Silvio Baldini, technical commissioner of the Italian Under 21 national team, was the guest of honor at the 13th edition of the “Nicola Ceravolo” International Sports Award, celebrated today in Catanzaro, in the headquarters of the FIGC-LND Regional Committee of Calabria.
Baldini, in thanking the family of the unforgettable president of Catanzaro (“thank you for thinking of me, because many important figures of Italian football have received this award”), also sent a message on the talents of our homeland: “President Floriano Noto told me that he must always focus on young people in order to lead Catanzaro to be ambitious. So this is what football should do. Don’t always ask the president to come up with the money, but to invest it in young people. In these first days of Have we seen any more young players on the pitch in Serie A? Because we as a national team have also contributed to launching many youngsters, so we hope that this breath of youth and courage will be able to bring even more young people to play in our top flight championship.”
During the award ceremony, conceived by Maurizio Insardà and with the presence of the editorial director of the Italpress Agency Italo Cucci, a special recognition was also given to Giancarlo Abete, president of the National Amateur League, delivered by Saverio Mirarchi, number one of the Calabrian regional committee. “It is clear that there is a limited use of Italian players and young people – commented Abete on the sidelines of the event – because, despite obtaining positive results in recent years in the youth teams up to Under-20, we are not able to make a leap in quality and be competitive. We cannot appeal to the rules. We need a gentleman’s agreement, an ability on the part of the clubs to understand that we need to invest in Italian players and selectable young players. The television rights are concentrated on Serie A and therefore it is difficult to make the fact of giving a quality show is compatible with the need to maintain economic balance. The clubs must invest more in young people. One of the working hypotheses is to also finalize a part of the television rights for the use of young people, we must try to provide incentives for all the clubs from the D series to the promotion, a reward for the clubs that use the young people the most during the championship”.