Paolo Dal Pino is the new president of the Lega Serie A, which, as often happens, was almost split in two over his appointment. After thirty years in telecommunications and publishing, the Milanese manager born in 62 will lead for at least a dozen months (the Olympic four-year period ends in 2021) the quarrelsome association that is the driving force of Italian football, coming off three troubled years and destined to face hot months for TV rights. Having narrowly missed being elected with 13 and 12 votes last December 16, this time Dal Pino was appointed with 12, just one more than the simple majority required after the first two failed assemblies. Lazio, Roma, Napoli, Genoa, Atalanta and Sampdoria would have also voted for him, not Milan who had supported him in the previous assemblies, when Gaetano Micciche' was not in play. The manager received the news in Rome, just after returning from Brazil. He should make a move to the FIGC tomorrow and then officially present himself in his new role. It is not the large majority he was hoping for and which seemed to be able to materialize when the meeting was suspended for half an hour at the request of Juventus, Inter and Torino (they also asked to postpone the vote for a discussion with the candidate), while a return of Micciche' seemed to have faded. At the restart there was a dramatic turn of events: the number 1 of the Granata, Urbano Cairo, nominated the Sicilian banker, president of Banca Imi and advisor to RCS, who had resigned from the top of the League on November 19th due to the investigation into his election, and in the end he collected 7 votes (one blank ballot). “I haven't spoken to Dal Pino, I don't have his number, but from the rumors I think he'll accept,” explained Giancarlo Abete, who took over from the commissioner ad acta Mario Cicala (who also resigned due to conflicts of interest) and quickly ended his mandate, leading the League to fill the power vacuum, also determined by the lack of a vice president in the reformed statute. Abete underlined this, without sparing a swipe at the recent management of the clubs' association. “With a normal candidacy mechanism, all this wouldn't have happened,” he said, referring to the choice to include in the statute the requirement for a unanimous vote to overcome any conflicts of interest, then to perform a verbal verification of the secret ballot to avoid the risk of surprises at the ballot box when Micciche' was elected, a process that ended up under investigation by the Federal Prosecutor's Office. “The will to change the electoral system emerged in the assembly, checks on the candidates must be done beforehand”, added Abete and the method with which Dal Pino was nominated was opposed by Juve, Inter and Torino, who together with Sassuolo voted for Micciche'. “The election took place in a rather improvised manner,” commented Nerazzurri CEO Giuseppe Marotta. We adults contested the method, certainly not the person: Dal Pino is an important manager but it seemed right to us to be able to listen to his program". The “minimum” majority does not equate to a presidency born weak, according to Marotta: “We will not obstruct, on the contrary. The companies must come together because there is a lot of work to do in these six months, we must all be united."
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