FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio believes Inter, Fiorentina, Napoli and Torino are wise not to underestimate the Europa League.
Tavecchio thinks that doing well on the continent, albeit in a ‘minor’ competition, could prove to be beneficial in both the short and the long term.
FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio believes Inter, Fiorentina, Napoli and Torino are wise not to underestimate the Europa League.
Tavecchio thinks that doing well on the continent, albeit in a ‘minor’ competition, could prove to be beneficial in both the short and the long term.
“I really hope that Italian teams honour the Europa League,” he told Radio Crc today.
“I think that Italian clubs at the moment are inferior to foreign sides, especially because of the investments that allow them to buy stronger players.
“Spanish clubs have a budget of €400m-€500m and they have more economic possibilities than our clubs who have different balance sheets – more or less half of theirs.”
According to Tavecchio, in order to be more competitive, Italian clubs will need to go through some major reforms too.
“We have asked a parliamentary question in Europe and if this petition will be accepted, then clubs won’t be able to use more than five [foreign] players, but that’s difficult because over a total of 28 European countries, because of the basic principle of free movement of persons within the EU, everyone should be able to play everywhere without problems of incompatibility.
“Meanwhile, numbers wise, our priority is to adapt our squads to the European standard because at the moment we have squads of 40-50 players, while in Europe there are squads of 25 players.
“Then of course there is the mother of all battles which is about reducing the number of professional clubs because the Italian Olympic Committee are to reduce their subsidies, while the Government is going through their spending review.
“We also have to review every club’s position in terms of TV rights and agreements.”