Inter CEO Beppe Marotta believes that the entire system governing Italian football is in desperate need of an overhaul.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster Radio Anch’io Lo Sport, Marotta gave his thoughts on the problems that are holding back Italian teams from competing at the top level and creating financial problems within Italian football.
Inter’s financial issues have been widely reported, and they are far from alone within Serie A and Italian football more broadly in dealing with issues of this nature.
Clubs both big and small in Italy have been struggling with revenues that are not enough to cover costs led alone to grow at the level of some of Europe’s biggest clubs at the moment.
Marotta sees the situation as unsustainable, and feels that things must change from the top down and measures must be taken to reform the system and address the problems that clubs across Italy are dealing with.
“We must eliminate the litigation that has become the language of an entire class of directors,” he said. “We need to be committed to a common path, new forms of revenue, the enhancement of resources such as foreign broadcasting rights.”
“Compared to Spain, we have a quarter of the revenues,” Marotta stressed, “about an eighth compared to England.”
He went on that “We talk about media companies. We need an in-depth analysis of this proposal.”
“Reforms are needed soon,” he said, “the kind that can help with the smaller clubs’ situations as well.”
“Today Serie A pays €120 million in mutual benefits to the minor leagues,” he noted. “We’re also lagging behind in infrastructure. In the last ten years 153 new the stadiums have been built, but in Italy two. The system needs to be reinvigorated.”
