The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) said Friday an investigation has been opened after two employees of Serie A side Roma were sacked after an intimate video of them was shared by an under-19 team player.
The case has made waves in Italy over alleged discrimination with one MP promising she would raise the matter in parliament.
The youth team player, a minor according to the Italian press, gained access last November to the mobile phone of a club employee who worked in the administrative sector under the pretext of having to make a call to his agent.
Reports suggest the player then found a video showing the woman having “intimate relations” with a superior within the club.
This video was then shared with others including Roma first team players. Club management became aware of it with both employees sacked.
On Friday, Roma denounced “a clear attempt to attack and destabilise the club and its group at a crucial moment of the sporting season”.
Roma are currently fifth in the Italian league and have qualified for the quarter-finals of the Europa League where they will face AC Milan.
The club pointed out that “the dismissal was the consequence of a circumstance that, in addition to being contrary to the club’s Code of Ethics … objectively determined the impossibility of continuing the working relationship with the club, also in light of the duties performed by both of them that required direct coordination with minors”.
“The facts were used to make believe that there was sexual discrimination and disparity in treatment while the decision (to dismiss) the man involved took place at the same time,” as the woman, the club added.
