Calcio, the decline of Italian clubs
2012-11-20UEFA index : revealing the performances on the European stage
Second in the 2002/2003 UEFA index, the Calcio suffered at the hand of the strong domination of la Liga and the Premier League, demoting it to third place in 2006. The Bundesliga then passed out the Serie A in 2010, relegating Italy to fourth place in the UEFA index. France and Portugal are even going to catch up with Italy !
The Italian clubs in C1 in 2012
Even in a reasonable group, AC Milan have not yet qualified for the quarter finals of the Champions League. The Rossoneri are second, preceded by Malaga and followed by Anderlecht and Zénith.
Juventus disappointed at the start of the group stages. The Torinesi weren't able to do better than a draw against the Tom Thumb of Nordsjaelland (1-1) during the first confrontation, before thankfully pulling themselves together at home (4-0). They will battle to the end with the hope of qualification.
The odds for Italian clubs to win the competition are explanatory. Even though a win for Juve is suggested at 20, those for AC Milan are at 60! Even higher are those of lesser known clubs like PSG, Malaga or Porto.
The Italian clubs in C3 in 2012
In the Europa League, Udinese fell into a difficult group A, between Liverpool and l'Anzhi Makhachkala with Samuel Eto'o. Naples have a more reasonable group but Eindhoven and the Ukrainian surprise, Dnjepr, with teammate Cavani, are likely to steal the show. Only Inter have put on a good face in the Europa League, first in their group in front of Rubin Kazan and have already almost qualified for the next round.
Like in the Champions League, the Italian clubs are no longer popular with the bookmakers. The qualification of Naples is at odds of 8.50 while those of Udinese are 4.75. Only Inter remains a favourite with odds of 1.58 to finish first in their group.
The Calcio in turmoil
Th Serie A can no longer attain top players. A strong symbol is the exit of the greatest stars of the championship : Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva can no longer stay at AC Milan and have rejoined PSG. Kaka can't return to the Rossoneri, due to a liquidity problem which can't assure his salary.
According to the report "Calcio Report 2012", the 20 teams of the Calcio accumulated a debt of 2.6 billion euros in 2010/2011, an increase of 14% compared to the previous season.
Finally the scandales of Calciopoli (2006), fixed bets surrounding Atalanta Bergame (2011) and Calcioscommesse (2012) also tarnished the image of the Serie A.
What is the future of the Serie A?
However, love for the round ball continues to help Italian football to progress, with the number of members constantly increasing (+4 %). Due to resources, Italian clubs have no other choice but to focus on the training of younger players while cleaning up their finanaces. A restraining choice but one which will prove to be beneficial in the long term for Italian football!
