Coppa Italia Women cancelled after 'gay comment from official'

The Italian Football Federation are investigating the alleged comments made by Felice Belloli, the president of Italy's amateur football association

The final of the Coppa Italia Women has been cancelled after a football official allegedly referred to female players as a "bunch of lesbians".

The comment was included in the written minutes of an amateur football meeting last week.

However, Felice Belloli, president of Italy's amateur football association, who is accused of making the statement, has denied doing so.

Brescia were due to face Tavagnacco in the final on Saturday.

There have been protests at female matches since the alleged comments were first reported.

Luisa Rizzitelli, president of Italy's national association for female athletes, said: "To be honest I thought it was a joke but when we realised it wasn't a joke we immediately wrote to the federation to ask for an immediate investigation.

"It's hugely damaging. We have a women's football movement with 11,000 athletes in Italy, you can imagine we have one million playing men's football.

"All the players have said to the federation that they don't want to play the final, so now the game is not going ahead. If he (Belloli) resigns the game could still be played."

The Italian Football Federation has said it is investigating the claim.