LONDON – Chelsea manager Emma Hayes said she should not have called player-to-player relationships “inappropriate”, adding that there were no problems with professionalism in the Women’s Super League football side’s dressing room.

On March 14, Hayes said relationships between players were inappropriate and could lead to significant challenges for managers. Following her comments, Chelsea defender Jess Carter liked a number of posts on social media platform X that took issue with the English manager's statement.

After Chelsea’s 3-1 win over Arsenal on March 15, the 47-year-old said she had had a conversation with Carter and other Chelsea players, adding: “They know exactly who I am and what my intentions were.

“But I have to expect that – I’m supposed to be the most well-trained, non-clickbait coach, and I let myself down yesterday. I didn’t think it was right for me to use the term ‘inappropriate’ for the players.

“I don’t take those things back but I have zero criticism for any player in my dressing room for anything – their professionalism regardless of their status, regardless of who they are in a relationship with.”

Meanwhile, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) said on March 15 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 an administrative role, 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 March 15, 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. REUTERS, AFP