CONI President Giovanni Malago claims the ‘divisive debate’ in football has gone too far and highlights the lack of a ‘precise, practicable and convincing plan’.
With European football at a standstill the CONI chief has revealed that the ever-lasting debate about the resumption ‘can’t lead to anything good’. Malagò called on the governing bodies of football to sit down and ‘produce a common path’.
CONI President Giovanni Malago claims the ‘divisive debate’ in football has gone too far and highlights the lack of a ‘precise, practicable and convincing plan’.
With European football at a standstill the CONI chief has revealed that the ever-lasting debate about the resumption ‘can’t lead to anything good’. Malagò called on the governing bodies of football to sit down and ‘produce a common path’.
“An extremely confused and highly divisive debate is being generated and it can’t lead to anything good,” Malagò told the Corriere dello Sport. “Without wishing for controversy, for heaven’s sake, I would have locked Federcalcio, the Lega A, the Players’ Association, the coaches, TV and the international organisations, FIFA and UEFA, in a room and not let the out until they had produced a common path.
“The same goes for Serie B and Lega Pro. What are you willing to leave on the table if the season doesn’t end? And you, television, 5, 10, 15 per cent? You, federation, are you ready to participate in a solidarity fund? And you, footballers, how much of the salary would you give up? FIFA and UEFA, what do you do, using your reserves? How will you contribute?
“Do you realise that to date, TV, who pull out €1.4bn don’t even have a piece of paper of the Lega on which to develop the theme of the immediate?
“We proceed by sight, by hypothesis, with a conflict that damages any planning. I speak to [FIGC President Gabriele] Gravina every day, I read his interview with the Repubblica with great attention. I understand the difficulties at the moment, and I understand that he wants to complete the season.
“Talking about July, August, September, October even the next Serie A divided into two groups with the play-offs. What’s missing is a precise, clear, practicable and convincing plan.
“Logistics, transportation. There’s only talk about cuts in player salaries. They have started from the end, or almost, of agreements on the high seas and now of a medical protocol that will have to be examined by the ISS [The Italian National Institute of Health].
Malago pointed out that football, first and foremost, needs to resume training and then proceed with the 'progress of the matches'.
“The resumption of activity. First, we must resume training. I hope that the government will authorise it as soon as possible. I hoped it could already start after Easter, then on April 27, but they agreed that the right date is May 4.
“Needless to underline the essential and important respect for the parameters indicated by doctors, access, distances and more.
“We need to restart the athlete’s machine, which can’t stand still for too long, regardless of the date of the competitive effort.
“Then it’s about the progress of the matches. It seems to me that it was clear enough when I listed the points of confusion that characterised the month of March and these first days of April.
“There are too many diverging interests at stake, those who are afraid of relegation, losing a mountain of money. We are people of the world, it’s understandable, it’s human.”