Sacchi: ‘Prandelli should stay at Fiorentina’

February 9, 2010

Arrigo Sacchi has advised Cesare Prandelli to keep his job as Fiorentina coach instead of taking charge of the national team.

The Viola manager has been linked with a move to the Azzurri after the departure of Marcello Lippi, due by the end of the World Cup 2010 campaign.

“I think Cesare is a great manager, an excellent coach,” said former Italy boss Sacchi.

“But when you are in charge of a national team you are not coaching really but just picking players. You don’t have the time to coach players but can only give them tactical views.

“Of course he is very good and very smart so he would know what to do anyway, but I see him better at a club.

“Actually, I wish him to stay where he is and do the ‘real’ job. Calcio needs a man like him to teach it on a daily basis,” added the Italian coaching legend.

Regarding Fiorentina, Sacchi has good feelings about their future.

“They were exceptional against Roma. They did everything right. The video of their game should be shown to all the kids in the youth teams.

“Football is not maths, that’s why they lost. But the game was in Fiorentina’s hand from the start till the end,” concluded Sacchi.

Tags: Azzurri, boss, Calcio, cesare prandelli, coach, daily basis, everything, game, good feelings, Italy, job, marcello lippi, Roma, Sacchi, viola, world cup 2010, youth

Serie A TV rights sold for €181.5 m

November 7, 2009

Serie A’s worldwide broadcasting rights for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons have been sold to the MP & Silva international sports media company for €181.5 m, the Italian Football League said on Friday.

Acceptance of the bid is pending approval by Italy’s competition watchdog, the league said in a statement on its website (www.lega-calcio.it).

Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis said the decision was taken despite opposition from his club and Turin giants Juventus.

“Only we and Juventus voted against. Our (TV) rights are worth much more,” de Laurentiis was quoted as saying on La Gazzetta dello Sport’s website (www.gazzetta.it)

“Unfortunately, a little egg today was preferred to a goose with a golden egg, which could have been today too, not tomorrow.”

The Serie A highlights package and radio rights in Italy have been sold to state broadcaster Rai for €28.5m for the 2010-11 season and €30m for 2011-12.

The league said it would contest a Milan court decision to stop it assigning the live satellite broadcasting rights for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons to Sky, while an appeal against this move by a small network is considered.

Abhimanyu Rajput

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Serie A: Lega Calcio accepting media rights bids

July 14, 2009

Serie A governing body, Lega Calcio has officially started accepting bids for the media rights of the Italian top flight football league.

Lega Calcio which is working in conjunction with the Infront Sports & Media agency, as noted by sportbusiness.com, will be accepting bids for the domestic television rights on behalf of the Lega Nazionale Professionisti (LNP) tender for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.

The tender was previously authorized by the Italian Anti-trust Authority and the Italian Communication Authority.

As a result, four pay television packages and one free-to-air package are being offered as part of the tender.

A deadline of July 27 has been set, giving interested broadcasters just two weeks to submit their best offers.

Non-exclusive domestic rights that include the Coppa Italia and Super Coppa will be addressed during the fourth quarter of the current year, with an international tender planned for the Autumn months.

By: Abhimanyu Rajput