Friday Matches, Fewer Foreigners, Other Serie A Changes

During the World Cup, news has been leaking out about changes to the Lega Calcio Serie A, the newly independent league formerly know as simply Serie A.  Most of the announcements were overshadowed by the World Cup, but below are the changes that FIGC has announced over the past few weeks.

A few weeks back the new logo for Lega Calcio Serie A was unveiled.  As you can see, the new logo is slick and more modern, but American sports fans may see a resemblance to the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes logo.  Honestly, I have no feelings either way but the comment section is open for you if you do.

The league last week announced its outline of the schedule for the 2010-2011 season, and the biggest change is the addition of more Friday matches.  The league will now have one match on Friday evenings to allow for more rest between European competitions.  There will be one Friday time slot, two Saturday, and three Sunday.

The new season will begin on August 28/29 (less than two months away!) and conclude on May 22.  There will be a winter break from December 19 through January 6, and the four rounds of midweek fixtures will take place November 10, January 6, February 2, and March 2.

The most recent announcement, however, may be the most controversial.  FIGC announced over the weekend that it has reduced the number of non-European players permitted on each roster from two to one.  The goal, according to FIGC, is to force clubs to develop more Italian talent in the wake of the Azzurri’s disastrous World Cup.  Serie A voted against the change, and has been vocal in its disapproval of the new rule.  There are ways around the rule of course – sweep foreign players into the EU fold due to lineage or residency, but it seems like a knee jerk reaction to a bad World Cup.

Share your thoughts on any of the changes in the comments section below or via Twitter @roberthayjr.