Gabriele Gravina, the president of the Italian Football Association, intervened in the TV show Tiki Taka, touching on a few topics. He addressed the recent racist incidents: “Those subjects must be identified and banned from the stadiums for life.”
He weighed in on the state of Italian football: “It is struggling, but it is not going bankrupt. It is passing through some economic troubles like other European countries. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a €1B loss, on top of previous issues. Serie A has extraordinary appeal. However, it has not reached its full potential yet.”
Gravina commented on the Cristiano Ronaldo deal: “According to my philosophy, it was not a good piece of business. It helped Italian football because he raised its value, but I think it was not a positive operation for Juventus.”
Gravina indicated what should change going forward: “We need to remove the red tape on football to operate more freely. And we should eradicate the events that happened recently. Agents have always been part of the game and considered useful to maximize the results. I think that was incorrect. We need to have a dialogue with them. However, we have to be aware that some of them generate negative situations. We need to isolate them and create international rules to limit their power and commissions.”
The federal boss confirmed that Italy will run to host Euro 2028: “I have a few dreams, and I try to achieve them. I hope it can become a reality for the good of our football.”