De Siervo says no to ‘reducing Serie A to 18 teams’

The CEO of Lega Calcio, Luigi de Siervo, closed the Reduction talks from Serie A from 20 to 18 teams.

During his last interview via FcDe Siervo addressed recent speculation about a new league format.

According to De Siervo, the reduction in staff would considerably harm the value of the competition and the overall appeal.

However, there has been great indications that several clubs support the idea of ​​reducing the number of participants.

Indeed, it is believed that a new format would facilitate the congestion of devices and improve competitiveness.

Meanwhile, several elite divisions have already undergone similar changes.

For example, the German Bundesliga and the French Ligue 1 1 operate with 18 teams.

Although this has long been the standard in Germany, the high flight of France has only adopted the format at 18 teams in 2023.

Despite growing speculation, Serie A will not follow the step.

Instead, De Siervo remains categorical that the maintenance of a 20 team league is essential to preserve the integrity of the league.

Luigi de Siervo Minimizes Serie A Cut Talks

“For the three major leagues – English, Spanish and Italian – the idea of ​​staying in 20 teams convinces us at the moment”, ” Siervo Luigi confirmed.

“Because if we had to reduce it to 18, we would lose around 20% of sporting events, as well as a certain level of representation linked to major cities and regions.

“This would accelerate the compression of value and interest in national leagues in favor of the main European competitions.

“We have had merit and good fortune in recent years to allow Italian teams to go deep in European competitions.

“However, this will not necessarily be the case.

“Imagine if all the expectations of our fans were placed only on the European Cups,” he added.

“For years, as you know, we have not obtained the results we deserved or hoped,” concluded Siervo.

In addition to the exploits of the Inter Milan Champions League in the past three years, Serie A clubs have massively have difficulty in the European table.

Indeed, the triumph of the Europa League of Atalanta in 2024 remains a rare culminating point in the middle of this sterile race.