Before Genoa’s meeting with Fiorentina, the football was briefly set aside as the club welcomed the family of Matteo Franzoso, the 26-year-old Italian skier who died in Chile on 15 September 2025 after a training दुर्घटना at La Parva.
Key takeaways
- Franzoso died in a Santiago clinic after several days in a coma following a fall while training with Italy’s national ski team.
- His parents and brother attended Genoa’s pre-match programme for the Fiorentina fixture.
- His mother recalled that wearing the Genoa shirt and being at the stadium had been one of Matteo’s childhood dreams.
- Matteo first visited the Genoa stadium when he was one year old and remained a committed supporter as he grew up.
- The Italian Winter Sports Federation has called for further efforts to establish any possible responsibility connected with his death.
A Genoa memory carried into the stadium
For the Franzoso family, the invitation brought them back to a passion that had accompanied Matteo from his earliest years. His mother spoke emotionally of her son’s bond with Genoa, saying that being at the ground in the club’s colours had meant a great deal to him.
“Being here at the stadium, with the shirt of his Genoa, was his dream,” she said. “It is a tremendous honour for us. Matteo tried several sports as a child, but he followed Genoa. He came to the stadium for the first time when he was one, and his love for the club grew from there.”
She described a supporter who watched matches whenever he could, adding that the family wished to picture him still encouraging “these wonderful colours”.
His brother Michele had already thanked Genoa publicly for the invitation during a television appearance in the previous days. The occasion against Fiorentina gave the club and its supporters a quiet opportunity to stand with a family grieving a young athlete whose sporting life had ended far from home.
Investigations remain open
Franzoso suffered his fatal fall during a national-team training session on the slopes of La Parva, in Chile. After days of severe suffering and coma, he died in the Chilean capital.
The Italian Winter Sports Federation stated that its federal prosecutor had ordered the case closed, with that decision receiving a favourable opinion from the Italian Olympic Committee’s general prosecutor on 5 February 2026. However, the federation said it had nevertheless asked for additional investigative work in an attempt to identify any responsibility arising from the events.
The federation rejected interpretations linking the Franzoso case to the forthcoming elections for its central bodies, describing such reporting as insensitive, outdated and disrespectful. It said its members remained deeply affected by the deaths of both Franzoso and fellow skier Matilde Lorenzi.
The families of Lorenzi and Franzoso have sought the involvement of the public prosecutor, whose investigations into both fatal incidents are still under way. The federation said it hoped those proceedings would establish the facts in full, out of respect for the two athletes, their relatives and the wider winter-sports community, and reiterated its willingness to assist the judicial authorities.
