Thursday, 28 January 2021
Alex Čizmić is a multilingual freelance journalist based between Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about the Balkans from a socio-political perspective, as well as everything football.
Neapolitans braved Covid-19 restrictions to mourn Diego Maradona, the man who took the city from earthquake ruins to a seat at the highest table in Italian and European football.
Two decades of eroded national health expenditure and privatisation played a role in the country’s struggle with the virus. Now, citizens demand answers in the face of a second wave of infections.
Then under French control, the founders stood up to the authorities to create the first Tunisian football club managed by Tunisians. They have weathered many storms since to reach a century.
Citizens fear restrictive measures without adequate financial support will leave them more impoverished as the government attempts to contain a second wave of Covid-19 infections.
The rise in the number of Gambian footballers making a name for themselves in Italy’s Serie A is something for the African nation to celebrate. It’s also a cause for concern.
Being of African descent in Italy means facing systemic racism, irrespective of whether one is a recently arrived refugee or migrant, or was born and raised in the country.
A new generation of artists is using their songs to not only voice the lived experience of Italians of African descent but also spread the word to the rest of Italy.
More than 34 000 people have died from Covid-19 in Italy, which has struggled to find burial space. Muslims have suffered the most in being able to lay loved ones properly to rest.
Italy, once the epicentre of Covid-19 in Europe, has seen many of its residents affected by the pandemic. But migrants, homeless and elderly people, and women in abusive relationships have been hardest hit.
As the European epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic gears up to gradually reopen, essential workers still have little personal protective equipment and nonessential personnel fear for their jobs.
South African sportspeople are using the Covid-19 lockdowns to bond with their families, refine other talents and take time out for introspection.
Italy’s Serie A league is not a hospitable place for black players, and the country’s football institutions doling out mere slaps on the wrist for racial abuse is leading to the spread of racism in the sport.