The Serie A is by far one of the most renowned football leagues in the world, contributing appreciably to world football by producing some of the greatest football players the world has ever seen. Italian football clubs have reached the European Cup finals (now known as UEFA Champions League) twenty six times, in which they won twelve times.
More players have won the popular Ballon d’Or award while playing at a Serie A club than any other league in the world. Italy’s club sides have won 27 major European trophies, making them the most triumphant nation in European football.
But over the past couple of years, the Serie A has been dubbed the “sick child” of European football trailing its appeal to players and giving poorer exhibitions to its fans. Many international football players have refrained from joining or staying in the Serie A and instead have established contracts with other teams in other leagues much lower in the UEFA Co-efficient ranking than the Serie A. More significantly this year, the departures of some of the league’s best players; Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Maicon and Lavezzi have raised concerns about the magnetism of Italian football.
One of the main reasons for the Serie A’s recent declination is caused by monetary paucity. Due to the lack of finances, many of the top Italian football clubs are creaking under escalating debts, hence the departures of some of the league’s best players. The last transfer window saw Italian football teams jointly making more than 17 Million Pounds in profit, while on the other hand, not a single Italian side featured in the top 10 spending sides of the transfer window.
The reasons to why Italian football sides are lacking sufficient finances vary. In the early 2000’s teams such as A.C. Milan were spending an excess of 260 Million Euros, signing the likes of Rui Costa, Andrei Shevchenko and Andrea Pirlo, but those days are long gone. The economic crisis that has engulfed the European continent in recent times has greatly affected the economic health of Italian football teams.
Serie A teams are subjected towards strict economic measures due to the country’s economic situation. This deficit in funds means that Italian sides are cutting back on spending and are tumbling the wages of players. Oppositely, well-heeled foreign commercial input into football clubs in other countries such as Paris Saint German and Manchester City means that the Serie A is facing an exodus – where players are seeking a more affluent style of living in other countries, such is the case of Maicon, Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva and Lavezzi, weakening a diluted league even more.
Furthermore, it is no surprise that the match fixing scandal of 2006 had detrimental effects towards the integrity of the league. Ever since the scandal that saw Juventus demoted to the second division and stripped of two Scudetti, the Serie A has been on an alarming decline. The league has seen a shrink in the average number of attendants per game. According to the Stadium Guide, there has been an 8% decrease since the 2006-2007 season in the number of attendants which is somewhat tactless for a league of such stature.
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