By Jaroslaw Adamowski
January 7 – Carlo Tavecchio, the president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), has continued to promote his plans for a reformed Italian league structure that would see both Serie A and B decrease from 20 to 18 teams.
Controversially elected to the presidency of the FIGC in August after a racist remarks that saw him sanctioned by UEFA, Tavecchio made an overhaul of the top two tiers of Italy’s professional football league one of his election pledges.
However, achieving the reform he wants is not straightforward as the FIGC holds a weak position with the clubs who run the Lega Calcio and are unlikely to vote for a reduced league system that threatens their stakeholders.
Tavecchio said that the country’s third tier, the Lega Pro, will also have its future composition refined by the federation, but details of any plan have yet to be released. Currently, the Lega Pro consists of 60 squads divided into three groups of 20 clubs.
“We need to provide more strength and prestige,” the Tavecchio said, adding that reducing the Serie A and B was one of the top organisational priorities set by the Italian federation for the forthcoming year.
The FIGC will vote on the proposed change by June 30, 2015, according to Tavecchio. Should the planned overhaul secure overall backing, the reduced Serie A and B will be launched in the 2016/2017 season, he said.
Tavecchio says that the objective of the proposed change is to make Italian clubs more competitive financially by reducing their operational costs, and become more competitive at international level.
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