The Serie A CEO Points to Piracy as the Cause of Problems in Italian Football
Luigi De Siervo, Serie A CEO, has pointed to illegal streaming and the consequent loss of television revenue as key factors in Italy’s difficulties in developing local talent. The Azzurri are looking to return to the World Cup for the first time since 2014. Italy, four-time world champion, who used to be a regular at the World Cup, finds itself in a precarious situation. It has failed in the last two editions and risks missing a third, after losing its first qualifying match against Norway. Recently, Italian authorities intensified their efforts to combat online piracy, which is costing broadcasters and sports leagues worldwide billions of euros, in their attempt to protect the value of their broadcasting rights.
“All the money that is lost each year is not invested in youth teams and in the growth of our young players, a major problem that has led our national team to face many difficulties.” “In addition to this, the outdated facilities do not allow clubs and the system to obtain high revenues. This has to change and this law is going in the right direction.” De Siervo warned that, if they continue to lose revenue, Italy and Serie A could fall in the UEFA coefficient ranking. “We are already far behind the Premier League and Spanish LaLiga.” “If we continue like this, we’ll end up behind the Germans and finish at the bottom of the table [of the five major European leagues] along with the French.”“Many wonder why our national team is in this situation and why there is a lack of talent, one of the reasons is the losses due to piracy,” said De Siervo at an event on the fight against piracy.
Luigi De Siervo
