Serie A could be reduced to eighteen teams in the coming seasons, with a meeting to discuss the proposal planned.
This according to today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews. The Gazzetta report that March 11 will be the date for the potentially decisive meeting.
Since the 2004-05 season, there have been twenty teams playing in each Serie A season.
Prior to that, there had been eighteen.
The current format of the competition means that each team plays a total of 38 matches. Twice against each of the nineteen other teams in the division, home and away.
This is in line with the format of the Premier League, La Liga, and Ligue 1.
However, German top flight the Bundesliga contains just eighteen teams.
Serie A Considers Reduction To Eighteen Teams
Naturally there are some important advantages to having more teams in the league.
This gives two more teams an opportunity to compete in top flight football.
More variety in terms of the composition of the league, and great opportunities for “smaller” teams to compete can certainly lead to a more competitive and entertaining league.
But on the other hand, the contribution of the larger league to fixture congestion has increasingly become a problem.
Between multiple club and international competitions, many have observed a high level of stress on players’ fitness.
Inter CEO Beppe Marotta, to use one example, has noted this problem.
Teams in European knockout competitions are particularly hard-hit by this problem.
And naturally, it is therefore the teams who regularly qualify for such competitions who favour the proposal to reduce the number of teams in Serie A, according to the Gazzetta.
On the other teams, smaller teams are against the proposal. It would, after all, lead to a greater risk of dropping down to Serie B.
According to the Gazzetta, there will be a meeting to discuss the issue on March 11.
