Juventus President Andrea Agnelli again demanded a revamp of Serie A stadiums, but is “against” foreign investment.
The patron spoke in Dubai at the Globe Soccer Forum today, reiterating points he has made in the past on the need for an infrastructure overhaul.
“Italian football needs to recover, including Juventus despite good results and revenue,” said Agnelli.
“We were the League of the world class players, now we are considered a transitory phase towards bigger things.
Juventus President Andrea Agnelli again demanded a revamp of Serie A stadiums, but is “against” foreign investment.
The patron spoke in Dubai at the Globe Soccer Forum today, reiterating points he has made in the past on the need for an infrastructure overhaul.
“Italian football needs to recover, including Juventus despite good results and revenue,” said Agnelli.
“We were the League of the world class players, now we are considered a transitory phase towards bigger things.
“We cannot compete with those divisions who have very different structures. Our League’s stadiums are on average 64 years old and don’t hold up when compared to those who developed modern, more comfortable and fuller arenas.”
However, Agnelli also recognises the financial crisis has hit Italian society hard and had a knock-on effect for its football clubs.
“Chelsea sell their tickets for double the price of Juventus, while in Germany the average wage is much higher than in Italy, so it’s not just an issue of stadiums. Nonetheless, we must try to relaunch where we can.
“Roma are about to take an important step by building their own stadium and more should follow suit.”
Parma were bought out this month by Russian-Cypriot investors, while Inter are owned by Indonesian President Erick Thohir and Roma run by Americans.
“I am against foreign investors whose projects might seem attractive at first, but then lose their sheen. We don’t want to see speculation on our clubs. We are in favour of medium-long-term projects that are serious.
“Investments must be useful and build an added value to the club.”