Real Madrid president Florentino Perez used every possible opportunity to stress that, in order for football to persevere thRough these tough times, drastic changes need to be made. Hence his lobbying for the European Super League.Another club president proposes changes and there are some points in where the two visions collide. Aurelio De Laurentiis of Napoli warned the football public competition system will have to change sooner or later.Close to two decades have passed since the prominent film producer bought Napoli when they were a third tier club but with honourable tradition. An it has been years now since Napoli are one of the best teams in Italy and are continuously fighting, if not for the title, then at least for the top 4 spots.Man United under Ronaldo: No one touches apple crumble and that motivation speechQuite an impact of the 72-year-old Laurentiis. But even though things are much much better than they were in 2004, Napoli president predicts it can only go downhill if football does not take different approach to the masses.As per his Sportsmail interview, Napoli owner is working on a proposal that he says will be worth almost 12 billion USD from which European club football could benefit immensely.Are we hearing echoes of Perez? Well it could be interpreted like that but there are differences in the way two business man see the future of football.De Laurentiis disagreed with the proposal to launch a European Super League and he believes the allure of winning the Champions League or Europa League is forcing clubs to spend beyond their means in the race to stay competitive. According to the Italian, the prize money from the tournaments is not enough to cover all the costs.Liverpool to live up to their role of group favourites, Milan to prove they are not just ‘passing by’And rather than the formula of the Super League, where teams were invited to compete regardless of domestic performance – De Laurentiis wants a more lucrative European league where qualification is based on clubs’ performances.’The Champions and Europa League don’t generate sufficient income for the clubs to justify participating in it.’ argues De Laurentiis. ‘The system doesn’t work any more.”To be competitive, you need more top-class players. That means you have to spend more money — and the prize money from the European competitions doesn’t account for that.’That is why the clubs need to speak to each other to come up with a more modern and lucrative tournament for everyone in it.Inter host Real Madrid as Champions League fever grips the legendary San Siro stadium’We need to reduce the number of games by reducing the size of the top divisions across Europe. Also, we create a European league with a democratic system of entry, based on what teams achieve in their domestic competitions. I have examined a project ready to bring €10bn to the European game, but we need willingness and total independence.’The ongoing season started great for the Neapolitans – they have beaten Juventus 2-1 on Saturday evening and have collected nine points out of three Serie A games. Now they focus on their European path which beggins with the Europa League clash against Leicester City.Thu, 16/9, 22.00: (2.40) LEICESTER (3.40) NAPOLI (3.15)De Laurentiis never shied away from admitting he is a huge admirer of English football and is sure Italian clubs can learn from the ones competing in the Premier League and in the Championship.But what frightens De Laurentiis the most are the modern time trends which are slowly but sure pushing the young generations away from football as we know it. Napoli president proposes that updates are much needed.’If we don’t change the rules of the game and make it a better spectacle, young people will abandon us and football will no longer be the central part of our lives,’ warned De Laurentiis.’My research tells me that people between the ages of eight and 25 have stopped watching football and prefer playing with smartphones — they have totally transformed our children.Once there was a team, they were called Barcelona’I’m not saying that the habit of watching live football in a stadium will die, but now we have the ‘virtual stadium’, which can attract billions of people to play games against each other.’Who knows if we will manage to get them back down the route of the greatest and most influential sport in the world?’Napoli and Leicester are viewed as strong favourites in this season’s Europa League group C, were the two will be battling Russian side Spartak Moscow and Polish Legia Warszawa.EUROPA LEAGUE – GROUP STAGE – ROUND 1Wednesday17:30: (2.00) Spartak Moscow (3.50) Legia (4.10)Thursday19:45: (3.60) Galatasaray (3.50) Lazio (2.15)19:45: (3.70) Lok.Moscow (3.40) Olympique Marseille (2.15)19:45: (2.35) Crvena Zvezda (3.35) Braga (3.30)19:45: (1.87) Midtjylland (3.70) Ludogorets (4.50)19:45: (1.25) Leverkusen (6.75) Ferencvaros (13.0)19:45: (1.70) Betis (3.80) Celtic (5.70)19:45: (3.35) Dinamo Zagreb (3.40) West Ham (2.30)19:45: (2.60) Rapid (3.40) Genk (2.85)22:00: (2.90) Brondby (3.25) Sparta Praha (2.65)22:00: (2.70) Rangers (3.35) Olympique Lyon (2.80)22:00: (1.45) Monaco (4.50) Sturm (8.50)22:00: (2.50) PSV (3.40) Sociedad (3.00)22:00: (2.40) Leicester (3.40) Napoli (3.15)22:00: (1.75) Eintr.Frankfurt (3.80) Fenerbahce (5.20)22:00: (1.70) Olympiakos (3.80) Antwerp (5.70)
