ITALY. Up until now, a cap in international soccer has meant the number of international appearances a player has for his country.
In Italy, a cap may soon have new meaning – as in salary cap.
Faced with out-of-control expenses, Italian pro clubs will vote in December on austerity measures that may include the first salary cap for a major European league.
Powerhouse Lazio has already announced plans to institute a salary cap next season.
It plans on capping player salaries at 150 billion lire ($68.13 million) – a reduction of almost 30 percent over current salaries.
Lazio, which has long-term debt of almost $100 million, also wants to reduce its first-team roster to 25 players. Its 2001-02 roster includes 29 players – 22 of them internationals.
President Sergio Cragnotti is adamant about instituting reforms at his club, whose price on the Milan stock exchange is down almost 60 percent in the last year.
“It is a move which is necessary to stay at the forefront in Italy and in Europe and to guarantee greater financial stability for the club,” he said. “This decision should not be taken as a backward move.”
The huge disparity between rich and poor clubs in European leagues and the lack of collective bargaining between management and players have made it difficult for the concept of a salary cap to take hold.
Salaries spiraled in the 1990s after free agency was introduced with the Bosman decision. Big clubs expanded their rosters after the Champions League was expanded to include two group phases.
The work of Serie A executives took on new urgency when Fiorentina, winner of 10 Italian and European titles, was plunged into crisis this summer after owner Vittorio Cecchi Gori resigned as president. It went four months without paying players.
There are also problems in Spain – where clubs owe tens of millions of dollars in back taxes – and in England – where players threatened to strike in a dispute over television revenues.
Problems are less severe in France and Germany, where clubs must meet financial targets in order to have their operating licenses renewed each year.
by Soccer America Managing Editor Paul Kennedy