By David Gold at the President Wilson Hotel in Geneva
September 7 – AC Milan director Umberto Gandini says that the upcoming season is crucial as Italian football looks to avoid a renewal of the Serie A players’ strike which was called off earlier this week.
The Italian league and players reached an agreement over a collective bargaining deal for the players earlier to end the strike, which had already delayed the start of the season, but it is only temporary to ensure the season can get underway and be seen through to the end.
Speaking to insideworldfootball, Gandini said: “It is very important that the problems have been resolved.
“It is just temporary though as there are issues to do with regulations and the status of players in Italy.
“Therefore the next ten months will be instrumental for all parties to design which is going to be the new way forward for Italian football, so that a new collective bargaining agreement can take place.”
Gandini also admits that Italian football is going through a difficult period after Italy lost its fourth Champions League spot to Germany this season, as well as being caught up by France and Portugal, both of whom could theoretically overtake the Italians in UEFA’s coefficients ranking this season, though it remains unlikely.
“It is not something that will be solved overnight,” Gandini said.
“It is not the brightest moment for Italian football.
“But don’t forget we won the Champions League in 2007 and 2010, so we are not in the dark ages for Italian football.
“There are technical and political difficulties that need to be resolved.
“But Italian football has talent, tradition and flavour.
“I think once teams have gained control over their main areas we will be competitive.”
One of the main issues facing Italian football regards stadiums, as most of the big teams do not own their own grounds.
Juventus are about to move into a new ground, which they will own, but AC and Inter Milan’s San Siro, as well as Lazio and Roma’s Stadio Olimpico (pictured) are both publicly owned.
Gandini acknowledged this was an area Italian football needs to address.
“Definitely, we have a problem with revenues, we have limited revenues from match days which is a problem,” he said.
“By not having certain facilities you can’t have certain revenues.
“Italians are known for being creative and we have to find new ways to generate revenues.”
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