy.

"It is a way to moralize football, to bring some ethics to a sector that is going through a deep crisis of values," said Ancona archbishop Edoardo Menichelli, who recently played a benefit game against an Italian national team of singers.

CSI president Edio Costantini said the centre wants "to invest in the true meaning of sport. We want football to be again a means of education and not tied to strictly monetary values.

"We will show that, for boys, football is not just an illusion or a bad example."

Ancona were in the Serie A as recently as four years ago but were involved in the scandals that shook Italian football in the summer of 2006.

After six games, they lead Group B of the Serie C1 alongside Salernitana. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA