As Roma Women: no Tre Fontane for Champions League, Francioni the main option

Playing at home, but still being away: that's the fate that will befall Roma Women for their matches in their hard-earned and well-deserved round during the next Champions League. During the return match against Sparta Prague, there was further proof of how much the Tre Fontane Stadium is the home of the Giallorosse in all respects. This is because the growing affection of the fans is becoming more and more evident every day and the proximity (also physical) of the stands to the field is a real propeller for the players on the field.

The bad news, however, is that the Eur facility does not meet the demanding parameters that Uefa requires for the group stage matches that Bartoli and her teammates will face from October 20th onward; both in terms of the lighting system and other parts of the infrastructure. The issue arises because women's Champions matches are played either in the late afternoon or in the evening hours. Therefore, a certain standard of artificial lighting is called for by the European soccer body. For weeks, even before being certain of the passage of the preliminary double round, the Giallorossi club has been working on sifting through other alternatives. One of the included alternatives was to use the Stadio Olimpico, but it has been a short-lived option. It is too difficult, if not impossible, to coincide with the many commitments of the men's team and also of Lazio for European competitions. Also, when the World Cup stoppage is scheduled (from November 13th to January 4th) in Qatar the round will have already started two gamedays prior. The Roma club is paying for the fact that it has not yet been able to build a stadium of its own for free use and this is a great disappointment to the club. Besides the Tre Fontane and the Foro Italico facility, no other stadium is up to the mark. It is, therefore, necessary to evaluate alternatives as close as possible in the region. Also, while the possibilities in Frosinone and Rieti have not been completely ruled out yet, the most accredited solution is to use the Francioni stadium in Latina. There a Uefa commission showed up to verify that the necessary conditions were met and to evaluate any improvements which needed to be made to reach the required standards.

The trip to the Francioni for Roma Femminile will be a return after a single and unpleasant precedent in the semifinal of the Italian Super Cup on January 5th, 2022. The team lost 2-1 to Ganz's Milan with Rossonere goals by Thomas and Bergamaschi and the Roma goal signed by Ciccotti. In just a few months Roma has grown so much, and when they return to Latina they will do so to play on a top European stage and continue their steady growth. It will also be interesting to see how many Roma fans will follow the team in its oxymoronic "away home game."