Article by Maria Olteanu – Published Wednesday, April 15, 2026 8:11 p.m. / Updated Wednesday, April 15, 2026 9:44 p.m.
Napoli boss Aurelio de Laurentiis, 76, criticized soccer officials, particularly FIFA chief Gianni Infantino, in an interview with CBS Sports over the high number of games the players have to play.
In addition to De Laurentiis' recent statement that, for example, matches should be shortened, he has now referred to their number, mentioning Luka Modric.
“Year after year, the number of matches explodes. Why? UEFA wants to make more money, so they expanded the Champions League. Then came King Infantino. He probably wants to be in the White House instead of Trump. And what did he do? He created the Club World Championship.” said De Laurentiis, quoted by sportal.blic.rs.
“Players can't play 70 games, you kill them like that. You can do it for one year, but not more. How can they be resilient like Modrić? Modrić is 40 years old, he is a fantastic player. But if you ask him: Dear Modrić, do you want to play 70 games a year?, he will say no, absolutely not,” he added.
It proposes drastic changes
“Football is going to lose the younger generations. The matches are too long,” De Laurentiis argued in a recent interview with the New York Times, explaining that today's youth lack the focus for 90 minutes of play.
“Imagine that stupid 15-minute break in the middle of the match! Do you think my six-year-old nephew, who knows everything about football because he plays PlayStation, will come back after 15 minutes? Never. He will run. He will go to his room to play FIFA,” added the Napoli boss, who proposes a solution.
“I would shorten half-times from 45 minutes to 25 minutes, with the caveat that only the time the ball is in play would be measured, thus ending time-keeping and simulations“, he added.
