Matteo Marani will lead Serie C for the next four years. Yesterday, at the Lega Pro headquarters in Florence, during the elective assembly of the clubs, which voted for the president by acclamation. The clubs wanted to give a demonstration of compactness and unity of today’s Serie C, appreciating the work carried out in the last mandate by the governance. In fact, in addition to President Marani, the extraordinary elective Assembly of the Italian professional football league renewed its confidence in Deputy Vice President Gianfranco Zola and Vice President Giovanni Spezzaferri. Also in the sign of continuity is the choice of the members of the Board of Directors, with the confirmation of Alessandra Bianchi (Padua), Mauro Bosco (Vis Pesaro), Patrizia Rossana Testa (Pro Patria) and Stefano Udassi (Torres), who were joined by Angelo Antonio D’Agostino (Avellino) and Nicola Grieco (Audace Cerignola).
President Marani spoke at a press conference in the afternoon
“We have the pleasure of being here after the re-election, we started this journey two years ago, in an environment, the institutional one, which is new to me. It is an important journey, with gratifying results, we have also acquired visibility on TV, we have quadrupled the revenues, we have made a reform, the Zola Reform, which incentivises clubs that enhance the youth sectors, in which we will continue to invest. We also invest in training, and therefore we want more respect, because there is a single football supply chain Italian, and this must be kept together: C has also produced many champions, like Zola here. Arguing, splitting and dividing leads to nothing.”
What was the most satisfying moment of these 600 days in office?
“There were many moments, I traveled around Italy a lot, and there were many moments, even distant ones, in which I felt the affection of all the presidents: in the penultimate assembly they applauded me, it was a touching moment because it made it clear that the divisions had been overcome, however, I don’t take credit for the quiet summer, there were delicate situations to manage that we didn’t bring to the outside, but here there are rules, also put in place by those who preceded me, that have helped. given a good basis. And we would like to put a control on costs shortly, we will have a discussion with the clubs, but we would like to be the first League to put a cap on expenses, because economic sustainability is a very important aspect, i football costs must be secured. As regards the U23s, I want to underline that we are the only league to have made a reform, I thank the presidents for the acceptance of the U23s, but at the moment there are no further indications.”
Which C series would you like?
“I would like a more sustainable C, which was the first most sustainable League with expense control, but also a respected C: we would not fail in our mission, but the B and the A must look more at us, so that it gets back into motion that lift that has done so much good for Italian football requires consideration and the right respect for Serie C: there must be an obligation to respect ourselves and recognize the role we have.”