Zola and the relaunch of Lega Pro: “A decisive step for the young players” – Calcio

The last one in C was played against Casarano. That afternoon of June 4, 1989, at the “Capozza” stadium he was wearing the 8, the 10 was Captain Mario Piga’s. The colors are those of Torres. To understand that he was not wrong, Napoli took him to deputize for Diego Armando Maradona, he will score a decisive brace for victory. Now, after almost 34 years, he ends up in the same category. But the shoes stayed at home. Gianfranco Zola is running as Matteo Marani’s deputy to lead the Lega Pro. “Matteo is a splendid person, competent, sunny and with only one goal: to give the right shape to a championship that can become indispensable for training young Italian players. A goal which is also mine”.

Pending the formalization of the tandem, the “magic box” acclaimed in the Premier League marries a linear, transparent and ambitious challenge: “To restore strength to the key values ​​of a football that knows how to stay afloat. And is capable of enhancing the many realities scattered from north to south of the country”. The former top player from Naples, Parma, Chelsea and Cagliari is preparing to take one of his formidable free kicks. The same ones, with a technique and flair with few equals, which took him to San Paolo right after that season finished in fourth place, Claudio Ranieri’s Cagliari went to B, with the Sassari team. “What do I remember and what can I take with me from those wonderful seasons? The sense of a hard-fought, energetic but also well-organized football that attracted thousands of fans. In that championship there were important clubs such as Cagliari, Salernitana, Foggia, Palermo, Catania and Frosinone. Those years were fundamental – remarked Zola – for my growth as a man and as an athlete. That’s why I accepted Matteo’s proposal: the C can be a decisive step for our young players”.

In short, nice high shin guards and attention to elbows, in the penalty area and outside. Imaginable when you aim to start a small big revolution that balances the relationships and development between professional and semi-professional football. Between a territory hungry for a clean and shared ball and the urgency to give a new and engaging imprint to the championships. Meanwhile, the countdown has already started: the elections to lead the League are taking place in Rome on Thursday 9 February. Matteo Marani, deputy director of Sky is sick of football “The one of the emotions of the past with the right adjustments to the present and a look to the future!”.

Author of a series of documentary films, the formidable one on the Hungarian coach Arpad Weiz, discoverer of Meazza and winner of the Scudetto with Bologna, a Jew forced by fascist laws to leave Italy and then end up in Auschwitz. Where he will die with his wife and children. Marani narrates the story, and the stories, with refined respect, as a chronicler who goes beyond the obvious. With a valuable ethical and behavioral figure. As well as the attention and solidarity, never self-celebrated, shown by Zola in his 35-year career. For example, with the dedication and visit to the little English fan, dying in hospital, of the spectacular back-heel goal against Norwich. In short, a tandem with a precise DNA. But now, let’s play. The Marani-Zola duo would already have the necessary signatures to participate in the elections. The regulation is clear: a minimum of nine clubs is needed, up to a maximum of eighteen. Big-grained, there would already be twenty companies ready to disconnect the ticket for the journalist and the former number 10. A pool destined to rise, which would already include Vicenza, Entella, Pordenone, Pescara and Catanzaro. The electoral race sees another reporter competing: Marcel Vulpis, former vice president of Lega Pro and acting number one since last December 17 following the resignation of Francesco Ghirelli, who left the scene after the rejection of the championship reform proposal. With Marani, who presides over the foundation of the FIGC football museum in Coverciano, Zola not only brings the title of world runner-up and 35 matches with 10 goals for the Azzurri, the Scudetto and the cups with Napoli, Parma and Chelsea, but that of his being still surrounded by a sporting, professional and human esteem of European scope. Testimonial of correctness and transparent football vision without ulterior motives. Ball in the center, let’s play.