Italy’s Serie A is gradually adopting a more businesslike approach, the league’s president Maurizio Beretta told RIA Novosti in an interview this week.
Despite many of its top clubs such as Juventus, Inter Milan and Fiorentina being family-owned, the overall mentality is changing towards financial efficiency and sustainability, Beretta said.
“Of course in Italy there are families who have been involved in this area for a long time. But now people are appearing in our country who have achieved success in other areas of business, they’re starting to put money into football, and that's great,” Beretta said.
“As far as possible, the stadiums are improving and a policy is being pursued to reduce players’ wages because it’s a really massive part of clubs’ expenditure, and a part of the funds available could be used to modernize the infrastructure,” he said.
Despite the swing towards efficiency, Beretta praised the Della Valle family’s stewardship of Fiorentina.
“Regarding Fiorentina, its problems are already history. The club has belonged to the Della Valle family for a long time and is very prosperous financially.”
Beretta was a television executive before becoming Serie A president in 2010. Since March 2011, he has combined the post with a job as communications director of the UniCredit bank.
