Juventus president Andrea Agnelli once again put pressure on clubs to reformulate football competitions to make them more attractive to fans.
In the General Assembly of the ECA, the Italian, who also chairs the body, revealed tensions with UEFA to change the current competitions.
“Football is at a crossroads, we have to change, we have to change and offer the fans the best possible competition. Most likely, there are too many games that are not competitive, both nationally and internationally, and this does not capture the interest of the fans. We cannot take the fans for granted, in fact we have to offer them the best possible competition or we run the risk of losing it, “he said.
“We have to put the fans at the center. The current system is not made for the modern hobby. Research shows that many traditional assumptions about fans must change and that at least a third of fans follow at least two teams; 10 percent follow players, not clubs ”.
“2/3 follow football more because of a modern fear of getting lost or simply because they like big events, 40% of fans aged 16 to 24, the famous Gen Z, have no interest in football,” he points out. Agnelli.
“Although I am not present here, I would like to thank President Ceferin (UEFA) for the arguments and almost the fights we had from October to December. They have been very productive discussions and fights ”.
Remember that the UEFA Executive Committee will meet with the 55 member associations on April 20, a meeting where the reform of the competitions could be approved.
On an economic level, Agnielli reviewed the losses caused by Covid. “The revenue losses are between 6,500 and 8,500 million in the two seasons, some 360 first division clubs need cash injections amounting to 6,000 million euros.”
“The top 20 clubs in revenue faced a 1.1 billion euro hit in the 2020 season. And these are just the top-of-the-line numbers. These blows are on our shoulders ”.