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Hello! Let us introduce you to Aurelio De Laurentiis and his radical reforms for the game.
Coming up:
- Napoli owner’s grand plans
- World Cup ICE update
- Martinez’s red for a hair pull
- The best goalkeepers
50-Minute Matches? Napoli owner’s ideas to change the game
Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic
Aurelio De Laurentiis is an Italian movie producer. The 76-year-old has also owned Napoli since 2004, taking the club from bankruptcy in the third tier to Serie A, the Champions League, and their first Italian top-flight titles in over 30 years. As Adam Crafton writes, he makes for sparkling company.
It’s a brilliantly entertaining discussion, as De Laurentiis covers everything from Antonio Conte to his relationship with Napoli fans. He’s also concerned about engaging a younger generation with football and proposes sweeping changes to do so.
Here we explain some of the biggest suggestions from the interview and what the impact might be…
‘The matches are too long’
His solution? Twenty-five-minute halves, with game time measured by how long the ball is in play for, as opposed to adding on stoppage time. De Laurentiis wants to increase game intensity and argues children don’t have the patience to sit through the entirety of a slow-paced, 90-minute match.
Fifty-minute football matches sound fanatical on the face of it — that’s the recommended duration for an under-9s game. But factor in De Laurentiis’ ball-in-play measurement idea, and it’s not as wild as it seems. In an average Premier League game, the ball is typically in play for around 60 per cent of the game, so roughly 55 minutes. I’m not saying change the laws tomorrow, but a trial would be entertaining.
‘Never use a red card (or) yellow card’
The Napoli owner argues the punishment for players’ actions should cause greater impact on the game they’re playing, not future matches. He proposes a sin-bin: five minutes off the pitch for a yellow card, 20 for a red.
On yellow cards, I’m nearly sold. The tactical fouling, the time-wasting, the getting booked on purpose to manipulate which game you’re suspended for — this could all be addressed, and make for quicker, higher-scoring matches.
But it’d be a nightmare to police. Some would want VAR checks for yellow cards if they’re going to have such an impact on a game. And this is a notoriously slow process. Good job the match would only be 50 minutes long, I suppose.
‘A Superrrr… Championship!’
Like the panned European Super League proposals of 2021, De Laurentiis wants to see the biggest teams competing against one another. But he has grander ambitions: Europe’s top clubs competing across an entire league season, not just as a cup competition.
He has tough criteria for what determines a top club: a team can’t come from a small town, and must have millions of fans. But the beauty of football comes from letting smaller sides dream, doesn’t it? Don’t take away our movie magic, De Laurentiis!
‘Big American teams to play in the Champions League’
De Laurentiis wants MLS to join European football’s premier club competition. The thought of seeing Lionel Messi in the Champions League again does make me pause for thought for a second… but the competition is sacred. Not to mention the logistical nightmares, despite North American soccer’s main competition getting set to switch its calendar. Let’s save the mixing for the Club World Cup, shall we?
What do you think of the proposed reforms? Let us know at the email address at the end of TAFC.
News round-up
- Senior FIFA management have discussed with president Gianni Infantino the possibility of him requesting that President Donald Trump halt ICE raids during the World Cup.
- A desperately sad story in Ghana: 20-year-old Dominic Frimpong has died after his team’s bus was attacked by armed robbers as they travelled back from a game.
- Former Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape. Those will be tried alongside five other counts of rape and one count of sexual assault following earlier not guilty pleas by the 32-year-old.
- Barcelona are eying a Champions League comeback against Atletico Madrid today. Lamine Yamal and team-mates are taking inspiration from NBA great LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
- Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai has apologised to fans after throwing his arms up in frustration in front of those who had stayed until the end of their heavy FA Cup loss to Manchester City.
- Chelsea’s latest accounts are in — and it’s bad news for their player-trading model. Their summer 2025 business generated just £32m in profit from player sales.
- Newcastle’s managerial situation is set to be reviewed at the end of the season: Eddie Howe maintains the support of the ownership despite an underwhelming campaign.
- Cape Verde’s kits are out for their World Cup debut, and the home one in particular is a beauty.
Was Martinez red card the right decision?
If Napoli president De Laurentiis had his way, Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez could have returned to the pitch for the final 15 minutes after his sending off in his side’s 2-1 loss to Leeds United on Monday.
\With his team 2-0 down, Martinez was shown a straight red card for pulling the hair of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, so much so that the Leeds striker’s bun came undone.
Martinez is not the first player to be given his marching orders for such an offence this season: Everton’s Michael Keane saw red for doing similar to Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Tolu Arokodare in January.
Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick was less than impressed with the decision, calling it “shocking“, but as The Athletic’s refereeing expert Graham Scott explains, a clear message to sanction hair-pulling with a red was given to officials after Tottenham’s Cristian Romero escaped punishment for tugging at the locks of Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella in 2022. It’s all about consistency.
Keeping count: Who does our expert rate as the best in the world?
The Athletic’s resident goalkeeper expert Matt Pyzdrowski has run the rule over the world’s best goalkeepers, ranking his top 15.
Manchester City’s Gianluigi Donnarumma narrowly misses out on top spot. On pure shot-stopping alone, you would struggle to argue against him.
But clocking in as the, um, number one No 1, is Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois. It’s hard to argue with Matt — and you can read his full reasoning here. He highlights how Courtois blends sharp reflexes with an ability to command his penalty area. Throw in his steady distribution and unnerving consistency in the biggest moments, and you’re looking at close to a complete goalkeeper.
As Matt writes, it’s difficult to find someone more “naturally suited” to being a goalkeeper than Courtois.
Around TAFC
Catch a match
Selected games (all 3pm ET/8pm UK time)
Champions League quarter-final second legs: Atletico Madrid (2) vs Barcelona (0) — Paramount+, DAZN, ViX/TNT Sports, HBO Max; Liverpool (0) vs Paris Saint-Germain (2) — Paramount+, ViX/Amazon Prime Video.
Championship: Southampton vs Blackburn Rovers — Paramount+/Sky Sports; Portsmouth vs Ipswich Town — CBS Sports Golazo Network, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video/Sky Sports.
And finally…
Sebastian Ferreira really took the phrase “they all count” to a new level over the weekend.\
When Ferreira’s Olimpia were awarded a penalty in their Paraguayan top-flight league match against Rubio Nu (which they won 2-0), the ball took the scenic — and comedic — route into the back of the net.
The ‘assist’ from Chapa Martinez deserves more than an honourable mention. And then file Ferreira’s “finish” under “I’m not sure how much he knew about that one”.
Got a question/feedback? Email us: theathleticfc@theathletic.com