Due to Mother’s Day and the Italian law change in Serie A, some teams played in shirts with the names on the back of the players’ mothers’ birth names.
In the match between AC Milan and Cagliari in Italy’s main league Serie A on Saturday, one player was seen wearing the Finnish name “Päivärinta”.
The name in question adorned the defender of Milan, who plays with the number 28 by Malick Thiaw backache. It was the Mother’s Day celebration of the Milanese team, where texts were sewn on the players’ backs according to their mothers’ birth names.
Päivärinta belongs to Thiaw’s mother Marjo-Kristiina Thiawin (es. Päivärinta) name. Born in Germany, the 22-year-old gambler’s mother and father are Finnish Souleymane Thiaw Senegalese.
Mother-Thiaw told Urheilu that she watched her son’s match on Saturday at her home in Düsseldorf.
– I thought the idea was wonderful. I got goosebumps when I watched the match.
Marjo-Kristiina Thiaw said that the son had called in the morning and congratulated her on Mother’s Day.
However, surnames were not changed on shirts only in honor of Mother’s Day, but the goal was pay attention to the personal identity rights of each individual.
In Italy, it was considered unconstitutional for the child to be automatically given the father’s surname in official documents, so with the change in the law, both parents must agree on the surname given to the child at birth.
Malick Thiaw played the full 90 minutes in Milan’s back line in Saturday’s Serie A match. The team won the match 5–1.
Thiaw moved to Milan for a transfer fee of six million euros from the German club Schalke in August 2020.
The 22-year-old has donned the Milan shirt 20 times in the team’s 36 Serie A matches this season. Thiaw played in five matches in the Champions League.
At San Siro, Milan’s legendary home stadium, Päivärinna’s name was seen by a crowd of more than 80,000.
– Really great. We go to Italy a lot to watch Malick’s matches, and it’s a touching feeling to see the boy playing for such a big audience, Marjo-Kristiina Thiaw said.
For example, the French star Olivier Giroud’s the name Viviane was emblazoned on the back of the shirt. Serie A teams such as Torino and Verona were also involved in the Mother’s Day celebration.
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Thiaw also has Finnish citizenship. He was close to representing the Finnish under-21 national team in 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic canceled the match. Representing Finland thus remained just a dream at that time.
After that, Thiaw has represented his native Germany’s under-21 national team in the national team. In the German men’s national team, he has played in three training matches.
Äiti-Thiaw thinks it is still possible for Malick to play in the Finnish national team.
– Of course, there is always a possibility and that would be great. A Finn is always a Finn.
Milan is second in Serie A. Internazionale has secured the championship.