The Italian government wants to monitor football and basketball finances

Famous for its corruption scandals, Italian football is rebelling against excessive oversight. The situation, on both ends, is slightly at odds with what the international forums want. The Italian Football Federation, the Italian League, which oversees Serie A, and top-flight clubs are outraged by the Italian government's plan to set up a body to monitor their finances. Following an extraordinary meeting called earlier this week by Lega Serie A, the twenty clubs in the Italian championship "unanimously expressed their opposition to the proposal to create a government agency for the economic and financial supervision of professional sports clubs". "The clubs demand the autonomy of the sports system from the political (...) and have reiterated once again the need to advance towards a total autonomy of the Lega Serie A within the sports system", the Italian League stated in a statement. Italian football officials point out that the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) already has a body, Covisoc (Commission for the Supervision of Professional Football Clubs), responsible for monitoring the accounts of Serie A clubs. "This project is disrespectful to our bodies leadership. It is clear that Covisoc will no longer be independent if the government's plan goes ahead", warned the president of FIGC, Gabriele Gravina.

The Italian government wants to establish an agency for the economic and financial supervision of professional sports clubs, focusing in particular on football and basketball. The Minister of Sports, Andrea Abodi, justified the creation of this body by the fact that "100 million euros in taxes and contributions were not paid by the clubs in the first, second and third divisions only in the last 18-24 months". "We are not saying that Covisoc is not reliable. We are saying that there is always room for improvement in terms of financial control," he added before continuing. "There will be no impact on the allocation of licenses for the championships, all of which will remain in the hands of the FIGC." The Italian basketball authorities, led by the Italian Federation and the Professional League, also expressed their opposition to this project.