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FOOTBALL

Banker Gaetano Miccichè elected president of Italy’s Serie A

Banker Gaetano Miccichè was elected Serie A president on Monday, filling a position that had been vacant for a year and plugging part of the void at the top of Italian football.

Banker Gaetano Miccichè elected president of Italy's Serie A
Italy's top league finally has a president after 12 months in limbo. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

Miccichè – a 67-year-old native of Palermo in Sicily and the president of the IMI investment bank – was nominated by Italian Olympic Committee (Coni) president Giovanni Malago and elected unanimously by the 20 clubs in the division to take a position that had been vacant since last March.

The Italian football federation (FIGC) is also without a president and the national team is under a temporary coach in Luigi Di Biagio.

Coni took over the administration of Serie A in December and has also been running the FIGC, whose president Carlo Tavecchio resigned in November, under pressure from Malago following Italy's failure to qualify for the World Cup.

Shortly before he quit, Tavecchio fired Azzurri coach Gian Piero Ventura.

The FIGC attempted to elect a new president in January, but the vote ended with all the candidates being rejected.

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RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

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