Delays and disputes

Fans unimpressed as Italy's longest summer rolls on

MILAN (Reuters) -- Italian football's longest summer lurches on and the fans are not impressed.

Since the end of the last Serie A season, Italians have watched their national team knocked out of the World Cup by South Korea, seen one of their most famous clubs, Fiorentina, disappear under a pile of debts and heard Ronaldo insist he wants to leave for Spain.

The last thing the passionate "tifosi" wanted was a two-week extension to the close season, but Tuesday the Football League decided to delay the start of the new campaign until mid-September because of the failure to reach agreement over television rights.

"Watching Italian football now is like following the stock market," said Salvatore Campus, angrily throwing a sports newspaper down onto the steps of Milan's central cathedral.

"It is a power game between a lot of big companies," added the Juventus fan.

Five years ago few would have argued with the Italian claim that they had the world's most respected league -- now they are unable to even start the season on time.

"It is a big blow to the image of Italian football in Europe and the world," admitted Perugia coach Serse Cosmi.

After three years of successive failure in European club competition, the Italians now lead the way only in highlighting the manner in which the sport has made itself a prisoner of television budgets.

Clubs are struggling to keep up the payments on the huge contracts they agreed with players when the pay-per-view television boom was at its height, while the TV firms are losing money on the game and are desperately seeking to cut back on rights fees.

The harsh tones used on both sides reflect the fact that there can be no real winners from the current crisis -- Italian football can hardly afford to see revenues fall further while the television companies cannot afford to carrying digging themselves into a deeper hole.

Helping hand

Sensing the stalemate, the clubs have turned to the government to offer a helping hand.

The league has asked the government to declare a state of crisis in the soccer industry, allowing clubs to pay less tax and get other benefits.

On the face of it they could be in luck -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is much more than a "football friendly" politician.

He built his public profile as big-spending president of AC Milan in the mid-1980's, setting the trend for record-breaking transfers and stratospheric salaries -- he still owns the club.

But much as they love football, Italians are not taken with the idea of clubs that pay players five million euros (US$4.91 million) a year getting hand outs from public coffers.

"How is it possible to ask the government to call a state of crisis after having built a monstrous mountain of salaries of hundreds of millions of euro?" asked an editorial in the leading sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport on Wednesday.

"The League's appeal is destined to be met with a wall of protest -- all understandable," said the paper, adding that clubs should be left to resolve their problems -- even if it means following Fiorentina into the lower divisions.

"Italian football can only relaunch itself after it has cleaned itself up from the inside ... a strong blood bath would be a good way to show the desire to change course," added the paper.

Gianni Rivera, one of Italian football's all-time greats, now a center-left politician, echoed the view of many supporters when he put the blame for the crisis firmly in the court of the clubs.

"The first step is very simple -- send home all those directors and presidents who have destroyed the sport Italians love the most," said Rivera.

Few fans show much interest in the details of the debate over television rights and budgets and are exasperated that instead of the first games of the season they face more disputes.

Inside a Milan sports shop, Davide Scaringella, unpacking football boots, said: "I'm speechless. I can't believe this has happened. I have given up on the sport."

His female colleague shouted across the shop: "Football is so stupid -- it is not a sport anymore, it is just about money."

Inter running short of strikers

MILAN, Italy (AP) -- With World Cup star Ronaldo reluctant to rejoin the team and Christian Vieri and Mohamed Kallon limping with injuries, Inter Milan is suddenly running short of strikers.

As a result, Inter's president Massimo Moratti began talks with his Lazio counterpart, Sergio Cragnotti, about the possible transfer of Lazio's Argentine striker Hernan Crespo, Italian sports dailies reported Wednesday.

Rome's Corriere dello Sport suggested that Crespo would move to Milan as soon as Ronaldo's long-rumored transfer to Spain's Real Madrid is settled.

Moratti, an oil industrialist who owns Inter Milan, said over the weekend he wouldn't release the Brazilian superstar, whose contract with the Italian team runs through 2006.

However Inter officials seemed more open this week about a possible deal with Real after Ronaldo said in Brazil he was fed up with playing in Italy and spoke of his difficult relations with Inter's Argentine coach Hector Cuper.

Most Inter players, including newly signed Carlos Gamarra, say they hope Ronaldo stays.

"He's a friend and a great player, an Inter player. I hope he can stay with us," the Paraguayan defender said in the club Web site.

Meanwhile, Inter will be without its key strikers next week when it plays Sporting Lisbon in the second leg of the Champions League third qualifying round.

Vieri, Inter's leading scorer last season, is sidelined with an ankle injury and Kallon will be out of action for about 40 days following a thigh strain.

Sorin's Lazio future in doubt, says agent

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -- Argentina wing back Juan Pablo Sorin's future at Lazio has been thrown into doubt by the Rome club's financial woes before he has made his competitive debut, the player's agent said on Wednesday.

"The conditions for Juan Pablo to be a Lazio player have changed a lot recently because of the club's economic problems," Gustavo Mascardi told Argentina's Radio del Plata.

"In principle, an agreement had been reached for an $11 million transfer from Cruzeiro of Brazil to Lazio, but the Italian team have changed their offer," he said.

"Now they want a loan for a year instead of a definitive transfer. We'll see what solution we can find for this because I don't know what position Cruzeiro will take in relation to the new situation."

Sorin's transfer was arranged towards the end of last season and he has joined his new team since returning from holiday after playing for Argentina in the World Cup finals in June.

But Lazio have run into serious financial problems that at one point put their participation in the 2002/3 Serie A season in doubt and the club have had three transfer deals annulled by the Italian Football League this week.

An economic crisis in the Italian game made worse by a row over lucrative television rights led on Tuesday to clubs voting to delay the start of the season by two weeks.

"It's a difficult situation because Sorin is doing pre-season training [with Lazio]. Afterwards, if he doesn't stay at Lazio we'll have to see what teams are interested in him," Mascardi said.

Sorin, a former Juventus and River Plate player, has been training with Lazio's other Argentines Hernan Crespo, Claudio Lopez, Diego Simeone and Lucas Castroman.

Lazio paid a then world record transfer fee of $54.1 million for striker Crespo only two years ago after they were crowned Italian champions.

Looking to strengthen their squad as best they can in the current crisis, Lazio said on their official Web site that they were close to completing a deal for striker Enrico Chiesa, who is a free agent following the collapse of his club Fiorentina.

The Rome club said Chiesa would be at their Formello training ground on Thursday to have a medical and would then be unveiled to the press if there are no complications.

According to published reports, Chiesa would get a two-year contract granting him about 1.3 million euros (about US$1.3 million) a year.

Chiesa last played an official match last September, when he tore a left knee tendon during a league match.

Sweden's Andersson joins Chievo in loan deal

MILAN (Reuters) -- Sweden midfielder Daniel Andersson has joined Serie A club Chievo Verona on a one-season loan deal from Venezia with Fabio Firmani moving in the other direction.

Chievo said on their Web site on Wednesday that they have an option to buy the 25-year-old at the end of the season with their midfielder Firmani moving to Venezia, who were relegated to Serie B last season, under a similar arrangement.

Andersson, a member of Sweden's World Cup squad, is the second major signing Chievo have made this week following the acquisition of Germany striker Oliver Bierhoff from Monaco.

Chievo are in the UEFA Cup this season after exceeding all expectations by finishing fifth in their first Serie A campaign.

Florence awaits rebirth of its soccer team

FLORENCE, Italy (AP) -- The Renaissance city of Florence was witnessing the rebirth of its soccer team Wednesday with an Italian Cup match against Pisa.

In a few short weeks, the Tuscan town has seen its once-proud Fiorentina club dismantled because of financial woes and the rapid assembly of a new team with a name -- Florentia Viola -- that harks back to the city's historical beginning.

It's all been a hard blow for fans to take.

Fiorentina -- the club that legendary striker Roberto Baggio began his career with and a two-time Italian league champion -- was in the prestigious Champions League just two years ago. Now the re-formed club is being forced to start play from the lowest level of Italy's professional leagues.

The old team's owner, Vittorio Cecchi Gori, began the downward spiral by selling off longtime star Gabriel Batistuta of Argentina to AS Roma after the 1999-2000 season. A year later, the club's other mainstays of the 1990s, goalkeeper Francesco Toldo and Portuguese playmaker Manuel Rui Costa, were also gone.

Struggles with his film and entertainment businesses prompted Cecchi Gori to cut back spending on the Florence club.

Last season, the team was relegated to Serie B after finishing near the bottom of the standings in Serie A. Then, three weeks ago, Cecchi Gori failed to come up with enough cash to meet a financial deadline set by soccer officials. That resulted in immediate banishment from the league, forcing city officials to step in and form a new club.

"It's better to be in C-2 without Cecchi Gori than in Serie B with Cecchi Gori," said 40-year-old taxi driver Carlo Tilli as he emerged from the city's stadium with a ticket for Wednesday night's match.

After about 20 consecutive years of buying season tickets, Tilli said he didn't buy a pass the last two seasons because of what had been done to the team.

"But tonight, it's a special match, it's not just an Italian Cup game against Pisa, it's the rebirth of Florence," he said. "I wouldn't miss it."

While many fans were anxious to see the new team, there was still an air of uncertainty.

"I used to clean up inside the stadium," said 48-year-old Valerio Fini, when asked what he was doing there. "I've worked here for 22 years and now I'm trying to figure out if I've still got my job."

About 20,000 fans were expected for the match at the Artemio Franchi Stadium on Wednesday, or about four times the capacity of most of the stadiums the "Viola" will be playing in as visitors this year.

Cecchi Gori will certainly not be among those in attendance.

"He'll have big problems if he comes here," said 47-year-old Norberto Parmi while standing outside the Viola Club's unofficial headquarters at Bar Marisa across the street from the stadium.

"We thought he was sincere, he promised us he would come up with the money," Parmi said.

Cecchi Gori was unavailable for comment Wednesday. Attempts to enter the old club's headquarters in Florence's Piazza Savonarola were rebuffed.

The only member of the old Fiorentina who was playing Wednesday was its last captain, midfielder Angelo Di Livio, who also was on Italy's World Cup squad this summer.

The 36-year-old former star of AS Roma and Juventus signed on with the new Florence club at about 10 percent of the salary he earned the year before.

The rest of the team is made up largely of untested players in their 20s.

"For this extraordinary Florence, everyone will try their hardest," Di Livio was quoted as saying in Wednesday's Corriere dello Sport.

In Cecchi Gori's place will be the squad's new majority owner, Diego Della Valle, an Italian footwear mogul.

But Della Valle will not own as much of the new team as Cecchi Gori did of the old club. In the aftermath of this summer's developments, the city promised to always hold onto a small portion of the new team.

"Tonight belongs to Florence," Tilli exclaimed. "The city deserves this."

Wife of Brazilian star says she will stay in Italy

MILAN, Italy (AP) -- Milene Domingues, the wife of Brazilian superstar Ronaldo and a soccer player herself, says she will continue playing with her Italian team next season and that she hopes her husband will do the same with Inter Milan.

In an interview with the daily Il Gazzettino published Wednesday, Domingues said: "I'll play 100 percent and for the entire season with Monza and it would be the same for Ronie with Inter. At least this is what I want."

Ronaldo has made it clear he wants to leave Inter Milan and join Real Madrid. But his wife has been enjoying playing with the Fiamma women's team in Monza, near Milan, since last season. The semiprofessional team plays in the Italian Serie A.

Domingues and her son Ronald were seen at Calalzo, in the Dolomite mountains, where Fiamma is preparing for the next campaign.

In the interview, Domingues said Inter fans will love Ronaldo again if he decides to stay with Inter.

The Milan club was flooded by thousands of insulting e-mails addressed to Ronaldo after the Brazilian World Cup hero made public through his agent that he was fed up with playing in Italy.

"Fans change their mind quickly. One day they love him, the next they hate him. And another day perhaps they will love him again," she told Il Gazzettino.

 

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