A female journalist was groped live on television as she was reporting on a Serie A clash between Empoli and Fiorentina.Greta Beccaglia was outside Empoli's Carlo Castellani Stadium on Saturday evening, interviewing fans of both teams.After Empoli’s 2-1 victory, Beccaglia was doing a live report to camera. During the broadcast, she was groped by a passing fan.Beccaglia looked visibly annoyed and disappointed by the incident, telling the fan: "Sorry, you can’t do this, I’m sorry."To make the situation worse, Beccaglia’s male colleague in the studio told her to react only once she was off-air, and allegedly said: "Don’t let it bother you".The timing of the incident was somewhat ironic. The Empoli and Fiorentina players were using the match to raise awareness of domestic abuse, part of an annual campaign organised by Serie A.During the campaign, footballers sport red paint on their faces while playing to shine a spotlight on domestic abuse in Italy.

Beccaglia later commented on the incident on Instagram.

"What happened to me is something that is not acceptable and should not be repeated," she said.

"My harassment was recorded live on TV because I was at work, but unfortunately, as we know, these things happen to other women with the cameras off, without anyone knowing about it."

The amount of women receiving unwanted physical attention at men’s football matches is seemingly on the rise.

A survey by the Football Supporters' Association, published earlier this month, confirmed this.

It was found that 20 percent of the 2,000 female match-goers surveyed said they had experienced unwanted physical attention during a match. This number had doubled from a similar survey in 2014.

Women were also found to be much less accepting of sexist behaviour at football matches. Only 15 percent of respondents said they were not bothered about witnessing sexism at a match, down from 32 percent in 2014.

Previously, 24 percent of women would have laughed off sexism, but this figure has now fallen to 12 percent.