The Italian top-flight has fallen a long way since its heyday in the 1990s, but there are signs that it’s on the rise again
Exactly three weeks ago, it felt as if Italian football had hit rock bottom. Just over six months after the national team had embarrassingly failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup, all four Serie A sides lost on the same Champions League matchday for the first time ever.
There may have been some mitigating circumstances – Roma, for example, had been excellent for all but the final 10 minutes of their dramatic defeat by Real Madrid, while Como were playing just their second game in the competition – but the optics were undeniably awful for a country that hasn’t had a European Cup winner for 16 years.
Giovanni Malago nonetheless warned against making “blunt, sweeping states” regarding the state of Serie A, with the special administrator of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) arguing that “[These four defeats] do not represent a fair reflection of our football.” And one could easily argue that he’s already been proven correct.
While Roma, Como, Inter and Napoli all winning their very next Champions League games the following week by no means signified that Italian football is actually in rude health, reports of its death were greatly exaggerated – and for three main reasons…
‘Oldest stadiums in Europe’
The principal problem with Italian football is that none of the game’s major stakeholders are really ever willing to work together for the greater good. Almost everyone is motivated solely by self-interest, making progress impossible. As Alessandro Del Piero said during one of the many media-led inquests into Italy’s latest World Cup qualification debacle, “Fundamentally, we think only about saving our own asses.”
However, there is one thing that everyone agrees on: the vast majority of Serie A stadiums are unworthy of elite-level sporting events. Napoli, for example, have won two titles in the past three years and yet club president Aureli De Laurentiis has repeatedly referred to their home ground as “a toilet”. Why? Because the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, like so many other arenas, hasn’t been significantly upgraded or redeveloped since Italy last hosted the World Cup – in 1990.
That’s about to change, though… at least in theory.
When the FIGC confirmed its possible venues for Euro 2032 just last month, it was immediately noted that of the 14 contenders listed, only one (Juventus’ Allianz Stadium) was actually ready to host games in its current guise. The other 13 had yet to be fully redeveloped – or even built – which obviously raised an awful lot of eyebrows.
As anyone who’s ever attempted to construct anything in Italy will tell you, the country’s levels of bureaucracy beggar belief. It’s difficult to avoid being wrapped up in red tape for years on end and, just last year, UEFA president Aleksandar Ceferin suggested “Italy’s politicians ask themselves why the football infrastructure is among the worst in Europe.” Ceferin’s criticism, which was accompanied by a threat to take Euro 2032 away from Italy, appears to have the desired effect.
While it’s unquestionably concerning that so much work still has to be done on Italy’s stadiums – in a very literal sense – clear progress is being made. The redevelopment of Fiorentina’s Stadium Artemio Franchi is already well under way and should be completed by 2029, the construction of a brand new stadium in Bologna was greenlit just last month, and, perhaps most significantly of all, AC Milan and Inter have finally unveiled plans for their new home, the Generali Stadium, which should be ready by 2031.
Obviously, nothing can be taken for granted. However, after years of infuriating inertia, the Euro 2032 threat, coupled with now unbearable levels of World Cup woe, have at least raised hope of a long overdue overhaul of several Serie A stadiums – which would benefit not only the clubs in question in terms of matchday revenue, but also the league in general.
“At the moment, we are going through a most difficult phase,” Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo told Undici. “In our country, we have the oldest stadiums in Europe, with an average age of over 70 years per venue, and our clubs are still heavily reliant on TV revenue. However, commercial income is growing and having modern, state-of-the-art stadiums would provide a major boost in that respect.”
Goals galore
De Siervo quite rightly pointed out, though, that the benefit of more than half of Serie A’s top teams building new homes will not be felt for a long time. “The new economic model will not be fully operational for at least six or seven years,” he admitted. “And, in the meantime, the gap with other leagues will continue to grow.”
The gap could also continue to grow from a sporting perspective, given Serie A is simply not in a position to compete with the Premier League in the transfer market. However, certain Italian clubs are showing that it’s not so much about how much money you have, but how well you spend it. Inter obviously reached two Champions League finals in three seasons thanks primarily to Beppe Marotta’s bargain buys, but Como are arguably an even better example of sensible squad-building.
Their remarkable rise to prominence would not have been possible without the financial support of the Djarum Group, but Cesc Fabregas’ side didn’t sweep Manchester United aside with expensive signings. They made a mockery of one of the highest-spenders in world football over the past decade with clever recruitment and a clear identity.
Como, just like Atalanta before them, have shown the rest of Serie A that it is possible to make a splash on the European scene by buying young and/or undervalued players – and playing offensive football. Of course, the fact that Frosinone are threatening to follow suit has still come as a massive surprise.
The newly-promoted side were widely tipped to go straight back down, but they currently sit sixth in Serie A – and what’s remarkable about their lofty position is that they’ve got there with a wonderfully expansive style of play. Frosinone have scored 24 times in just 10 games and their impressive strike-rate is representative of a significant shift in approach in Italy’s top flight.
While the Gazzetta dello Sport, among others, pointed out before the current campaign began that many of Serie A’s 20 teams were likely to line up in attacking formations, nobody was expecting a league synonymous with defensive football to go goal crazy. And yet, just under three months into the new season, four of the highest-scoring sides across Europe’s ‘Big Five’ leagues are Italian.
Frosinone and surprise leaders Lazio have both netted 24 times apiece, reigning champions Inter have 26 goals to their name, while only Barcelona have scored more league goals this season than Roma (28). The latter are managed by former Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini, and there is a growing feeling that Serie A is belatedly embracing a more direct and a more offensive game plan, after struggling for years to match the intensity of other top European teams, particularly those playing in the Premier League.
According to former Italy international Daniele Adani, this change in footballing philosophy is why Massimiliano Allegri is now toiling at Napoli, after being sacked by AC Milan at the end of last season. “His way of playing football is finished now,” the former defender told La Domenica Sportiva, and while that’s open to debate, given good defending is unlikely to ever go out of fashion in Italy, what’s clear is that Serie A is becoming quite the spectacle.
We’re seeing an average of three goals per game, while there have already been at least six in nine separate matches. In that context, it wasn’t in the least bit surprising that the night before Mikel Arteta’s awfully attritional Arsenal side strangled the life out of Liverpool in the most high-profile Premier League fixture of the weekend, AC Milan swept Inter aside in a dramatic Derby della Madonnina – just three days after being dismantled at San Siro Bologna, thus perfectly highlighting the incredibly competitive and wonderfully unpredictable nature of Serie A now.
As it stands, there are just five points separating the top four, and while it’s hard to say for sure whether the action will remain as compelling all season long, the potential is undoubtedly there to change the generally negative perception of Italian football as slow, boring and bereft of youthful enthusiasm.
Welcome rejuvenation
The summer of 2025 rather reinforced Italy’s reputation as a retirement home for ageing footballers, with Kevin De Bruyne and Luka Modric taking up residence in Naples and Milan, respectively. With so few youngsters being given a chance to shine in Serie A – particularly at the biggest clubs – the league still looked like the perfect place to extend a career rather than start one.
However, Nico Paz, Pio Esposito and Kenan Yildiz are no longer the only potential superstars in the league. Kerim Alajbegovic, Franco Mastantuono, Gustavo Varela, Samuel Mbangula and Alieu Njie are all aged 22 or under – and all are shining this season.
Even more encouragingly, Italian youngsters are also starting to make their mark, with the likes of Alphadjo Cisse, Simone Lantini, Emanuele Lulli and Antonio Raimondo suddenly on Roberto Mancini’s radar as he looks to rejuvenate the ailing Azzurri. The former Manchester City coach has previously claimed that Italy is no longer producing world-class attackers like Del Piero – but the man himself disagrees, arguing that it’s not a question of quality, but coaching.
“We tell youngsters too much what to do, and this kills their creativity,” the former Juventus No.10 insisted on Sky Calcio Unplugged. “They become good at executing instructions but the moment they step outside that system, they make mistakes and get written off as poor players. That is not the truth, though; the problem is that they have only been taught one way.”
There is now, however, mounting evidence to suggest that several Serie A coaches are willing to take more risks, both in terms of style of play and picking young players – which can only be a good thing for everyone involved.
The league has lost an awful lot of followers since the turn of the century, but we’re already seeing more British players than ever before moving to Italy, with the likes of Scott McTominay illustrating the benefits of ‘Il Bel Paese’. What’s really remarkable, though, is that Italy doesn’t just look like a great place to live anymore. It’s starting to also look like a great place to play football again. Right now, in fact, Serie A is more exciting than the Premier League, and, even more incredibly, it’s got more integrity too.
While the English game is, as Gary Neville put it, “being dragged through the mud” by Manchester City at the moment, Italian football finally seem to have accepted that it’s time to clean up its act.
There is, of course, still so much work to do on that front. In-fighting and incompetence remain major problems, meaning improving Italy’s image could take as long as the construction of the country’s potential Euro 2032 venues. However, there is now at least a chance that by the time those new stadiums open, Serie A will have teams, players and coaches capable of filling them.
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