Vatican forms its first women's football team

It may have a distinctly chequered past in its treatment of women, but the Vatican has scored a small victory in its push towards greater inclusion with the formation of its first female football team.

The new squad is made up of women who work in the tiny sovereign state, or the wives and daughters of men who are employed there.

The female employees have jobs in the Vatican’s various governmental departments, as well as the post office and health care centre.

So far, there are no nuns lacing up their boots – the team members are all lay women.

“We are certainly open to nuns joining – the only stipulation is that they must be employees of the Vatican,” said Danilo Zennaro, the head of an organisation called Sport in Vaticano, which is behind the new club.

The team has its debut match later this month against the women’s team of AS Roma, who are professional players.

“It’s going to be a big challenge, but hopefully we can learn from them,” Mr Zennaro told The Telegraph. “Even if we lose 20-0, it doesn’t matter.”

After that, the team will be off for its first game abroad – against a team in Vienna.

Most of the Vatican team are amateurs, although a few have played at higher levels, including the captain, Eugene Tcheugoue, who is originally from Cameroon.

“Around 60% of the team are Vatican employees, 20% are wives of employees and the rest are employees’ daughters,” said Mr Zennaro.

There are around 800 women working within the Vatican, he said.

The Holy See’s relationship with women has been fraught with difficulties, even in recent times.

In March, the entire board of a Vatican women’s magazine that blew the whistle on the sexual abuse of nuns by Catholic priests resigned, citing editorial interference from the Holy See.

The magazine, Women Church World, had revealed that the abuse of nuns around the world had led to many having abortions or giving birth to children who were not recognised by the priests who fathered them.

The condemnation prompted a startling admission a few days later by Pope Francis, who said that in some cases nuns had been kept by priests as “sex slaves”.

The all-female editorial team of the magazine stepped down over what they said were efforts to stifle their reporting and discredit their work.

The formation of the women’s football team follows the creation in January of the Vatican’s first running and athletics club.

Its 60 members include Swiss Guards, Vatican employees, officers from the Vatican gendarmerie, priests and nuns.

In 2013, the Vatican formed its own cricket team, the St Peter’s XI, made up of Catholic priests and seminarians in Rome who come from cricket-loving nations such as India, Pakistan, Australia and England.