Inter Milan President Hits Out: ‘Serie A Has To Reduce To Eighteen Teams’ | OneFootball

Inter Milan President Beppe Marotta feels that Serie A has to reduce the number of teams to eighteen to lighten the schedule.

The Nerazzurri executive spoke to Radio Anch’io lo Sport, via FCInterNews. He stressed that particularly with the Club World Cup, the fixture list is becoming untenable.

Next season, Inter will play more matches than ever.

There will be the usual 38 matches from a twenty-team Serie A schedule. Then, there will be the Coppa Italia and a Supercoppa Italiana that will once again be a four-team mini-tournament.

That could be as many as seven more matches from domestic cup competitions.

In Europe, Inter will play a minimum of eight matches in the “league” phase of a revamped Champions League rather than the six of the old group stage.

And progression to the knockout rounds of Europe’s top club competition would mean yet more matches.

And then the Champions League is not the only competition undergoing an expansion in format.

Inter will be among the teams to play at a new-look Club World Cup at the end of the season.

All of this means that it is certain Inter will play at least fifty matches in total next campaign. It is not at all improbable that that number could balloon to sixty or more.

Inter Milan President Beppe Marotta: “Serie A Has To Reduce To Eighteen Teams”

Marotta said of the new-look Club World Cup that “The information we have isn’t very concrete.”

“There’s no doubt that the new Club World Cup, which we’re very happy to be a part of because it’s a source of pride and a showcase on the world stage, will represent a further overcrowding of the fixture list,” the Inter President admitted.

“Then there are more matches in continental cup competitions,” Marotta noted.

“There’s the new format of the Champions League. We could be playing as many as seventeen matches.”

“So the Club World Cup gives us even more reason to evaluate,” Marotta said.

The Inter President declared that “The schedule should be changed in light of the new competitions.”

“I will say explicitly that Serie A should be reduced to eighteen teams,” he said.

Marotta warned that “The workload is no longer sustainable for the players.”

“The risk of injuries has become very high,” he added.

“And then too much ‘supply’ risks decreasing the attractiveness of the product,” the Inter President suggested of the number of matches.

As far as injuries go, Marotta said “Take Barella.”

“In the 2022-23 season, from the start of August to mid-June he played 52 matches. The risk of injuries is considerable.”