Italy in crisis

Serie A clubs vote to delay season; Lazio transfers annulled

AC Milan's Adriano Galliani, president of the Italian Football League, arrives for Tuesday's meeting. AP

MILAN (Reuters) -- Italian clubs voted on Tuesday to delay the start of the 2002-03 season by two weeks, the latest upheaval in European soccer caused by rows over lucrative television rights.

The Italian Football League voted to start the season on September 15 rather than the planned date of September 1 as eight of the smaller clubs from the top Serie A division were still without pay-per-view television deals for next season.

"We have taken this decision to give strong political support to the teams in Serie A and B still without pay-per-view contracts," League president Adriano Galliani told a news conference.

"Today is a good day for Italian football because we have taken this decision in total unanimity and shown great unity," added Galliani, who is also vice-president of AC Milan.

Galliani said the delay would also give time to the eight Serie A clubs to look into the possibility of developing their own pay-per-view platform.

The season had been due to start on September 1 but no games were scheduled for the following weekend as the Italian national team is due to play Azerbaijan in a European Championship qualifying match in Baku on September 8.

Italian soccer has been dogged with financial problems this year, partly due to the waning of lucrative television deals.

Serie A teams Atalanta, Brescia, Chievo, Como, Empoli, Modena, Perugia and Piacenza have not reached agreement with either of Italy's two subscription satellite channels Telepiu and Stream, forcing the decision to push back the start date.

The clubs are each demanding 10 million euros (US$9.84 million) for the rights to live coverage of their home games this season while the two pay-TV companies have offered only 4.5 million euros.

In Italy, clubs sign individual deals with television companies, in contrast to many other countries, such as England, where a collective deal is signed for the rights to a championship.

Handicap in Europe

The postponement could prove to be a handicap to Italian teams competing in European competition as in September they will face rivals who have already had several weeks of domestic action under their belts.

But Galliani said the clubs involved in Europe had backed the move and said he did not believe fans would pay a heavy price for the delay.

"The damage for the public in the stadiums and television is minimal this way because as far as Serie A is concerned they only miss one round of games," Galliani said.

The League has also failed to reach agreement with state broadcaster RAI over a fee for a free-to-air highlights package.

Telepiu and Stream stand to be merged under a plan by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp to create a single pay-television company in Italy, which analysts have said could mean an end to bidding wars which pushed up the price of television rights for soccer clubs in the past.

The collapse of TV rights has hit leagues across Europe, with clubs in Germany's Bundesliga and England's first, second and third divisions suffering a shortfall in income after the demise of media giant Kirch and pay-TV channel ITV Digital.

A number of clubs are faced with possible bankruptcy and all are tightening their belts by reducing their squads and cutting costs, while the transfer market has slowed down considerably.

Lazio transfers annulled by league

The Italian club's decision comes on the same day Serie A side Lazio had three transfer deals annulled by the Italian Football League due to the club's parlous financial state.

The Football League said in a statement that it had not approved the transfers of Christian Manfredini and Brazilian Eriberto from Chievo Verona nor Massimo Oddo's move from Verona to Lazio.

The ruling means that the three players will now have to return to their original clubs unless they can arrange new moves or Lazio can produce guarantees of their ability to pay for the players.

Oddo is currently training with the Italian national team ahead of Wednesday's friendly with Slovenia which could see his international debut. But he may yet be forced to return to Verona, who were relegated to Serie B last season.

Wingers Manfredini and Brazilian Eriberto were two of the key players in Chievo's impressive debut season in Serie A, which saw the team from the tiny Verona suburb finish in fifth place and qualify for the UEFA Cup.

Lazio was not immediately available for comment.

Vieri, Toldo pull out of Italy squad

MILAN (Reuters) -- Striker Christian Vieri and goalkeeper Francesco Toldo have pulled out of the Italy squad to face Slovenia in a friendly on Wednesday due to injuries.

The Inter Milan pair are both suffering from muscle problems and Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni has called up Roma goalkeeper Ivan Pelizzoli to replace Toldo who is reserve to first choice keeper Gianluigi Buffon.

Trapattoni has opted not to replace Vieri meaning that Filippo Inzaghi is likely to be partnered by Parma striker Marco Di Vaio or Roma's Vincenzo Montella in attack.

Italy were already without regulars Francesco Totti, Gianluca Zambrotta and Cristiano Zanetti due to injury, while regular third-choice goalkeeper Christian Abbiati of AC Milan is also sidelined.

 

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