Yahoo! Sports - World Soccer - Training camp boost for Italian jobless pros

Yahoo! Sports - World Soccer - Training camp boost for Italian jobless pros


Training camp boost for Italian jobless pros

By Simon Evans

FLORENCE, Italy, Aug 1 (Reuters) - As the new European season approaches, footballers without a club know it is far better to be put through your paces by a bellowing coach than be sat at home hoping for the phone to ring.

Italian football has a way of looking after those scores of professionals without a job as July turns into August.

For 20 years the Italian Footballers' Association (AIC), effectively a trade union for players, has run pre-season training camps for out-of-contract players.

For 60 of the quickest off the mark there is the chance to keep in shape at facilities designed for the elite -- the Coverciano training centre on the outskirts of Florence.

Coverciano, with its immaculate pitches, state-of-the-art gym, swimming pool and medical centre is where Marcello Lippi's Italy side prepare for World Cup qualifiers and is the home base for the 'Azzurri,' complete with residences and lecture theatres.

"It is a beautiful place to train. The pitches are perfect, there is an organisation behind you and excellent coaching staff," David Sesa, member of Roy Hodgson's Switzerland side at Euro '96 and former Serie A performer with Napoli, told Reuters.

Now a 32-year old out-of-contract winger, after he was released by Serie C2 club Palazzolo, Sesa says the desire to keep in shape is what brings most players to the centre.

"You have to be fit because you never know when a club is going to call and ask you to play in a friendly or come on trial -- and you have to be ready," he says.

Walking into the lobby at Coverciano, the visitor is greeted by a large colour photo of the Italy team which won the 1982 World Cup. Throughout the complex, portraits of Italian greats look down from the walls.

But the players currently working out on the lush, green fields have had more modest careers and are far from guaranteed work in the game when their careers end.

It is not just pre-season training, led by coaches, that the AIC offers its members. Alongside two training sessions a day, the players undergo a coaching qualification course which provides a future safety net of alternative work.

They also keep themselves 'match fit' by playing in friendly games against sides from the top two divisions.

The 60 players are split into three squads of 20 and this season Modena, Messina and Serie A club Parma among the opponents for 'FC Unemployed'.

TEAM SPIRIT

Biagio Savarese, head of the coaching team, says it is remarkable how quickly a group of players from different clubs and regions gel into what he calls a real team.

"The team spirit seems to come naturally - footballers are used to being part of a group. These are lads who are going through a difficult moment but they come together with others who are in the same boat.

"We keep them busy, keep their minds and their bodies occupied and they enjoy it. We get great results," he adds.

The AIC says that around 95 percent of the players who attend the Coverciano camp end up eventually finding a club.

But that task is getting ever harder as Italian football struggles with acute financial problems brought on by heavy over-spending that followed the liberalisation of the transfer market in the 1990s.

"Everything has changed," says Sesa, "The Bosman ruling meant clubs could offer a lot initially but now they -- and we-- are paying for their errors.

"Salaries are going down and clubs are only offering one-year deals -- you hardly ever see anyone over the age of 24 or 25 getting a two or three-year contract anymore," he says.

IDEAL CHANCE

'FC Unemployed' have no fans to support them but their friendly matches offer an ideal chance for clubs to take a look at potential free transfer signings.

While little may be at stake for their opponents, the Coverciano-based players know that their performances will be being closely watched by scouts and agents.

Much-travelled goalkeeper Davide Micillo, once on the books of Juventus and more recently Brescia and Parma, says the players try to block out any thoughts of who might be noting their moves in the stands.

"It is better not to think about it. You have to be calm and focused if you want to show people what you can do, you should never go out thinking that you are on trial," he said.

"We come from all over the country but we become a team when we get together -- we are a bit like a national side in that respect," the keeper says with a grin.

But, despite the blue and white training kit and the lunch in a restaurant that at other times serves Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti, the national team is a long, gone dream for these players.

The enjoyment of working out with temporary team mates in world class facilities is infinitely preferable to the lone jogging so many players in Europe face but it can never ease the players' worries over finding work.

As he heads off for his pasta, Sesa turns and has the final word: "If anyone is interested -- here I am"