World Footy News

The AFL Italia have deciding to withdraw their men's team from the 2011 International Cup, with league president Nicola Giampaolo saying "Only in the last few days we have taken the hard decision to not go to the IC. The main reasons are the financial difficulties of funding a 30 person squad between players and staff, and the availability of the best squad of players for a period of three weeks."

Giampaolo remains upbeat about the AFL Italia's progress and believes they will be a strong position to compete in 2014. "We are a very young association. AFL Italia just stared kicking a footy around in mid 2009 and was formally registered in april 2010 and has already made huge steps forward both on the playing field (6th overall in the Euro Cup) and off the field hosting a great Euro Cup in Parabiago."

"We want to concentrate our attention on developing the national competetion and expanding the number of registered players and begin to play some 18-a-side matches. Our main goals are the European Championships in 2013 and the next International Cup in 2014 when we will have much more experience under our belt and will be able to field a competitive team."

Update: The AFL Italia women's team are still planning to attend, it is only the men's side that have withdrawn.