Is the Serie A in further decline?

Juventus squad after winning last season’s Seria A

Although Serie A is still ranked as one of the top five leagues in Europe, the gradual detoriation in the quality of football in Serie A has been pretty evident. In the last 10 years, only two teams from Europe have managed to win the Champions League which is a disappointing stat considering they won the World Cup in 2006.

Much of this decline can be attributed to the fact that Italian league football has been marred by allegations of match fixing, corruption and politics. One of the most classic examples was in 2006 when three prestigious Italian clubs were relegated after allegations of match fixing which included teams like Juventus and Fiorentina. Then in 2010, Juventus’s manager Conte was again handed a 10-month ban after claims of match fixing.

The fact that a team like Juventus who have had such a prestigious history of producing world-class footballers has been repeatedly a target for match fixing claims just goes to show the gravity of the problem. Consequently, the state of Italian football has had to suffer. Rarely has an Italian club signed a big-money player in recent times, even though many Italian clubs are owned by wealthy tycoons. This has led to a slow-down in the commercial growth of European football. Moreover, it has led to world class players moving to English and Spanish clubs and Italian clubs becoming deprived of world class players.

One of the reasons Italian clubs have not managed to sign big money players is because Italian football itself has failed to generate enough revenue from commercial activities. Where in England, TV rights and sponsorships are a major portion of a club’s revenues, Italian clubs have failed miserably in that aspect. This has led to a growing economic fragility of the European clubs; clubs like Milan have been involved in big sell-outs of major players. And we are talking about one of the most decorated Italian clubs in Europe here.

The economic distress of Italian clubs has prevented them from signing big-money players which has had a significant effect on the quality of football in Serie A. The constant allegations of match fixing have also forced players to choose other places rather than Serie A. We have seen clubs in France (AS Monaco), England (Manchester City) and Spain (Real Madrid) sign up big money players almost every other year. Certainly, Italian football needs to revamp its commercial activities and also aim to increase its revenue generation from commercial activities.

However, Italian football at the world stage has done pretty well, better than most. They won the World Cup in 2006 and then were runners-up in the 2012 edition of the Euro. This is a positive sight as it shows that Italian football still has a lot to give to the footballing world. Mario Balotelli, El Sharaawy and Mattia are just some of the players to look forward to in Italian football. However, for them to develop and transform them into world class players the system of Italian football needs to improve, otherwise these players might look abroad towards England and Spain. The departure of these young talented footballers will certainly lead to a deterioration in the quality of football which might be hazardous to young emerging players.

Italy has produced some world class footballers in recent history. Players like Pirlo, Buffon, Totti and De Rossi have come through the Serie A and made a name for themselves. The record speaks for itself: 4 World Cups and one European Championship. There are more players to be developed and there is still a lot of potential in younger players. However, if these players want to develop, Italian football needs to improve by eliminating corruption and politics from its system. It needs to establish more stringent measures and tougher punishments for such gross violations.