Italy Captain Fabio Cannavaro Says More Foreign Backers, Cash Injection Needed

Italy's World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro "welcomed the sale" of Serie A side Inter Milan to an Indonesian businessman, and said that Italy "needs foreign backers in troubled economic times," according to the AFP. Cannavaro said that Italian football "is in dire need of a cash injection and domestic investors are thin on the ground." He was speaking after Indonesian billionaire Erick Thohir "snapped up a majority stake" in Inter Milan "in the first Asian purchase of an Italian club." Cannavaro said, "I’m happy about it because we don’t have investors in Italy. We need new forces because our football needs to grow from the economic point of view. We need to improve the quality of stadiums and infrastructure." But Cannavaro said he that "had no concerns about following the example of the English football, where widespread foreign ownership has produced mixed results." Cannavaro: "I think it’s a great thing" (AFP, 10/17).