The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) is working to keep the national soccer league (Lega Calcio) of first and second division clubs united, CONI chief Gianni Petrucci said Thursday.
Serie A clubs voted on April 30 to break away from Serie B and form a 'superleague' like England's Premier League.
Italian Soccer Federation Chairman Giancarlo Abete was then appointed interim commissioner of the Lega to try to heal the rift, which was spurred by longstanding disagreements over splitting TV rights and other commercial revenue.
The government's undersecretary for sport, Rocco Crimi, has since joined Abete in a bid to put the league back together.
Petrucci, whose organisation oversees the whole of Italian sport, called a meeting of the CONI executive to discuss the issue Wednesday.
Emerging from the meeting, he told reporters: ''We share the line which undersecretary Crimi is pursuing, and which Abete supports, and we all hope that...the league will remain united''.
Unless the Serie A clubs come back into the fold their new separate league is set to kick off in 2010.
Petrucci said agreement was also needed to obtain funding from the government to revamp stadiums.
About half of Italy's 130 professional grounds are ''obsolete'', Crimi said last week.
The government aims to get the top stadiums in shape quickly in view of Italy's bid to host the European championships in 2016.
