Just 15–20 years ago Serie A was the most popular championship in Europe. It was watched not only at home, but all over the world. Serie A score of any match could be recognized even by a passerby on the street. However, after 2000 the championship was rapidly losing popularity. Let’s try to understand the reason.
Why was the Italian championship interesting to follow?
Now the Italian championship is considered the third strongest after England and Spain. Rankings are built on the basis of how clubs perform in European competitions. Other factors, such as the titularity of players and the popularity of soccer in the country, also have an influence. The date of the championship in its current form is taken as 1929. Then everyone in Italy was literally a soccer fan, and the A Serie score worried only the most avid fans.
Among the Italian stars of all times worth mentioning:
- Silvio Piola;
- Francesco Totti;
- Antonio Di Natale;
- Alessandro Del Piero;
- Luca Toni;
- Roberto Mancini.
These players scored more than 150 goals during their soccer careers. Italian soccer with them was vibrant, dynamic, full of interesting solutions and feints.
What has changed now?
In the last 20 years, the league has firmly established itself as an age-old championship. Famous and titled players go to Italy to complete their careers. One of the most striking examples in recent years is Cristiano Ronaldo’s transition in 2018. Thus, the league has firmly acquired a reputation as a tournament for players of pre-retirement age. The teams’ style of play began to change, and soccer lost its swiftness and sharpness. When the average age of the players began to approach the 30-year mark and today scores in matches began to show more and more draws, the league began to think about a change in strategy.
In addition, the repercussions of the 2006 match-fixing scandal are still evident today. After all, they affected the grandees of the Italian championship, such as Milan, Juventus, Roma, Lazio and Fiorentina. Subsequent court decisions and the transfer of clubs to Serie B only made the situation worse.
It became difficult for clubs to do well what they had been good at throughout the history of the league. Namely, cultivate young talent. The young players want their today’s scores to depend on their efforts and not on the agreements of the club bosses. If the situation does not change soon, no one will take Serie A seriously anymore. But so far there has been no improvement. It is not for nothing that the last winner of the tournament, Milan, one of the oldest clubs in the series.