Change football
Naples boss warns: “Definitely to die”
09/27/2025 – 12:54 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Football is changing. Fewer and fewer young people look at the full length games. A terrifying development, as the President of SSC Naples finds.
The tone in European football becomes sharper – at least when it comes to Aurelio de Laurentiis. The President of SSC Naples urgently warns of a decline of sport. His analysis is relentless: football is too immobile, too expensive and lost a reference to the young generation.
“Football is intended to die. Real reforms are required,” said de Laurentiis at a press conference. He emphasized that you had to find a new way. Just as the game is currently organized in Italy and many other European countries, it cannot survive the increasing costs.
He sees a core problem with the youth. Children and adolescents had no more patience for entire games, they only consumed high points. Therefore, the organization of the championships must basically be considered. If football does not become more attractive again, he threatens to look “slow, boring and like something from the past” in the eyes of the youth.
However, it is not just Italian problems for the club boss. Other European leagues are also at risk. Too many games, ever higher debts and a system dominated by institutions instead of associations would have brought sport to the brim.
His solution: fewer games and more quality. Specifically, de Laurentiis calls for a series A with only 16 clubs. To do this, games would have to run on free TV-financed by advertising. Millions of fans who stayed away due to payment barriers could be recovered in this way.
With increasing ratings, according to the president, the passion for football would also be reunited. Without such measures, sports threaten to maneuver yourself out.