Sir Zola takes to the field. The former champion is ready to return to the world of Italian football, and not just as a coach: he's running as a surprise candidate for the Serie C League leadership elections , along with presidential candidate Matteo Marani.
Zola, candidacy in tandem with Marani for Lega Pro
Zola is running in tandem with the journalist for the position of deputy. The meeting is set for February 9th in Rome , when the Serie C clubs will have to choose Francesco Ghirelli 's successor (the former president resigned before Christmas).
Currently , the unofficial candidacies are those of Marani and Marcel Vulpis , who, former deputy vice president of Lega Pro, announced in recent weeks his intention to run for president. Marani has communicated Zola's name to a group of Serie C clubs and will formalize his candidacy in the coming days.
The name of the former striker could represent an ace up the sleeve, and above all it would be a return to Italian football, for him who now lives between his homeland, Sardinia , and his second homeland, London.
From C to London, Zola ready to return to the field
The 55-year-old former Sardinian playmaker from Oliena , in addition to his victories as a footballer and his appearances for the national team, knows the reality of the other categories well and in particular the Serie C championship , in which he made his mark at the end of the 80s, wearing the shirt of Torres , the Sassari team then coached by Franco Liguori.
Then Napoli , the Scudetto with Maradona , that inherited number 10, Parma and in '96 the move to Chelsea , where Zola became a 'magic box' for his ability to pull off feats from the hat, as well as a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth. Thus England became his second home.
But now Zola is ready to make himself available for his football again. As for the presidency, while awaiting the deadline for submitting candidacies, a two-way battle (journalists) is brewing between Vulpis and Marani , who, following Francesco Ghirelli 's resignation as top executive, will compete for the presidency of Lega Pro.
The third professional league carries a significant weight, 17 percent, in the election for the president of the Italian Football Federation . And it's no coincidence that Gabriele Gravina himself , the FIGC's number one, is paying close attention to this election: 59 clubs will be voting (all except Juventus , the only club to have joined the second-team project).
