Rome, February 17 (LaPresse) – "The start date of the next season? August 23-24 to avoid football on Ferragosto. We haven't set the date yet, but we can anticipate that 99% it will start that weekend, August 23-24." These were the words of Serie A League president Ezio Maria Simonelli on Radio Anch'io Sport on Rai Radio 1.
"Personally, I am in favor of the challenge-based VAR. We haven't had the opportunity to discuss this in the Assembly yet, but I believe that many club presidents and coaches share my opinion," Simonelli also explained.
"We were second in the UEFA ranking, now we are third, and we hope to get back to second place. Without tax benefits, we are losing competitiveness. If football loses competitiveness, then all of Italian sport suffers because 10% of football’s audiovisual revenues are allocated to other sports—amounting to 130 million euros per year. I hope the government becomes aware of this and finds mechanisms that allow us to attract top players," he added.