Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 9y

Juventus legend Alessandro Del Piero denied Turin city honour

Juventus legend Alessandro Del Piero has been denied honorary citizenship of Turin after a vote was snubbed by the opposition party in the Italian city.

The 40-year-old, who spent almost two decades on the books with the Bianconeri, scoring 208 goals for the club before moving to Sydney FC in 2012, was put forward for honorary citizenship last year and a vote was taken on Monday.

However, the entire opposition party in the Turin council abstained from the vote, meaning the required majority to honour one of Italy's 2006 World Cup winners was not met.

"Honorary citizenship is something which should be pondered wisely," said Partito Democratico politician Michele Paolino. "Maybe it would be more suitable to introduce a different kind of recognition, like an award from the city."

That is not the view held by one of those who put forward the motion, Fabrizio Ricca.

"The city has given honorary citizenship to anybody, even people like [anti-mafia author] Roberto Saviano who has never had anything to do with the city," he said in the Corriere della Sera. "Now there was an opportunity to give it to somebody who has spread the name of Turin all over the world, we don't do it."

Del Piero's glittering career in Turin saw him win five Serie A titles and the Champions League.

He has yet to announce his retirement officially, having ended his participation in the Indian Super League with Delhi Dynamos, although he is currently without a club.

Meanwhile, Italy coach Antonio Conte is to end his Turin exile by paying his former club -- where he spent more than a decade playing alongside Del Piero -- a visit in the coming days.

Conte, 45, has spent time with each of Serie A's 20 clubs to exchange ideas and view their training methods since taking the Italy reins last summer, although he had thus far avoided the club he led to three straight Serie A titles as their head coach before taking the Italy job after last year's World Cup.

"There has never been any coldness towards Conte," Juve's general manager Beppe Marotta said, dismissing claims Conte's wait to visit his former club was due to any reason other than other schedule commitments.

"He lives only 200 yards from the club headquarters so that would be ridiculous. There will be a meeting at Vinovo [training facilities] on Friday."

Juve continue to oppose Conte's plans for a get-together in February, however.

"Juve have too many commitments and releasing our players would just cause us problems," he added.

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