What Has Happened To Italian Football?

What happened to the once Italian dominance in European football? 

The top division of Italian football was the place to be for every footballer. The golden era of Serie A is often considered to be the period from the late 1980s to the end-1990s. During this time, it was widely regarded as one of the strongest and most competitive football leagues in the world, It had the glitz, the glamour, the fans and it attracted some of the best players from around the world.

However, as Europe's other top leagues developed and got better in time with foreign investment and quality in playing style, the Serie A remained stagnant. By the turn of the millennium, the cracks had started to appear and the fall of the giants began.

An Italian team hasn't won the Champions League since 2010, Inter Milan’s victory masked the fact the league was no longer competitive with the best leagues in the world.

Even from a national standpoint, the Azzurri failed to qualify for a second consecutive World Cup, making the Euro 2020 triumph look like a glorious anomaly.

In this article, we’ll go through several reasons for the fall of Italian football in recent years.

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Calciopoli Scandal

It is now considered normal for an Italian club to have a scandal or two every season. A series of misdeeds by players, managers, referees and officials have brought the game to severe disrepute.

The Calciopoli match-fixing scandal of 2006, you could say, was the starting point of Italian football's downfall. 

Initially investigating doping allegations, the investigation that followed found that multiple Serie A clubs as well as the Italian footballing authorities had a considerable influence over refereeing matters, with Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi at the centre of it all.

It was determined that he and those in similar positions at AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina were effectively choosing which officials refereed their matches, ensuring such officials favoured their clubs and were able to postpone matches if they preferred a later date.

As a result, Juventus were relegated to Serie B and also stripped of two Serie A titles, while AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina were all docked points. Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi was banned from the game for life.

Playing in the second division meant no European football for Juventus, and thus began the most turbulent period in the club's history; any time a team of Juventus' stature is relegated, the league suffers.

While they were competing in Serie B, the competition in Serie A was non-existent, as Inter Milan coasted to a title with a twenty-two-point lead over second-place A.S. Roma. Juventus wound up selling some of their best players, many of them leaving Serie A, while AC Milan had financial troubles, poor management decisions, and a lack of investment in the team.

Not only has the match-fixing scandal hurt the league in terms of losing players, but Italian football as a whole is being looked at differently because of the controversy.

Decline of Stadiums and Infrastructure

A very important aspect of being successful is having adequate facilities to draw fans to the games. While England has some of the nicest and most modern stadiums in the world, capable of hosting a whole range of events, Italy has fallen far behind.

Serie A has a rich history of producing some of the world's best players, but in recent years, many clubs have neglected their infrastructure, resulting in a decline in the quality of their youth programs and a lack of investment in training facilities.

When Italy lost out to France for the bid to host the Euros in 2016, it wasn’t much of a surprise, but rather only further proof that Italy’s rusty stadiums and the accompanying fan culture are a major turn-off for outsiders. For Italian football in general, it was the loss of an opportunity to push for a government-funded overhaul of stadium infrastructure.

Most of the major stadiums in Italy haven’t been renovated since 1990, when the nation hosted the World Cup. Add to that the poor public transportation, we can understand why the matchgoing fan might not enjoy their experience.

Serie A teams struggle to push through with redevelopment plans that can be long and arduous. Only Juventus, Udinese, Atalanta, and Sassuolo have club-owned stadiums in Serie A, the other clubs actually rent the stadiums for matchday purposes, which results in interminable bureaucratic procedures whenever an infrastructure change is desired. Over the last ten years, only three new stadiums have been built in Italy, compared with over 150 in Europe overall.

The new San Siro is the clearest illustration. It took countless discussions, initiatives, and millions of dollars from both Inter and AC Milan before building could even be planned. And it doesn't appear like it will begin anytime soon.

In recent years, the average Serie A attendances have dropped far behind major European leagues. Dusty old stadiums do not help and it is yet another reason why matchday revenues are dwindling.

Financial Difficulties

The lack of money in the Italian game is well documented. Compared to the English, Spanish and German leagues, the Serie A has had a relatively tougher time with the financial crisis. Most club owners are struggling with financial problems and their teams suffer as a result.

Serie A made revenue of 2.5 billion euros in the 2020-2021 football season, nearly half the star-studded Premier League’s 5.5 billion euros

No doubt Covid-19 outbreak as had a financial impact on all clubs, Juventus generated revenue of €401m in 2021/22, compared to €460m in 2018/19 pre-Covid, primarily due to ongoing restrictions on Serie A attendances in 2021/22 and less successful performances in UEFA club competitions. Inter Milan have also seen a loss, generating revenue of €308m in 2021/22, compared to €365m in 2018/19 pre-Covid-19.

Serie A is due to auction its TV licenses for 2024-2027 before the summer. But it has consistently struggled to sell international rights. Meanwhile, proceeds from domestic licenses risk shrinking further after subscriptions dropped 51% to some 2.2 million since 2015. 

A lack of investment and revenue for Italian clubs means it has become increasingly difficult to financially compete for the best players against the other top leagues.

The Future? 

What does the future hold for Serie A? In recent years, investors have started to see Serie A as a source of untapped potential. Chinese businessman Steven Zhang bought Inter Milan while American investors also arrived at AC Milan, Roma and even clubs lower down the ladder like Venezia. Italian football has looked to have turned a corner with plans for new stadiums, proof of an intention to modernise.

Napoli provided one of the stories of the 2022/23 season, with Luciano Spalletti’s team winning their first Scudetto since 1990 and the days of Diego Maradona. 

In the same season, however, news broke that Juventus faced the possibility of being deducted 15 points following an investigation into their past transfer dealings. 

The same investigators that found so much wrongdoing at Juventus also argue there are major financial discrepancies across Serie A. In total, 11 clubs are reported to be of interest to prosecutors, hinting at how there could be further punishments to come.

Unless these ongoing scandals are stopped in Serie A, stadiums are redeveloped, and a vast amount of ownership investment comes into the league, like the Premier League, then Italian football will only continue to be negatively impacted, unable to attract the best players and therefore losing interest from fans.