The CEO of Lega Serie A has confirmed that the top division in Italy will adopt a new name abroad.
Luigi De Siervo has discussed, in detail, their plans to grow the overall stature of Serie A through a number of different avenues as they begin the journey "to regain international leadership."
It has been a fruitful time for Serie A of late, with Inter Milan reaching this season's Champions League final; not to mention Napoli's first league title for 33 years.
The 54-year-old now wants to pounce on that success by creating an even more attractive brand to compete with the likes of La Liga and the Premier League, who are seen as two of Europe's big hitters.
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Speaking to Spanish publication AS about their plans, De Siervo mentioned changing the name of Italy's top tier abroad to 'Serie A Made In Italy', as well as other topics.
“We have begun the journey to recover our position in international leadership," he said.
"We are creating a more interesting product, of higher quality. The actual match time is 66%, there is a 33% missing that needs to be more attractive, for example with the cameras that are used at the cinema.
“We compete against Netflix and Amazon for people’s free time. The success of our clubs is no coincidence, building such a good product brings more investors. Funds have started to deal with Italy because we are the league with the most potential, as we have been the best for decades."
The 54-year-old added: “We have to improve the stadiums, but the beauty of our cities is unique. And then in the last four seasons four different teams have won the Scudetto, something that doesn’t happen in any other country.
“We have closed a €10m per season agreement with the government, our league abroad will be called Serie A Made in Italy. Serie A has begun the journey to regain international leadership.”
As mentioned earlier, Serie A want to be on par with La Liga and De Siervo admits to being behind the Spanish first division in regards to stature.
“La Liga began its journey of international growth 15 years ago," he added. "We are paying for this delay. Self-critically, I can say that when we were at the top we bet on the Italian public and ended up limiting ourselves.
“Today we have changed and we look at the Spanish model as a well-organised and functional system, even if we have different ideas.
"The race is on, it is a competition between two very friendly leagues. La Liga is a tournament with which we have more relations.”
Thoughts on the 'Serie A Made In Italy' name change?
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Topics: Serie A, Italy, La Liga, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus, Napoli, Jose Mourinho
Jack Kenmare