The FIGC president, Carlo Tavecchio, has again raised questions on the validity of his position after he revealed that he wants to reduce the numbers of non EU players in Italy.
Tavecchio, a long standing executive in Italian football, was named president last month, despite making controversial comments on foreign players during the election.
Although Tavecchio apologised and insited he is not racist, Platini and UEFA's have decided to open an inquiry and the body will hand down a decision based on it's anti-racism rules. The 71 year old is focusing on the next step, however, and seems to have dug himself into a deeper hole by revealing plans to limit players from outside of the European Union.
The Italian Football Federation President claims that his concept is not racist, once more, but is an idea to be put in place in an effort to encourage home grown talent. Consequently, he wants to cut all squads down to 25 players, 8 of which should have emerged from the youth ranks; any top 6 club must also always have 4 Italian players on the field at all times, increasing to 6 by the 2015/16 season.
"We will have to have a relationship with Serie A," Tavecchio explained his focus on giving Italian youngsters a chance to break through. "But in Italy there is a pool of 700,000 young people under 18. In order to know them, we have to create national centres with branches in the provinces and regions. The FIGC will have to go into the schools in order to create squads that can participate in our leagues, as the English did"
As of now, Tavecchio is looking for support from the majority of top flight Italian clubs, and if that doesn't work, the EU can "overturn the decision anyway".
"We will request the intervention of the Government for a legislative instrument to ensure that they [non-EU players] must have a certain requirement to play in Italy."
