Italian football needs new stadiums – Galliani

During the early 90’s, Italian football were respected highly on the domestic and European scene, but Adriano Galliani now thinks England, German, Spanish and even French football have leapfrogged Calcio.

To make things worse Italy has fallen behind England, Germany and Spain in the UEFA Club Rankings. Teams fighting for a top three finish in Serie A will be a heated encounter as for the 2012-2013 season only three teams will qualify for the UEFA Champions League instead of four.

“Thanks to the new stadiums being built for Euro 2016, I predict that the French will also overtake us," the Rossoneri director and former Lega Calcio chief told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"We could be competitive with equal factors and situations, but unfortunately that's not the case,” he continued.

"Spain has the advantage that they don't have collective TV rights, Germany have overtaken us thanks to the wonderful new stadiums they built for the World Cup in 2006.

"It's like theatres and restaurants. There are beautiful theatres and ugly ones, there are luxury restaurants and then pizzerias.

"But we can't do anything. Without stadiums we can't do anything and without a new law we can't construct new stadiums.

"Even the politicians have understood that, but the design of the law has remained blocked between the two branches of parliament."

Juventus will become the first top-flight Italian club to actually own their own stadium when their new arena opens for 2011-12. The state-of-the-art stadium is an example for other teams in Serie A to follow.