Vatican City Championship

Vatican City Championship
Founded1 May 1972[1]
CountryVatican City
Number of teams8
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toNone
Domestic cup(s)Coppa Sergio Valci
Supercoppa
Current championsRappresentativa OPBG (4th title)
(2023)
Most championshipsDirseco
(8 titles)
Websitehttp://www.sportinvaticano.com

The Vatican City Championship (Italian: Campionato della Città del Vaticano) is the top men's association football league of Vatican City. Founded in 1972 as the Coppa Amicizia, teams are composed of workers representing various state departments.[2] Teams are permitted to field an outside player from Italian amateur teams to play as goalkeeper,[3] and players combine to form the Vatican City national team for rare friendly matches.[4] The Vatican football association, Federazione Vaticanese Giuoco Calcio, is not a member of FIFA[5] and is overseen by its president Domenico Regards as of May 2014.[4] All matches are played at the Associazione Sportivo La Salle complex in Western Rome, although the larger Campo Cardinale Francis Joseph Spellman served as home until recently.[6] The league has amateur status with matches and training taking place outside of work hours. Matches take place on Mondays and Tuesdays.[7] Equipment and uniforms are occasionally donated by organizations and benefactors[8] with deficits being covered by the Vatican government.[9] The league takes place between October and May each year with a two-month break in December and January.

  1. ^ Argano, Fabrizia. "Il Campionato in Vaticano: "Papa Francesco tifa per noi"" (in Italian). corrieredellosport.it. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  2. ^ Zinelli, L. "Vatican City - List of Champions". RSSSF. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  3. ^ Collodi, Luca. "Al via il Campionato di calcio in Vaticano" (in Italian). Radio Vaticano. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  4. ^ a b Montague, James. "A Friendly Games for a Beatific State". New York Times. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  5. ^ Baxter, Kevin. "Vatican soccer tournament is a competition of Biblical proportions". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  6. ^ McGuiness, Pat. "VATICAN CITY: A POTTED HISTORY". Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  7. ^ Nuti, Nicola. "Anche il Vaticano ha il suo campionato interno di calcio" (in Italian). News Cattoliche. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  8. ^ Nuti, Nicola. "Vaticano: 7 squadre per il campionato di calcio" (in Italian). News Cattoliche. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  9. ^ Mattei, Giampaolo. "Lo scudetto vaticano? Ai Gendarmi E per gli Svizzeri "zero tituli"" (in Italian). vatican.va. Retrieved 26 August 2016.