Italian football is sinking.

The official announced only five clubs in the
country are free of debt and prescribed widespread
measures to halt the slide
FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio has expressed his
worry that Italian football is at a risk of going under
financially, revealing only five clubs in the country
have successfully balanced their books.
Serie A outfit Parma were declared bankrupt earlier
this year and sent down to Serie D to start over
after the club failed to pay the players' wages and
endured repeated difficulties finding an owner who
could clear their debt.
Their struggle has now prompted Tavecchio - who
has already admitted his worry at the spending of
sides such as AC Milan and Inter this summer - to
announce serious measures to curb debt in an
attempt to halt the country from continuing
its downward spiral.
"The system is heading the same way as the
Titanic. We can’t allow another case like Parma to
happen," the FIGC chief told La Gazzetta dello
Sport . "We’ve checked all the balance sheets and
there are even big clubs in difficulty.
"We’ve warned them that, from next season,
certain boundaries will have to be respected or
else they are out. If this rule was already in place
this summer, only five clubs could be registered
for the next Serie A season.
"We can’t resolve these problems instantly, but
with a five-year plan we can cure Italian football
and save it from bankruptcy.”
Tavecchio was elected to his position last August
after promising to restructure the league system
and has now announced his plans for wholesale
change in order to streamline the order of
competition.
"It is useless to have three leagues when two are
enough," he continued. "We need one top-flight
with Serie A and a Lega Pro grouping the lower
tiers together, with a clear objective to developing
youngsters.
"We aim to bring Serie A down to 18 teams, with
another two groups of 18 in Lega Pro."