FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio calls Gianluigi Buffon 'the Azzurri's lighthouse', whilst discussing his program of reforms.

The World Cup-winning goalkeeper recently made headlines for setting a new record for the longest unbeaten run in Serie A, and Tavecchio added some praise of his own.

FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio calls Gianluigi Buffon 'the Azzurri's lighthouse', whilst discussing his program of reforms.

The World Cup-winning goalkeeper recently made headlines for setting a new record for the longest unbeaten run in Serie A, and Tavecchio added some praise of his own.

“Buffon is the symbol of Italian football par excellence,” Tavecchio told Radio1. “He is a person with a great sense of ethics and morality. He works with common sense and he always looks for problems to be resolved.

“He is our lighthouse and the national team cannot do without him. Gigi, with his way of understanding this profession, can still give us very much. He is our pole star.

“I'm grateful to Rai's directors for discussing the possibility of playing the Coppa Italia final earlier. However, I'm disappointed by the straight-up no that we've been given by the two Coaches involved.

“In the future we'll have to do a better job of communicating that the Azzurri's interests come first. Italy's shirt is more important than those of the clubs.”

Tavecchio then touched on the subject of the European super-league option that is being discussed within UEFA, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino's suggestion to have a World Cup with 40 teams.

“I don't have anything against initiatives that are being pushed from within our country,” he said, in reference to Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis' vocal support of the project. “But I think this would pervert the nature of the football movement.

“I am against closed groups and elites. We must allow small clubs, like Chievo, Carpi or Frosinone, the opportunity of being promoted. If other clubs can't be relegated, then it all stops making sense.

“As for Infantino's proposal, I'm all for it. In Europe there are 54 nations and the Euro is played between 24, so it's about 40 per cent of the possible teams. FIFA counts over 200 nations, so 40 teams would make up about 20 per cent.

“The failure of Italian clubs in Europe? English football didn't qualify for anything last year. Every season is particular. We weren't lucky this time round.

“In the future we need to limit the number of foreign players, and increase the number of Italians. The Federal centres that have been set up in every region will be employed to nurture our young talents in the best possible ways.

“Our system nowadays has to confront itself with clubs that have a much greater revenue than ours. Unless we reform our investment system, it's going to be hard to stay competitive.”

Byandrea

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tickets Kit Collector