About The Speaker
Mauro Balata
Mauro Balata, 55, is a court-appointed lawyer at the Court of Rome and a former interregional federal prosecutor for the FIGC. He is the owner of a firm set up in Rome, he worked for a long time for the top leadership of the Federcalcio as a member of the Federal Prosecutor's Office. Since then, it was 1990, he has closely followed all the most important events that have polluted the world of soccer, being awarded first with the Stella al Merito del Coni (2012 the bronze one, 2016 the silver one) and then with the honor of Cavaliere al Merito della Repubblica (2014). In 2018 he received the Stella al merito sociale, straight from the hands of National Anti-Mafia Prosecutor Cafiero De Raho, "for the ethical and innovative values with which he pursues the objectives to structure the professional soccer system based on legality, transparency, sustainability and sharing." He also collected the national "Sportilia" memorial C.Viola award as he "has been able to combine the values of sports ethics with rigor, honesty and wisdom," and, in addition, the "Maestrelli" award for fair play and fairness. He taught for several years at the Scuola Forense in Rome and was a member of the Comitato Scientifico della Camera Arbitrale of the Chamber of Lawyers. He is a member of the Examination Committee of the Chair of Constitutional Law at the University of Siena, for which he also teaches the advanced training course for Operators of Sports Companies, and of the Sports Law Commission of the Consiglio Nazionale Forense. He was elected president of Lega B on Nov. 23, 2017, after serving as commissioner for two months, during which he led the association to the unanimous approval of its new statutes. Among his achievements, the historic reduction of the format to 20 teams, a staff no longer in force in Serie B since the 2002/03 football season, and the introduction of Var, the first second league in the world.
