In an interview with the German magazine "Die Zeit," Juventus president Andrea Agnelli shared his opinion on the current state of Italian football, which is far from its best, and criticized the management model of the wealthy businessmen-backed clubs "Manchester City" and "Paris Saint-Germain."
At the beginning of the interview, the Italian, referred to as a "rebel" in the Apennine peninsula, pointed out the lack of transparency and conservative management of the "Lega Serie A," which is responsible for the governance and supervision of Italian football divisions.
"I am not an opposition leader because there is no government here," said A. Agnelli. "All decisions are made through meetings of club presidents. Lega Serie A is weak, lacks authority and power. All this leads to opaque decisions and conflicts of interest, such as the distribution of TV broadcasting rights."
"We need to change our mindset and behavior. With a few exceptions, the presidents of Italian clubs are either in their late sixties or older. You can count on one hand those younger than 40," said the Juventus president.
Asked about the 5 million euro grant given by the Italian Football Federation to the financially struggling "Parma" club, A. Agnelli said that this is just the tip of the iceberg.
"The fact that the club could sink so low shows how poorly Italian football is managed. This caused a lot of talk in Italy, but what concerns me more is what other countries think about us," said the Italian.
"The crumbling stadiums are also one of the causes of the crisis, which I completely agree with. For future generations, we need to leave a better and more transparent football and at the same time a stronger country," he said.
"I will not hide the fact that there are significant differences between me and other Serie A club presidents. In my opinion, we need to follow the example of the English Premier League, where football is presented and exported as a product. This is supported by Roma president James Pallotta," noted A. Agnelli.
Asked whether investors from abroad could expect to buy Juventus, as has happened to the strongest clubs in the Premier League, the Italian gave a categorical answer: "I don't care where the investors come from, but I can assure you that Juventus is and will remain an Italian club."
The "Calciopoli" scandal that rocked Italian football in 2006 dealt a strong blow to Juventus' reputation, resulting in the club being relegated to Serie B and stripped of two Italian league titles. A. Agnelli does not believe that time has healed the wounds and again put Juventus back on its feet.
"No, we have not recovered yet. We accepted the court's decision, but it was made within a month without reviewing later information. Three years ago, we filed a lawsuit worth 443 million euros for lost revenue and we are now awaiting the final court decision," said A. Agnelli.
In the final part of the interview, Juventus' president criticized the way clubs that have circumvented UEFA Financial Fair Play rules have been treated.
Currently, in terms of revenue, we cannot compare with four clubs: "Manchester United," "Barcelona," Munich's "Bayern" and Madrid's "Real." They are followed by "Paris Saint-Germain" and "Manchester City," but these clubs are backed by wealthy owners who constantly cover their debts. If we don't pay attention to them, Juventus will rise to eighth place. My goal is to raise Juventus to fifth place in three or four years," Agnelli assured.
The last German question was about the upcoming second-leg UEFA Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund. In the match, Juventus will have a one-goal advantage as they celebrated a 2-1 victory in Turin.
"We are Juventus. Victory is our only goal," said A. Agnelli.
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