Mario Balotelli: Italy’s Latest Soccer Hero

Anchor Marco Werman talks to The World’s William Troop about the Euro 2012 soccer tournament and the man who has emerged as the Italian team’s hero: Mario Balotelli.

Balotelli is a 21-year-old forward born in Italy to Ghanaian immigrant parents.

Read the Transcript
The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: Now to a different sort of history in the making. The final of the Euro 2012 Soccer tournament will be played on sunday in Ukraine. Defending champions Spain is facing a stiff challenge from former World Cup champs Italy. The Italians are red hot after beating favorites Germany in yesterdays semi-final and the big hero was Mario Balotelli who scored the two goals to sink the Germans. The World’s soccer maestro William Troop joins me now. William full disclosure here you are an Italy fan so can you remain objective for the next couple of minutes?

William Troop: Marco, for you I will try.

Werman: Okay, good. So, Mario Balotelli, he’s not your typical Italian player is he?

Troop: No. They call him “Super Mario” and he’s not your typical Italian player first of all because he’s so good. Second of all, also because of his background. He’s the son of Ghanian immigrants. He had some medical issues as a child, the parents gave him to a hospital for care and then disappeared. He was put in foster care with an Italian family whose name is Balotelli. His biological family actually disappeared for years from his life and only came back when he was already a famous player. He very famously said; “They are not my real family.”

Werman: Wow, that’s a wild story. He’s somewhat controversial in Italy.

Troop: Yeah, I mean he has a reputation for being a hot head on the field. Just yesterday, after he scored his second goal against Germany, you know, he took off his shirt and made this pose like a muscle man. But you hear interviews with him and he really doesn’t sound that way. For example here’s what he said to a BBC interviewer after that game about those goals.

Mario Balotelli: These two goals are really … especially they are important. I really like them. I hope we can win on Sunday. We deserve it.

Troop: He doesn’t exactly sound intimidating there. People that know Balotelli say that he’s really a sweet kid off the field.

Werman: You know with all the talk about racism and the potential for racist violence at the Euro 2012 cup I’m wondering if Balotelli has been a lightening rod for any of that?

Troop: He has. There have been relatively few incidents of racism at this tournament but fans for Spain and for Croatia directed racist taunts at him. In Italy there was big controversy this week after a major sports newspaper printed a cartoon of Balotelli as King Kong climbing Big Ben because Italy and Balotelli beat England earlier in the tournament. There was a big to-do in Italy about whether it was racist or not. The newspaper claimed it wasn’t but clearly the image was and they apologized for it.

Werman: So can he give Italy the European title this Sunday? Is he the kind of key ingredient?

Troop: Well I hope so as an Italy fan. But it’s gonna be tough. Spain has world class defenders so I think it’s going to come down to which player on which team has the game of his life on Sunday. And maybe this time it’s Balotelli’s turn.

Werman: The World’s William Troop, thank you and on that objectivity thing nice work.

Troop: Thank you.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.