Former Italy international Ilaria Pasqui played for clubs such as Verona, Turin, Lazio, Roma and Pali Blues of Los Angeles. After hanging up her boots, Pasqui collaborated with Italian player union AIC, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), and Inter Milan where she served as Head of Women’s Football for five years. She is currently a legal consultant, a member of FIFPRO’s Women's Football Taskforce and an independent member of the Board of Directors of the Serie A Women's Football Division of FIGC.
FIFPRO Europe and its partners in the European Sectoral Dialogue for Professional Football (ECA and European Leagues) among others collaborate to improve gender representation. As part of this project, FIFPRO Europe was allowed two slots in the UEFA Women in Leadership Programme; Norwegian player Cathrine Dekkerhus and Pasqui were selected from 12 well-qualified candidates.
By Ilaria Pasqui
When it comes to women in leadership roles in football, things have changed a lot since I was a player. A lot, but not enough. When I was playing there were a couple of women occupying executive roles, but they were never free to lead – there was always a man they had to answer to.
Today, there are many more women who have managed to climb the ladder, but they are still nowhere near where they should be. Even when we get there, when we have worked hard to reach positions of power, we don't have the foundation to make things easier for those who follow our path. Men always seem to have the ability to help each other, even if that means the most deserving candidates are sometimes overlooked as a consequence.
Even gender quotas, which can certainly help women, are often perceived only as an obligation and not recognised as an opportunity to benefit from the skills and resources that these women can bring to the position.
Unfortunately, this means that sometimes, especially when women aren’t involved in the decision-making process, the best possible candidates aren’t always identified, hindering the opportunity to open the doors for other capable women and building a true network – rather than satisfying a rule for “politically correct” reasons. Having more women in top roles should not be treated as a question of gender, but rather of skills.
What is needed is a system with rules applied to all football stakeholders and with gender balance which, at the same time, favours the access of highly qualified people through an open path of learning and selection starting from the same opportunities.
When FIFPRO asked if there would be anyone interested in taking part in the UEFA Women in Leadership Programme, I was delighted to put my name forward, as I saw it as an opportunity to grow in my career and benefit my organisation on my return.
The programme was brilliant, but completely different to what I expected. With my career background in law and management, I assumed that the course would be very technical, perhaps with a focus on the administration side of the job. What we actually concentrated on was ourselves, and our own behaviours within a work environment. It was an eye-opening experience to examine my relationships with other people, my capacity to work in particular situations and, overall, my leadership qualities – as they are now, and what they have the potential to be.
I’m a naturally introverted person, which is something I would have always thought would count against me in a leadership role, but actually I learned that this could be my very strength. While I might not be the most vocal person in the room, I’m pretty good at analysing people around me, which helps me identify situations and work out solutions.
It wasn’t just a solo journey either; one of the best parts of the programme is realising how many people are in similar positions to yourself in their careers, and that you have obstacles in common. I met women from countries who I would consider far more developed in their attitudes towards women working in football than my own, but I learned that they still battle against the same bias.
It's so important to share our experiences around the world, so that we can work together to do better for ourselves and each other, making more opportunities for women to bring their skills and knowledge to the executive world of football. We need more programmes like this to help us grow, to network, and to take a step back and assess where we are, and where we really want to be.
I stopped playing football in 2012, having already graduated in law and started working with the union. I am proud of what I have helped to achieve since leaving the field; we have made changes that have transformed the game and put Italy on a trajectory of developing women's football in line with what other countries had achieved before us, which was so significant for me as a former player.
Starting in 2015, as legal advisor to the union and then the FA and later as Inter's Head of Women's Football, I was involved in the obligation for professional men's clubs to register U-12 female players in the national licensing system, the possibility for professional men's clubs to acquire the sporting title from women's clubs, and the reform through which in 2018 the FIGC directly intervened in the organisation of the Serie A and B leagues with the creation of the Women's Football Divisions within the federation.
This led to better regulation of women's football and structured a new licensing system for clubs, increasing the organisational, financial and technical level required for participation in the championships.
The recent change in the status of women’s players that came into effect on 1 July 2022, saw the Women's Serie A became professional – the first women's sport to do so in Italy – and the stipulation of the first Collective Bargaining Agreement.
My journey so far hasn’t been what I would have imagined at the beginning. I followed my two passions, sports (in particular football) and law, and I forged a career along the way. It was never about an end destination for me, but digging the path as I travelled along it, and I’m really happy with where I have ended up.
We now have a whole new generation of women coming through, and they have a positive vision, and determination to occupy these leadership positions, and my hope is that society has changed enough in the past 30 years to help them achieve it. However, I also hope that these women recognise the work that had to happen to get us to this point – the women that had to fight for their right to occupy these spaces.
I hope they continue to take part in these programmes and take every chance to learn from other women because although we’ve come a long way, we’re not there yet, and we can’t take anything for granted.
I would like to work in a global football culture where the best person gets the job. Where people are hired regardless of gender, but rather for the skills and knowledge they can bring to a given role, be it law, management, commerce or whatever. In Italy I hope to see the day when a woman will be president of the FA, and when that day comes I will know that we have made it.
