The Serie A league split in the meeting on Tuesday afternoon, November 22, in an almost unprecedented way: without even starting the meeting – scheduled for 2.15 pm but postponed by over an hour – and giving the presidents a chance to argue on a specific topic. In practice, 12 participants remained in the Via Rosellini room in Milan. The representatives of Juve, Inter, Milan, Naples, Rome, Fiorentina and Monza left for various reasons (Turin was absent). An episode that brings to light tensions and unresolved problems in the governance of the top football league.
The facts
The president of Napoli Aurelio De Laurentiis set fire to the dust who protested animatedly invoking an opening of the Lega council which he would like to expand to eight 8 members and invoking a greater weight for the Neapolitan club. After that he was the first to leave the assembly. Due to the accumulated delays and the climate of tension, Milan, Inter and Juventus followed him, followed by Monza, Roma and Fiorentina. Among the issues that should have been discussed were the election of the independent director, with a split on the name of Rebecca Corsi, vice president of Empoli. None of the big clubs are prejudiced against Corsi, but her election would shift the axis of the Lega council too much towards the small clubs. The theme will be disucsso in the next assembly at the beginning of December, given that the clubs remaining in the classroom have chosen, unanimously, to postpone the vote. “Not participating is a common technical choice, it is a right and it is in any case part of the dynamics,” explained the president of the Lega, Lorenzo Casini. “The reasons behind it? Evidently a failure to reach an agreement on matters on the agenda, in particular on the election of the director. But there wasn’t the same reason behind the choice of the sects to leave».
The tax issue
On 16 December (deadline later slipped to 22, but little changes), Serie A clubs and not only must pay the “suspended” taxes from January to November 2022 in a single installment. Apparently not all clubs have used this instrument in the same way and in the meantime someone has paid part of the tax debt. The sum to be paid is in any case considerable: over 500 million euros. The Government has not granted a further installment payment «The assembly unanimously – added Gravina – confirmed my mandate to interact with the institutions to find a solution to ensure payment in the interest of the system. The installment of tax obligations is already provided for by state law, here the issue is whether or not to pay a penalty. I have already written to Gravina that there is maximum availability to the fact that, in the event that it is possible to access facilitated forms of installment payments, clubs are not allowed to have a winter transfer market with a negative balance».