Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis did not hold back his opinions on the state of Italian football infrastructure and politics, delivering a characteristically blunt monologue during an event at Bocconi University in Milan.
The outspoken patron of the reigning Scudetto champions focused his most aggressive comments on the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona and the political environment that, in his view, is suffocating the domestic game.
Maradona Stadium Slammed as ‘Un Semicesso’
Addressing the topic of stadium development, De Laurentiis lamented the dilapidated state of Napoli’s home ground, the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Using vivid Italian terminology, he branded the venue a “semicesso” (a “semi-dump” or “half-toilet”).
De Laurentiis highlighted the vast disparity between Napoli’s agreement with the local council and those of other top European clubs.
He said, via Corriere dello Sport: “The current stadium of Napoli is a semi-dump,” De Laurentiis stated. “When [Carlo] Ancelotti arrived, we managed to put a few things in place. Paris Saint-Germain pays the same figure to the Council as Napoli, but they have exclusive use of the stadium, with which they generate more than €100 million a year.”
“Napoli pays the same figure to have the stadium one day before the event, during the match, to clean it, and hand it back the day after. We have a stadium with an athletics track, which is not great, and a moat that distances the spectator even further.”
Politicians Are Football’s “Biggest Enemies”
The Napoli President then widened his attack to include the government and local authorities, claiming their negligence and lack of vision are the true barriers to progress in Italian football.
“We have a big handicap, which is the ‘Italian politics’ who, indecently, have become the biggest enemies of football,” he charged.
De Laurentiis suggested politicians are missing a clear financial and electoral opportunity: “If they understood that there are 25 million possible voters, perhaps these gentlemen would change their ideas.”
Warning to Ceferin and Infantino
The owner concluded his address by issuing a stark warning to the leaders of UEFA and FIFA, Aleksander Ceferin and Gianni Infantino, over the club-vs-country dilemma and the current football calendar.
“Mr. Ceferin and Mr. Infantino must be careful, they risk reducing the level of the national championships: I am very worried,” he cautioned.
De Laurentiis pointed out the financial strain placed on clubs by international duty: “We have players bought by us, who are paid by us, but who play for the national team, return destroyed and we are not reimbursed. All this must be regulated, otherwise, in 5-6 years, only Milan, Inter, Juventus, Napoli, and Roma will remain.”
He finished with a rhetorical question that tied his concerns about the system back to the stadium problem: “But then why are we building new stadiums if the system is about to collapse?”
Kaustubh Pandey I GIFN
