De Laurentiis: ‘Government must reduce Serie A clubs’ | OneFootball

Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis outlined his ideas for Italian football, including ‘cleaning’ the stadiums of hooligans and getting the Government to reduce Serie A, as ‘only 6-8 clubs’ are keeping the others afloat.

The patron spoke in front of the Senate today as part of a general evaluation of how to transform and revamp the world of Calcio, as the Lega Serie A, FIGC and Minister for Sport are all at odds on how to progress.

While the FIGC and several big clubs had pushed to reduce Serie A from 20 teams to 18 in order to save money and stop the fixture list becoming unsustainable, the majority of sides voted down any discussion.

“I am sorry to point out that politicians in general believe the Government should not be interested in the economic elements of football. Or rather, they believe the Government cannot create the conditions to eliminate the billions of debts that football accumulates every year,” said De Laurentiis.

“We are not asking for money, only legislative modifications that allow our sector to recover economic and financial energy.

“During total chaos we allowed Serie A to go from 16 teams in 1986 to 18 and then 20, but the matches will increase to 75-80 for next season. Players will be worn down and simply cannot maintain that tempo from one season to the next.

“The revenue is also not commensurate with the quantity of energy wasted, where only the football institutions will bring home an economic result, leaning on our shoulders and our investments.

“The Lega Serie A will never have the strength to reduce the clubs, so the Government has to do it and decide there must be X and not Y number of clubs in Serie A, because the revenue cannot justify its existence.

“This League is carried by six, at most eight clubs, and the Government needs to realise that. The rest is just filler. We want the Government to stabilise a vote in favour of those six-eight clubs who are decisive for the constitution of a league, because otherwise it would not stand up.

“We cannot have these six-eight clubs continue to accumulate debt. Napoli closed with a positive of €83m, but with what struggle? We could not invest in the stadium, in the youth academy.

“With these six-eight clubs, we could create a league economic structure that would also benefit the smaller clubs, but they need to trust us rather than create obstacles for a crumb here and there.”

Stadiums demand from De Laurentiis

De Laurentiis also outlines his view for how to solve the long-running issue of stadiums, where the red tape has made it almost impossible for clubs to invest in building new arenas or even restructuring existing ones.

However, the Napoli patron’s statement probably will not go down well with some of the fans.

“In order to invest in the stadiums, we also need to see a ‘cleaning’ of the fanbases. In England, the hooligans were kicked out. We have fans who condition the situation and dictate their own laws.

“When I posed the issue to politicians, I was told: look, the fans go to the stadium and we cannot govern them, because they represent votes. This is a sign of weakness from the State, it means allowing delinquency in the stadium because they consider it to be their territory. It’s inconceivable,” added De Laurentiis.