Everyone seems to agree on one thing: Italian football needs reforms. What there is no agreement on is what these reforms should include. In recent days, a clash has arisen between the government and the Football Federation over the reform presented by the Minister of Sport, Andrea Abodi, which provides for the creation of the Agency for the economic and financial supervision of professional sports clubs. For the government, this is a useful measure to ensure more transparency. For sports clubs, it is an unbearable attempt at interference by politicians. In recent weeks, the National Professional League Serie A – as well as the Lega Serie B – presented its own policy document to the Senate Culture, Education and Sports Commission, entitled “Reforming Italian football 2.0”. The document concerns 12 areas of intervention – from infrastructure to economic governance, passing through the organization of championships – and contains a total of 28 proposals.
Salaries, foreign players and contracts
Some of the most interesting points are those contained in the chapter on the economic-financial sustainability of clubs. Lega Serie A proposes the automatic reduction of players’ wages in the event of relegation to Serie B. A measure probably also shared by many fans, because it would encourage players even more to do everything possible to score enough points in the league to stay in Serie A. The policy document then proposes to establish a salary cap for footballers, a solution already adopted in other European countries, such as Spain. What the Lega Serie A is asking for more flexible rules on is the number of non-EU players. At the moment, we read in the guidance document, Italy has “more restrictive rules than the other European Leagues”. And it would be appropriate, the clubs continue, to “review these rules, for example by removing the current obligation to replace one of the two new arrivals”. Again with regards to the management of squads, the clubs are asking to extend the maximum duration of the contracts of national players from 5 to 8 years, on the model of the Premier League. Just as they ask all the social partners to work so that the players’ collective agreement, which expires in June 2024, can be updated.
Infrastructure and young people
One of the areas in which the Lega Serie A most requests help from the government is the infrastructure situation, which is defined as “disarming” in the policy document. The Serie A stadiums, we read, “are in a condition of great backwardness compared to the infrastructures of other European countries”. The request addressed to the executive is to intervene on an administrative level, for example by declaring the Serie A stadiums “infrastructures of national and strategic interest”. In this way we could “overcome the numerous bureaucratic blocks that currently prevent us from renewing the systems”. Another area in which the Lega Serie A intends to invest is the youth sector. The proposal addressed to the government and parliament is to establish a «tax credit nurseries” to be recognized to all those sports clubs that invest in young U23s. And again with a view to valorising the youngest players, the Lega Serie A proposes a “second team project”, so as to optimize the supply chain of the clubs’ players, in particular those who cannot find space as starters.
Super Cup and Var
As for the Super Cup, which this year experimented with the four-team formula, the place where the next editions will be played remains to be defined. There are three paths suggested by the Lega Serie A. First: returning to the same region where it has been played in recent years, i.e. the Middle East. Second: evaluate other countries, “like the United States, also in view of the 2026 world championships”. And finally: returning to play the Super Cup in Italy. As regards VAR, the document presented in the Senate calls for “updating and reviewing the protocol”, for example by making the referee assistants’ dialogues public live. The Lega Serie A also asks to evaluate the introduction of the so-called «challenge», already present in NBA basketball games. In this way, each team would have one or two chances in each match to request the intervention of the VAR to evaluate a doubtful game situation.
A strategic sector
From the document deposited during the hearing in the Senate Sports Commission, the Lega Serie A paints a not exactly rosy picture of Italian football. The sector is defined as “lacking aid and awaiting reform”. Especially after the Covid years, which led to an increase in “bankruptcies of sports clubs”, a “decrease in employment” and a “decrease in sports memberships”. In any case, the document specifies, football remains a strategic sector for the Italian economy, with 126 thousand employees, direct revenues of 5 billion euros and an impact on the GDP estimated at over 11.1 billion euros.
On the cover: The CEO of Lega Serie A, Luigi De Siervo (ANSA/Ettore Ferrari)
