We are moving towards the modification of the list of 25 usable players, starting from the current eight Italians to up to twelve
Milan – A list to be modified for the good of Italian football. Federal President Gabriele Gravina made it clear when speaking of abnormal number of foreign players in Serie A in the first few days of the new championship: “We have to think about the list of 25 which is not bearing fruit, we will have to put our hand to it”.
The number one in the FIGC referred to the list that the clubs must deliver before the start of the tournament. For some years now, on the model of what happens in the European cups, this issue must be included four players who grew up in the club’s nursery and four in another national youth sector. These are measures that aim to protect our talents from overshooting overseas. But it is clear that these measures are not working. In the first round of Serie A, just 31% of the players who can be called up by coach Roberto Mancini with the blue shirt went on the field. Out of this already reduced percentage, the Italian forwards on the field from the start were just eight, four of them over 30.
These data show that the clubs have no interest in helping the FIGC in a virtuous process that could reverse the disastrous trend at the base of Italy’s two consecutive eliminations from the World Cup. This is where Gravina’s speech comes in, which goes in the direction of a proposal launched by the AIC as early as last spring, a few weeks after the shipwreck in the play-off with North Macedonia. The players’ union has suggested expanding the blue reserve from the current 4 + 4 to 5 + 5 to reach 6 + 6 at full capacity. The goal is to make the presence of Italians in the squad not marginal. Currently, with eight out of 25 elements, it can be considered as a filler for regulatory requirements. This explains why the foreign holders are even higher than the figure of card holders hired from abroad in the Serie A squads, equal to 59%. Means that Italians are already few, but they are often taken only to satisfy a bureaucratic requirement. By bringing the minimum limit to 12 – almost half of the list – it would no longer be possible to disregard the technical value. At that point the clubs should necessarily focus on strong Italian players, even in central roles in the backbone of a team. Now the majority is represented by scorers or full-fledged runners. Our players are almost absent from the boxes of director, playmaker, center-forward or winger. With this pool available, it is clear that Mancini has to jump through hoops and for this reason the coach pushes the young Italians to go across the border to seek space.
It did not even help to limit the application of the tax benefits of the Growth Decree to foreigners who are over 20 years old and earn more than a million gross. This is why Gravina wants to accelerate the reform of the lists which will obviously involve the usual heated dialectic with Serie A. The transition to 5 + 5 could take place starting from next season. The further jump to 6 + 6 after an interval of two years, in the 2025-26 championship that precedes the World Cup in North America. Those that no Italian fan wants to lose after two editions experienced by simple onlookers due to burning eliminations.
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