TMW Exclusive – Jonathan Rossini, from football to futsal: ‘Everything for the love of Sampdoria’

From football to futsal, 33-year-old Jonathan Rossini decided to get involved in a new field. All this for the love of Sampdoria. It is the Swiss defender who tells us his story, on microphones Tuttomercatoweb:

Jonathan, from soccer to futsal. Why this choice?
“It all happened suddenly. I was at my house, I finished the season in Serie D with Lavagnese and I got a call from General Manager Mino Paoletti and he told me that CDM Futsal was partnering with Sampdoria and if I had I wanted to be able to defend the colors of Sampdoria. Imagine the joy, For me Sampdoria is everything: I defended their colors, my wife is Genoese and I have two children born in Genoa. Wearing this shirt again is a dream. I thank President Matteo Fortuna, who recognized me as a Sampdoria fan and wanted to bet on me.”

At the age of 33, you still have a few years left as an 11-player footballer
“For my personal needs, I needed to stay in Liguria, in Genoa, which is why I started to fall behind the rankings, just to get closer to home. However, in Liguria there are few facts, few professional clubs. In recent years I have played in a league First Division and at one point I felt the need for new stimuli, because I admit I missed some and Samp’s call to futsal came at the right time.”

How do you find yourself in the new system?
“Look, it’s a completely different sport. One would think that a professional footballer with 11 players could easily jump into Futsal, but it is not, it is far from it. Of course, there are certain rules related to each other, by which Brazilian players start Futsal But going from 11 to 5 is stressful, especially if you have certain physical characteristics. I personally struggled a bit at first, but I’m competitive and threw myself into this new adventure with every passion possible. And slowly I cut up my space. Now we are playing the playoffs and hopefully we can go to Serie A.”

sports , FutsalWhich has gained popularity over the years
“I hope you can break it down definitively, I am not saying that she is up to level 11 in football, but I hope she will have more chances. It would be great to become an Olympic sport, after all there are many members, even more than a ball basket”.

Where do you see yourself in the future, always in Futsal?
“My need is to stay in Liguria, the president gave me a chance and I’m in love Futsal. I would like to complete this experience.”

Jonathan Rossini, Italian by adoption but Swiss by birth. With rossocrociati, I won the European Under-21 Championship with players like Sommer and Shaqiri, and today they are the pillars of choice that qualified for the World Cup, unlike Italy. How was the Swiss movement better than the Italian?
“In Switzerland there is a lot of work in the youth sectors. There is a lot of emphasis on fine-tuning the technique, training with the ball. Clubs throw very young players into the first team, I don’t even say adults. This helps them to immediately compete with the big ones, collide with more realities. Difficulty than their peers. It helps them grow. Also for logistical reasons, Switzerland has important links with Germany, so the players have a market in the Bundesliga. The Bundesliga is another league that qualifies young people very well, as well as being very competitive.”

Meanwhile in Italy the tournament is coming to a close with Milan and Inter vying for the title. What impact did you have on seeing Stefano Pioli, who launched you in the second division of Sassuolo, as the great protagonist?
“I have always had a great relationship with Pioli. I respect him as a person and as a coach, he helped me a lot and I had no doubts that he was able to achieve great goals. He is an exceptional coach and I wish him to win the championship.”