«The State does a lot for football, let’s think about taxes. But if football doesn’t know how to cure its ailments…”. From Palazzo Chigi the letter addressed to Italian Football Federation she just left. Contains a article of law (number “13 bis”, which suggests a forthcoming amendment to some decree under consideration) with the explicit title: «Agency for the economic and financial supervision of professional sports clubs». Text for consultation, but the decision, cherished by dozens of governments over the last thirty years, on the occasion of every football scandal, it now seems taken.
Controls over the financial statements of football clubs (and for now basketball) will be taken away from the sports system and entrusted to a third partyaIndependent authority, such as Antitrust. It’s an important step, because from regularity of financial statements and the financial regulations of the sector, the registration of the teams and in some way the outcome of the championships depend. A nerve that has been exposed for years, at least since 1993 when Covisoc, the body now destined to disappear, arrived to bring order Victor Uckmar the greatest Italian tax expert.
The companies and the Federation are worried, but the government rules out undue interference. The Agency, it is explained, will not defund federal bodies, but it will simply “affirm” the conditions for the registration of each team in the championships. The final decision, which does not only depend on compliance with the financial fair play, will remain with the FIGC. According to the Minister of Sport, Andrea Abodi, the new structure does not violate the autonomy of sport. But it aims to put a definitive stop to the repeated scandals affecting football, which at this point is considered almost a sort of public good. After all, the State has often and willingly come to meet the world of football rocked by scandalsfor example with very generous deferrals of tax payments.
The assumption is that the controls entrusted to Covisoc, the body within the FIGC that supervises the financial statements of football clubs, do not workas demonstrated by sensational cases of events that later came to the attention of the prosecutors, who ultimately contested financial crimes and the reliability of accounting documents. So stop the illicit spins with sureties, capital gains, salaries, attorneys’ fees, tax debts. «The Agency carries out the tasks of control and supervision on the legitimacy and regularity of the economic and financial management of sports clubs professionalsand in order to pursue economic and financial balance and compliance with the principles of correct management, as well as the functioning of the internal controls of the companies themselves and – as stated in paragraph 2 – the regular conduct of the competitions”.
The Authority would have important powers, but not to impose sporting sanctions. It will be able to carry out inspection checks, making use of a staff of around 30 units, but also with the collaboration of the Revenue Agency and the Financial Police, and will be able to «request remedial initiatives and in the most urgent cases indicate the adjustments to be made in order to neutralize the economic and financial effects of specific ordinary or extraordinary operations that do not comply with rules and regulations, including sporting ones”.
If the Authority, during the checks, were to have evidence of irregularities, if not of actual offences, these would be reported to the Federation, for possible sporting measures (such as the penalization of points in the ranking), if not to the Prosecutor’s Office for criminal profiles. The Agency would be equipped with “regulatory autonomy”, that is, she herself will write the rules and mechanisms of operation and relationship with the controlled companies, including their obligations. It will be led by a president and two members appointed by the Prime Minister who will remain in office for four years, without the possibility of confirmation. Operation, 2.5 millionwill be borne by the “supervisors”.
