A few days after the end of the 2023-2024 Serie B, which closed on the pitch with the playoff final between Venezia and Cremonese, an appointment in Sassari for the president of the Lega B Mauro Balata (originally from Calangianus), who participated in the conference "Italian football between current events and the future. What prospects?" held at the University of Sassari, organized by Giorgio Fresu in collaboration with the Panathlon Club Sardinia and the Order of Journalists.
In front of various professionals from the world of football and numerous institutions, Balata held a lectio magistralis on the new scenarios of football at an international level, as well as on the impacts that could occur in the coming years. «Already in 2023 I spoke about this risk of gigantism and monopoly, with consequent concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few», his warning. «We knew that reforms in European and world football had been put in the pipeline, then approved, which gave rise to major supranational competitions. These, in some way, were a response to the Super League's born and failed project. There are scheduled spaces, but they are becoming more and more crowded with the risk of a lack of balance: if all interests shift towards mega international competitions there would be an impact on domestic competitions. Which is not limited only to the world of football, which also fuels 40% of the entire Italian sports system through the payment of taxes."
The numbers. Balata, a lawyer, has led Lega B since 23 November 2017 and was re-elected on 7 January 2021. Over the years, the Serie B championship has come to have 73% of Italian players, with several teams fielding a completely national starting eleven. In the playoffs alone, around 184,000 spectators were seen at the stadium, confirming an ever-growing interest in the tournament, now visible in 56 countries and 5 continents, which recorded the highest goal average in recent seasons (2.52 ) and Europe's lowest percentage of home wins (37%).
«For years I have believed that football is a formidable multiplier of social and economic well-being for the benefit of the community», continues his speech. «It has as fundamental points of reference the superior principles of sporting merit, fair competition and solidarity. Ours is beautiful football and we have always brought it around the world with great pride." At the end of his speech, Balata honored two University employees with the red ball, which Lega B uses every year as a symbol of the fight against violence against women.
