Italy’s top flight plans to break away from the second-tier Serie B as early as next season and create its own independent league modeled after England’s Premiership, officials said on Thursday.

Nineteen clubs — with the sole exception of Lecce — issued a statement saying they would be breaking away to set up the “Serie A Football League.”

“We’ve made a new first division,” Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini told the ANSA news agency. “Am I satisfied? No, but it’s necessary.” Italian clubs have faced widespread criticism after only Udinese, in the UEFA Cup, reached the quarterfinals of a European competition this season. Italian teams have argued that its alliance with Serie B ensures that English and Spanish clubs have more money, and therefore can buy better players and be more competitive.

The new deal primarily allows Serie A teams to negotiate better, and more lucrative, TV deals without worrying that they have to share revenue with smaller clubs. The split also ensures that the 20 clubs will not be forced to bail out Serie B teams whenever they encounter money problems.

Wealthy clubs such as Inter Milan, Juventus and AC Milan have long lobbied for autonomy and have looked enviously upon the EPL, which created a financial revolution that made its clubs the richest on the planet after it broke away from England’s Football League in 1992.

Maurizio Beretta, a former journalist, was chosen to set up the new league.

“The mandate is clear,” he told reporters during a news conference. “To start building a first division. There are various aspects to sort out. The mechanism will be put in place over the next 12 months.”