Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Berlusconi on Super League

Silvio Berlusconi has launched the first salvos on the road to a possible breakaway league in Italian and European football.

The 71-year-old was appearing on the Italian "Radio Radio" programme to outline his new proposals to keep Italian football at the forefront of the sporting world.

The Italy Prime Minister-elect said: "The top clubs from the big cities have to have their own championship because when you invest so much in a team it cannot be thought to go and play against a provincial side in a stadium that holds only around 20,000 fans and is half-empty anyway."

He added: "When two great teams play then the stadiums are packed and there is an incredible television audience. Then of course, only with top teams can we become main players in Europe again."

Berlusconi, who will stand down as AC Milan president after becoming Prime Minister for a third time, also proposed a separate league for teams with fewer spectators and went on to say that Italian clubs should take the English stadiums as a model and to build commercial centres around them.

Looking to the future he believes that people would be "in favour" of these proposals and that "licenses could be given" for them.

This article was featured on SereA.tv. Click here to go directly to the site.

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