De Laurentiis calls for major changes: ‘Reduce halves to 25 minutes, no red cards’

Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis feels that football is ‘losing’ the younger generation and has called for some eyecatching changes to be made to the game, including reducing the length of matches, getting rid of yellow and red cards and sending players off for feigning injuries. 

• Read Football Italia Ad-Free and get access to Exclusive News and Content – Free Trial – Click Here

The Partenopei chief sat down for an in-depth interview with Adam Crafton of The Athletic, discussing the major rule changes he feels should be implemented to help capture a younger audience. 

De Laurentiis: Football ‘will lose the younger generation, imagine the stupidity!’

“Soccer will lose the younger generation. The matches are too long,” De Laurentiis told The Athletic. 

“Imagine the stupidity! You think my grandchild of six years old, who knows everything (about football) because he plays with the PlayStation –  he will escape – and you think you will recoup him after 15 minutes? Never! Because he goes in his room. He starts to play FIFA.”

De Laurentiis, who has previously called for Serie A to be reduced from 20 teams, believes that the length of matches also needs to be reduced as well as shortening the half-time interval. 

“Number one: I will reduce from 45 minutes each (half) to 25 minutes,” he said. 

De Laurentiis does not look too kindly on those who feign injuries either: “But also you cannot stay down on the field and play around like an actor! AGHHHH. NO — you will go OUT! 

“What I will do also: I will never use a red card and a yellow card. I would say ‘YOU — get out for five minutes (for a yellow card)!’ And ‘YOU — get out for 20 minutes for a red card!’”

During his talk with The Athletic, De Laurentiis often referred to basketball, and feels that football has a few lessons to learn from American sports generally. 

“Another thing, too few goals! So it is not spectacular. You must make more goals. And to make more goals, you must change the rules. You cannot (cancel) a goal just for a few millimetres. The offside must be changed, a lot.”