Italian women's league has grown strongly since last season. With a solid investment in women's football from the classic big clubs, the league has managed to attract many international players and has achieved a higher status.
Juventus is one of the clubs that has invested heavily. Ahead of last season, the Turin Club picked up England national striker Eniola Aluko from Chelsea. Despite an incredibly successful first season in Juventus with league title, cup title and a shooter title, Aluko now chooses to leave the club with six months left on the contract.
- The past six months have been very difficult. Sometimes it feels like Turin is a couple of decades behind when it comes to openness to general openness to different types of people, Eniola Aluko writes in a text in English The Guardian.
"There are problems in Italy and Italian football"In Juventus, Eniola Aluko is teammate with Swedish national team back Linda Sembrant. Last year, Petronella Ekroth also played in the club but left after she felt censored by the club. Eni Aluko writes in her text that she has never experienced any racism in the arenas around Italy but that encounters in that life outside of football have been filled with prejudice.
- I have tired of going into a store where the owner expects me to rob the place. There is a limit to how many times you can land at Turin airport and have the drug dogs treat you like you are Pablo Escobar, writes Aluko.
Aluko believes that Italy must address the problems of racism in the domestic league and society in order to continue to attract players from the rest of Europe and the world.
- There are problems in Italy and the Italian league and the view on the problems is what makes me really worried. From owners and supporters in the men's league who seem to see it as part of the supporter culture.
Aluko's final match with the Turin club will be the rival meeting against last year's league-two Fiorentina.