Today, at the FIGC headquarters in Rome, a number of federal components met to tackle some urgent themes concerning Italian football. Several representatives were called upon by Gabriele Gravina, including Ezio Maria Simonelli from Lega Serie A, Paolo Bedin from Lega B, Matteo Mariani from Lega Pro, Giancarlo Abete from Lega Nazionale Dilettanti, Umberto Calcagno from AIC, as well as Renzo Ulivieri representing AIAC and Antonio Zappi for the AIA.

Several topics were discussed, including sustainability, not just economic and financial sustainability, but also ways to encourage new investments and greater capitalisation, increased managerial training, a revision of the refereeing service policy and a new organisation for top-level referees, with the objective of enhancing their work. The goal of the Federation is to provide concrete answers to the most pressing needs of the system, which needs a strong commitment from the entire footballing community, with the overall aim of protecting fair competition and the value of the leagues.

In particular reference to the idea of evolving the CAN structure, President Gravina introduced the project of the constitution of an independent body, with the participation of the FIGC, alongside Lega A and B, which is born from the necessity to enhance a process of professionalisation required by the system and top-level referees. In this new organisation, the current CAN staff would be integrated and supported by an operative, technical, organisational and marketing structure. This would help to free up new resources to aid the development of the category. The proposal, which will be confirmed and published in the upcoming weeks, has been designed to improve the Italian refereeing system. This path must go hand in hand with the strengthening of two innovative projects within youth and amateur football: the dual player-referee registration system and the introduction of the referee-manager role.