A third-tier Italian football club "could come under Australian ownership after a consortium involving furniture king Nick Scali held preliminary discussions" to purchase former Serie A club Calcio, according to Dominic Bossi of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The financial crisis that has hit Italy "could lead to Australians gaining a stake in one of the world's biggest football countries after the cash-strapped club was put up for sale in recent months." Calcio's long-standing President Pasquale Foti "is looking to sell his majority share of Reggina and is understood to have asked a consortium of Australian businessmen to save the club." Sydney businessman Scali, founder of Nick Scali Furniture, "is emerging as a central figure in a potential bid for what could be a historic takeover for Australian football." Foti's representatives "were recently in Australia and held talks" with the consortium that is interested in "purchasing the entire club, including a seven-field training base, junior academy and their 27,000-seated Stadio Oreste Granillo in Reggio Calabria." Sources suggested that the club, its academy and stadium "could be sold on the cheap as Foti is eager to sell out of football following the Italian financial crisis." There "is no agreed fee but it's understood the initial price is significantly less than the recent sale prices of Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne Heart" (SMH, 4/22).
