Inter, Beppe Marotta drastic on the issue of calendars

Beppe Marotta pushes for an 18-team Serie A

On the sidelines of the Grand Galà del Calcio in Milan, Inter's CEO, Beppe Marotta, è returned to the long-standing issue related to calendars and the increasingly evident difficulties of recovering unplayed matches, such as Bologna-Milan initially scheduled last October 26, or not completed, such as Fiorentina-Inter on December 1°.

"Nowadays, players are subjected to a very high competitive stress – Marotta commented to the microphones of 'SportMediaset' -. There are so many matches, considering both club and national team activity. I am in favor, and I have said it on other occasions, of an 18-team Serie A championship".

"We would have moreù margin to solve issues such as the recovery of matches,” added the Nerazzurri executive, “and also we would allow the players to recover as best they can between matches. Marotta, therefore, is pushing for a return to an 18-man lineup: the last time è was in the 2003/04 season.

In the summer of 20 years ago, the so-called "Catania case" led to the expansion of the top league to 20 teams, with three direct relegations instead of four (actually, in the 2002/03 season, a play-off between the fourth-last in A and the sixth in B was played): the number of participating clubs remained that way until today and confirmed in each of the dedicated votes at the Lega Serie A assembly.