Napoli Owner De Laurentiis Calls for 50-Minute Matches and Major Rule Changes
"Football is going to lose the younger generation." Those are the words of Aurelio De Laurentiis, the 76-year-old owner of Napoli, speaking from his Beverly Hills home on Easter Sunday — and he's not simply complaining. He's got a detailed plan.
The Italian film producer and Serie A's most vocal chairman is proposing a dramatic overhaul: reducing matches to 50 minutes, eliminating yellow and red cards completely, relaxing offside regulations, and removing smaller-market clubs from top-tier competition. Love it or hate it, there's a consistent rationale behind most of his ideas.
Why 50-minute matches might make sense
De Laurentiis envisions replacing the current 45-minute halves with two 25-minute periods of actual playing time — eliminating stoppage time, lengthy VAR reviews, and time-wasting tactics. "You can't lie on the pitch and put on a performance like you're in a movie," he insists. Fake an injury? You're substituted off.
His proposal includes introducing sin bins to replace traditional cards. Yellow card offence? Five minutes off the pitch. Red card equivalent? Twenty minutes on the bench. His reasoning is that suspensions affecting future matches penalize clubs more than the individual action — a player can deliberately commit a tactical foul to halt a counterattack, knowing the genuine penalty arrives next week. Immediate in-game consequences would alter that decision-making process instantly.
Regarding offside, he advocates scrapping the microscopic calls. That's difficult to dispute. A toenail disallowing a goal has never satisfied anyone except the defending team.
Whether FIFA or UEFA would consider any of these proposals remains highly doubtful. However, the fundamental issue he's identifying — that contemporary football is sluggish, fragmented, and progressively unfriendly to shorter attention spans — is legitimate. Broadcasters are already witnessing younger audiences losing interest.
The Super League concept, smaller clubs, and Conte's future
De Laurentiis advocates reducing Serie A from 20 to 16 teams, with any club unable to claim at least one million supporters being removed. "When the team appears on DAZN or Sky, how many viewers are watching? 3,000? 4,000?" His league structure would include Juventus, Inter, Milan, Napoli, and Roma as permanent members — with everyone else competing for the remaining positions.
It's a harsh perspective on football. Clubs like Sassuolo, developed from a community of 40,000 residents, earned promotion through the same process Napoli used to climb back from Serie C. De Laurentiis dismisses this comparison. "Napoli has 100 million supporters — it's different."
Concerning a European Super League, he's more sophisticated than the 2021 breakaway attempt — he opposed that format because it designated specific clubs rather than selecting based on league standings. His preference involves a comprehensive pan-European competition: approximately 20-25 clubs from the top five leagues competing throughout a season. The specifics remain unclear, but the intention is fewer inconsequential group-stage fixtures and more matches that genuinely matter commercially.
Regarding Gianni Infantino's expanded Club World Cup, he's direct: "You're destroying my investment. I invested in that player and you're exhausting him just to line your own pockets."
Concerning Antonio Conte — who recently secured Napoli's fourth Scudetto — De Laurentiis is confident about retaining him. He likens Conte's coaching approach to the drill instructor in Full Metal Jacket, and intends it as praise. "When you focus on defence, you probably win. If you only want to attack, you probably lose."
- Conte has one remaining year on his current deal
- The Italian federation presidency vacancy complicates any potential national team overture
- De Laurentiis states he requires a decision by April or May to secure a replacement if Conte departs
Kvaratskhelia's January transfer to PSG — which Conte resisted — deprived Napoli of one of their top players during a championship campaign. De Laurentiis claims the player's representatives threatened to invoke FIFA's Article 17, permitting players under 28 to terminate contracts after three years for minimal compensation. He's campaigning to modify that regulation. It won't be the final time a club encounters this situation.
"Agents are simply parasites who extract money from every direction," he declares. Nevertheless, De Laurentiis sold Kvaratskhelia in January and still captured the league title. Difficult to question the result, regardless of the method.