Milan president Paolo Scaroni shared his thoughts on the plans for a new stadium and the potential reduction of teams in Serie A. The Rossoneri president spoke on Radio Anch’io Sport on Rai Radio 1 and addressed various topics:
As reported by Ansa, Scaroni explained what, according to him, are the issues between the Serie A League and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC): “We see two misalignments between the institutions and the interests of the clubs. The first is between the League as a whole and the federation. We at Serie A, who finance the entire Italian football game, have only 12% of the power within the Federation. This is an anomaly, a result of the Melandri law, which creates a sense of perennial frustration for us. Our voice within the FIGC is feeble when it should be strong, very strong, given that we pay all the bills of Italian football.”
Scaroni’s words on Milan
“The second misalignment has been improperly defined between small and big teams. In reality, we clubs playing in international competitions, with many players called up for national teams, complain about too many matches. Players play in European cups, national team matches, the Italian Cup, and the league. All this leads to an unbearable workload of matches and causes many injuries.”
Scaroni then commented on the possibility of returning to Serie A with 18 teams, explaining his point of view: “I don’t know how it will end up, it will be debated today, I hope a solution is reached. We’ve already had the championship with 18 teams, and I even remember it with 16. We want to avoid too many matches. We play too much, it’s also a matter of safeguarding our players, who are our assets. I don’t believe one misalignment conditions the other; they are two different issues. Serie A must have more influence within the FIGC; it’s a topic that concerns everyone and must be addressed.”
“Pioli and Leao? I echo the words of both our CEO Furlani and Ibra: we have total confidence in Pioli, and the results are strengthening this confidence. So for now, calm on this front. I love Leao’s goals, but if he continues to make assists like yesterday’s, I’m fine with that too.”
Finally, Scaroni spoke about Milan’s new stadium: “We have bought the land, we have had a preliminary favorable decision from the municipality of San Donato, we have a series of steps involving the region and other local authorities. We are relatively optimistic, although in Italy being optimistic about building stadiums is quite challenging. We are moving forward; we need a new stadium. The mayor of Milan has asked us to make a last attempt to see if a renovation, perhaps slight, of San Siro stadium is possible. From this point of view, I am rather negative; I cannot understand how it is possible to carry out major works in a stadium where 70,000 people enter every week. Technically, it is a difficult issue to address. But the mayor asks us, and we respect his wishes.”
