Conte sounds alarm on no. of Italians

(ANSA) - Rome, July 10 - Italy coach Antonio Conte on Friday sounded an alarm about the falling number of Italian players in Serie A, saying the national team's competitiveness was under threat. "The concern about the (2022) World Cup in Qatar is due to the fact that, when (2006 World Cup-winning coach Marcello) Lippi was in charge, he could choose from 61-62 Italians out of 100 (players)," Conte said. "Today this has come down to 33. This is the greatest risk that Italy runs today. If this percentage keeps coming down, it'll be difficult to be competitive". The former Juventus boss said profound changes were needed to stop this, "Something is wrong. We need the trend to be reversed," he said. The issue of limiting foreign players is a delicate one.
    European Union freedom of movement laws rule that there can be no restrictions on clubs signing players from other parts of the EU.
    Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) President Carlo Tavecchio clumsily referred to this issue during his successful election campaign last year, saying there were too many "banana-eating" non-EU players in Italian football. The comments led to him being banned from UEFA and FIFA congresses for six months.
    The federation went on to limit Italian team's squads to 25 players, including at least four home-grown player and at least four products of the club's academy.
    Conte's alarm comes after Italy dropped to 17th in the updated FIFA soccer world ranking on Thursday, their lowest-ever position, after last month's 1-1 draw with Croatia in a Euro 2016 qualifier and a 1-0 loss to Portugal in a friendly.
    "I think that the prestige we have in the world does not correspond to 17th place in the FIFA ranking," Tavecchio said at Friday's news conference on Italy's youth teams.
    "Italy has an image that many people don't like. But we want to defend with Antonio Conte".
    Conte is staying on as Azzurri coach despite prosecutors this week requesting he be indicted in relation to alleged match-fixing in a second tier match when he was in charge of Siena in the 2010-11 season. He announced that Luigi Di Biagio will continue as Italy Under-21 coach despite them not going beyond the group stage of the recent European championship finals.
    Tavecchio, meanwhile, announced that Italy will bid to host the 2019 European championships finals.