From Los Angeles, where the documentary Ag4in on Naples’ fourth Scudetto was presented, Naples president Aurelio De Laurentiis gave a long interview to CBS where he didn’t hold back. “Football is too old, it needs to be renewed. The new generations are passionate but impatient; they can’t sit in front of the TV for two hours. During matches, there’s only a ridiculous 15-minute halftime break, and I don’t understand why. We could split the two halves into two, 25 minutes each, with regular time, like in basketball. Today, in football, it’s the agents who decide the stoppage time. I’m in conflict with FIGC because one referee makes a bad call, another does the same… it’s chaos. Football is an industry, and they don’t understand it. We invest a lot of money, and there are too many people talking. Take these agents who think they’re football masters: they ask for astronomical sums for what? Just to sign a contract and disappear? If a player has a problem, the agents disappear.”
He didn’t hold back on Infantino and Ceferin either. “The number of matches has exploded. UEFA wants to make more money, so they extend the competitions. Then, after King Infantino’s arrival, there was the Club World Cup. Players can’t play 70 matches per season, it’s suicide. You can do it for a season, but how can they resist? Modric is 40 years old, a fantastic player, but if you ask him, ‘Dear Luka, do you want to play 70 matches a year?’ he’ll say, ‘Absolutely not.’ The money earned should go to the clubs, not the federation; that’s the first distinction. Because UEFA and FIFA make too much money. They claim to redistribute it, but it’s not true. They lie, they don’t tell the truth.”
Published on: 12/04/2026 09:00 – Updated on: 12/04/2026 13:32
