(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".
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.
Conte sounds alarm on no. of Italians
Coach says proportion of home-grown players down to 33%