New football governance, heading towards federal assembly

The FIGC governance reform will be discussed at the Federal Council meeting on Monday, 29 July. The meeting on the morning of 22 July - in which, contrary to eve's expectations, the Minister for Sport and Youth Affairs Andrea Abodi did not take part - did not lead to an agreement between the Federcalcio and the Leagues. The prospect now is that of an amendment to the statute with a possible and consequent postponement of the elective assembly on 4 November, probably in February. The Lega Serie A's request remains that of having a greater electoral quota and representation on the board, in proportion to the economic contribution given to the football movement. This is in line with the so-called Mulè amendment inserted in the Sport Decree currently undergoing final conversion in the Senate.

'Having verified everyone's positions,' declared Figc president Gabriele Gravina at the end of the meeting, 'without even talking about specific requests and numbers, I will submit to the Federal Council, already set for Monday 29 July, the possibility of convening an Assembly for the modification of the Statute in order to favour, in the coming weeks, an in-depth and hopefully fruitful reflection on the changes to be implemented.

'The start of a path. Serie A confirmed what had emerged in the last assembly,'' specified Lorenzo Casini, president of the League, at the end of the meeting in the FIGC headquarters. ''There is a need to go towards a reform that sees greater autonomy of the Leagues from the organisational point of view, an ordering of the championships and in general on the components. In addition to a special statute for Serie A with respect to the decisions that affect it. As a consequence of all this, there will be a rebalancing of the weights and also of the representation in the bodies that can increase the quota of professionalism to 50% with a preponderant weight of Serie A'.

On the amendment of the statute, Casini added: 'This is the path that requires a dedicated extraordinary assembly. Then it will be discussed on Monday 29 in the federal council also out of respect for the deputy body. Satisfied? As long as there is a concrete approach to a reorganisation that goes towards these three points, yes. Did I register any friction? The atmosphere was serene, relaxed and there is an awareness on everyone's part that we need to move towards important changes for what Italian football deserves and also an awareness of the fact that a stronger and better represented Serie A within the federal system is a benefit for everyone. There has also been talk of models such as the English and Spanish ones, but it is clear that Italy must move towards a more modern, efficient system capable of achieving results in every respect'.

'The climate was serene, now it is a matter of building a path, of looking for a project that brings us all together,' emphasised Matteo Marani, president of the Pro League. 'We have given ample availability, we have always been a very innovative league, so we are obviously open to any position. Frankly, I think it is wrong to talk about weights, percentages and numbers of councillors. The central point is to give even more strength to the peculiarities that each league has in the football system. Serie C is by its very nature the league of young people. We have 90 per cent Italian players. We are the league that plays the most youngsters. Our reform that bears the name of Gianfranco Zola must be accompanied and helped. Whoever wants to be the promoter of a movement must look at the young at what we are doing in Serie C. We are the only league that is not creating new debt, so there is great attention to accounts and costs'.