Football
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Albertini wants Serie A cut to 18 clubs

Former Italy international Demetrio Albertini will seek to reduce the number of clubs in Serie A to 18 if he is elected as president of the Italian Football Association (FIGC).

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Albertini, 42, will take on 71-year-old Carlo Tavecchio in next month's election -- with the veteran president of the National Amateur Football Association (LND) currently favourite to win the poll.

Former AC Milan and Barcelona midfielder Albertini is keen to shake-up the game in his homeland and revealed on Thursday that his manifesto includes proposals to reduce the size of Serie A and introduce a minimum quota of homegrown players.

He outlined that his aim is to help clubs become profitable again, while boosting the pool of talent the future national team coach will be able to choose from.

"My ideas for change are based on putting everything in its rightful place," Albertini told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "Otherwise, there is no point in changing anything.

"This is the only way our top flight can return to being competitive again in Europe while the lower leagues can dedicate themselves to nurturing players.

"[It would mean] an 18-team Serie A, Serie B with 20 clubs and the Lega Pro has already just been reduced to 60 after many years so I don't think it must necessarily be reduced further. What I am interested in is financial sustainability. We've lost too many clubs in recent years -- Padova and Siena being the latest.

"Reducing the numbers in the leagues would be just the first step. Every club in Serie A would need to have a squad with no more than 25 players, of which a minimum of 10 would have to be homegrown, which means they have come through the club's youth system, regardless of their nationality."

That latter suggestion would be particularly beneficial to the Italy national team, which is still reeling after a second consecutive World Cup group-stage elimination.

"We shouldn't be obsessing ourselves with blocking non-EU players from arriving because limitations on that is just a false problem," Albertini continued. "You could have 11 French players in a team, all from within the EU, but none of them would be eligible for Italy either. We need to focus on quality and the obligation to use players who have come through the youth systems on the one hand would help."

Albertini comes up against Tavecchio in the election with his more senior opponent currently able to count on a third of the overall votes through LND colleagues. Albertini must therefore lobby the other two thirds of eligible voters

"I've never considered the numbers, but what I can say is Carlo and I are two completely different people with completely different backgrounds, representing completely different things," Albertini added. "This could be an opportunity, and those who wish to take it have got to take it while they can."

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