FIFA President Satirized Stadium Ownership in Italy Who Lost from Gabon

DBasia.news –  Stadiums are very important as the football club’s vein and nerves because they are the main source of income through ticket sales and merchandise. In addition, the football stadium also brings fans together with club players.

Uniquely, in Italy today, there are only two clubs that have their own stadium, namely Juventus and Udinese. That fact is quite unique for the developed countries that has a big passion for football in Europe.

Other clubs did not seem to learn from Juventus how big the difference was to have their own stadium, compared to a rented stadium from the local government. Bianconeri has full revenue from sales of entrance tickets, merchandise and more at Allianz Stadium.

FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, is surprised by this unique fact. In fact, Infantino bluntly stated that Italy was far behind African country, Gabon.

“Italy is currently lagging behind Gabon when it was related to the stadium. It is remarkable that only Udinese and Juventus have their own stadium,” satires Infantino while speaking at the FIFA Executive Congress, as Calciomercato reported.

“The situation with the stadiums in Italy is truly illogical. This is a country that has a passion and a culture of football that is very great. But now Italy is still behind from Gabon, who organized this new African Cup, when it is about the stadium. “

“It’s great to see only Udinese and Juventus have their own stadiums. Stadium is not only a place to watch football matches, but above all it’s also an investment,” said Infantino.

Just a quick comparison, the Italian national team is currently ranked 18th in FIFA and Gabon is in the 85th. So, it is quite unique if Gabon is more advanced in terms of the stadiums owned by the clubs there.

Some Italian clubs had already planned to build their own stadium. However, there are problems that they experience. As with AS Roma, it was difficult to develop the Della Roma Stadium project as it was opposed by local authorities.

Napoli, Lazio and Fiorentina are prime examples of other clubs who had to resist the desire to build a new stadium because of the problems they experienced during the past decade.