Eca, at Khelaifi he meets Italian clubs in Rome

“The ECA is making a shopping campaign,” he will live an Italian manager. Hotel Cavalieri, afternoon illuminated by the Rome Sun: on the eve of the two days of the annual assembly of the Association of European clubs, it is already a road of insiders. The official program begins tomorrow, but today an informal meeting was held with all the Italian clubs that accepted Nasser’s invitation to Khelaifi. Serie A, led by President Ezio Simonelli and the A.D. Luigi De Siervo, was present in large numbers, and there were also some teams of B, led by Paolo Bedin. Exceptional guest, the number 1 of the FIGC (and the first UEFA vice president) Gabriele Gravina, who played at home.

skepticism

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“We are a family”, the effect with effect pronounced by Al Khelaifi, president of the PSG and the ACA. A way to underline the “inclusive” nature of the association in this new phase in which all members, without differences in census, can elect representatives on the Board of Directors. This on paper. The medium-small Italian clubs continue to be wary. Their reasoning can be summarized as follows: the ECA actually protects the top 20 companies in Europe and is an active part of a system that does not protect the national championships. During the meeting, at the Khelaifi he emphasized the amount of contributions intended for the teams that do not participate in the European cups, the result of the Memorandum with UEFA: 308 million, 7% of the gross turnover of the UEFA competitions. “He moves little to our budgets”, the observation of the manager of a medium-small. The fear, from their point of view, is that continuing on this road, that is, giving more and more space to the Champions League, the Serie A can be the next tournament to pay duty, in terms of TV rights, after the collapse of Ligue 1.

A22

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Meanwhile, in Rome also hovers the spectrum of A22, the society of the deceased Superlega that continues to make lobbying so much to dialogue with UEFA to agree on new chances of the Champions League starting from 2027 At the moment, the ECA has over 700 clubs, including 29 Italians. In 2008 there were 137. Of course, these numbers must correspond to a real influence. And it is on this that at Khelaifi is working. And if really, as is whispered, the president of Barcelona Laporta will reveal himself in Rome, then it will mean that the communion of intent among the great clubs is destined to prevail, in the name of the money.