ROME — Top-flight soccer matches in Italy and Argentina were postponed after the death of Pope Francis on Monday.
The Buenos Aires club that the Argentine pontiff supported throughout his life also was mourning its most famous fan.
The wider soccer and sports world also paid homage after Francis died at 88.
All sports events scheduled for Easter Monday in Italy were postponed, including four Serie A games: Torino-Udinese, Cagliari-Fiorentina, Genoa-Lazio and Parma-Juventus. The four games will be played Wednesday, the Italian league announced.
A minute of silence will be observed before all sports events later in the week, the Italian Olympic Committee added.
Likewise, three top-flight games in Argentina were postponed from Monday to Tuesday: Tigre vs. Belgrano, Argentinos Juniors vs. Barracas Central and Independiente Rivadavia vs. Aldosivi. The games will be preceded by a minute of silence to mourn Francis, who was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires before being elected pope.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said he was “deeply saddened” over the pope’s death.
“I was privileged enough to spend some time with him on a couple of occasions, and he always shared his enthusiasm for football and stressed the important role our sport plays in society,” Infantino said on Instagram. “All the prayers of the whole football world are with him.”
Tennis great Rafael Nadal expressed his “sincere condolences” for Francis in a post on X in Spanish.
Francis’ passion for soccer became known almost immediately after he was elected pope in 2013 when the Argentine club San Lorenzo tweeted a photo of him holding up the team’s crest. He was even a card-carrying member of the club, with San Lorenzo ID No. 88,235.
San Lorenzo is nicknamed “the Saints.”
“He was always one of us,” San Lorenzo said in an Instagram tribute, remembering how Francis watched its 1946 championship team as a young boy.
San Lorenzo performed well after Francis was elected as the 266th pope in March 2013. The team won a national title in 2013 and then claimed the South American Copa Libertadores for the first time a year later. Club officials traveled twice to the Vatican carrying trophies to thank Francis for his support.
A planned new San Lorenzo stadium is to be named for Francis.
In Italy, there were also suggestions that Francis supported Juventus because his family came from the Piedmont region where the Turin club is based. Francis’ father, Mario Bergoglio, was a basketball player.
Francis met his fellow Argentine Diego Maradona twice as pope. There was a special audience in connection with a charity soccer match in 2014 when Maradona presented the pontiff with a soccer jersey, emblazoned with the name “Francisco” — Spanish for Francis — and Maradona’s No. 10.
“We all now realize he’s a (star),” Maradona said after another meeting in 2015. “I’m Francis’ top fan.”
When Maradona died in 2020, Francis remembered the soccer great in his prayers.
“A different, approachable, Argentine pope,” Lionel Messi, another Argentine soccer great, said on Instagram. “Thank you for making the world a better place. We will miss you.”
Record 15-time European soccer champion Real Madrid also mourned Francis in a message on Instagram:
“Real Madrid would like to express its condolences to the entire Catholic community on the loss of a historic and universal figure,” Real Madrid said in a statement. “During his pontificate, characterised by the scale of his immense legacy, Pope Francis has represented an enormous spirit of solidarity and support for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people.”
During a meeting with the Argentine and Italian national teams shortly after he was elected, Francis noted the influence of athletes, especially on youth, and told the players to remember that, “for better or worse” they are role models.
“Dear players, you are very popular. People follow you, and not just on the field but also off it,” he said. “That’s a social responsibility.”
Francis often hailed sports as a way to promote solidarity and inclusion, especially for young people.
During a global conference on faith and sport in 2016, Francis implored leaders to do a better job of keeping corruption off the playing field and said sports must be protected from manipulations and commercial abuse.
“Francis was a special pope, able to illuminate in his time like only the greatest can,” Gianluigi Buffon, the former captain of Italy’s national soccer team who met the pope on multiple occasions, said on Instagram. “He showed us the way with great courage and moved our souls. I will carry his example forever in my heart.”
AP’s Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo contributed.
