Soccer fever returns to the Vatican today as the third annual Clericus Cup kicks off between priests and trainee clergymen.The inaugural match is expected to be a cracker as it pits the silky skills of the Brazilian College against the experience of their fellow Latin Americans, the Mater Ecclesiae (Mother of the Church) academy, the Cup holders.
For the first time, a top Serie A referee will be in the middle.
As well as his usual yellow and red cards, Stefano Farina will be able to show players who get a little carried away a blue card, which means they have to take a five-minute break to cool down.
The Vatican's 'sin bin' card has aroused so much interest that it will be up for discussion when FIFA's rules body, the International Board, meets in Newcastle at the end of the month.
Sixteen teams from all over the ecclesiastical world are taking part in the three-month tournament.
After the first match, the other seven games in the opening round will take place next weekend.
The church players will clash again each weekend, barring Easter weekend, up to the final on May 23 - a date chosen because it is just four days before the Champions League Final at Rome's Olympic Stadium.
The first match and the final will take place at the Mussolini-era Stadio dei Marmi, next door to the headquarters of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI).
CONI is sponsoring the event along with the John Paul II Foundation for Sport and the Centro Sportivo Italiano, a lay Catholic body that promotes education through sport.
The full roster for the tournament will be presented ahead of Thursday's match. In the first two years more than 300 players from 50 different countries took part.
Apart from teams of North American student priests and a squad of Croatians, most of the sides were mixed-nationality outfits representing Church colleges and different parts of the Roman church.
The star of the tournaments so far has been Davide Tisato, a 25-year-old student priest who used to be part of Serie A club Chievo Verona's youth team. He shone at the service of the Redemptoris Mater seminary team.
The oldest player was Yarza Inaki, a tough-tackling 56-year-old Basque priest.
Aside from the blue cards the tournament follows the standard rules of soccer, but games only last 60 minutes.
CONI chief Gianni Petrucci has highlighted the role Catholic parishes have traditionally played in organizing sporting activities in Italy.
Many of today's Serie A stars first showed their skills on pitches provided by Catholic churches.
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(Source: ANSA)