A look at the terribly huge decline of Serie A

In 2006, Italian football was hit by a match-fixing scandal known as Calcipoli that involved the country’s top football leagues. As a result, Juventus, the team with the most Serie A titles, was relegated to Serie B. They also received a nine-point deduction ahead of the new season and were stripped of the 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles. AC Milan, the team with the second most Serie A Championships, recieved an eight-point deduction for the following season. And that, football fans, is how the downswing of Italian football league began.

Ironically, Italy won their fourth World Cup that year and AC Milan their seventh Champions League title the following year. But those wins looked like short-lived successful defibrillations that somehow paved the way for a fall.

Juventus waited six seasons before winning Serie A again, whereas it took AC Milan five seasons. During the trophyless period of those two clubs, only one team took advantage of the situation: Inter Milan.

They went on a title streak as they watched others suffer. After being awarded the 2005-06 Serie A that Juventus lost, the Nerazzurri embarked on a winning journey after signing the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimović, Patrick Vieira and Maicon.     

Inter went on to grab four consecutive Scudetti and a Champions League when all other Italian teams were almost out of the European picture, only to find out later that they too would go through a lengthy nosedive. 

A couple of seasons later, Juventus finally won Serie A title after a long wait. For a split second, Italian football breathed a sigh of relief. The Italian giants were back to winning ways and they’d even done it in style. But, unfortunately, they still haven’t managed to restore the country’s lost European glory days.

During that period, Italy lost the fourth Champions League spot to Germany due to its teams poor results in Europe and the German football revolution that was well underway.

It meant that three teams instead of four would represent the league in Europe’s elite competition.  That led to Italian teams’ decrease in stability, European competitive edge and ambition, as well as missing out on some Champions League revenue benefit.

At the moment, the only team that is actually trying to keep up with Europe’s top clubs is Juventus. To a lesser extent, Napoli is also fighting on the same side. The San Paolo outfit are doing a good job, given their limited financial capability.

Inter and AC Milan’s current situation is, in a way, pathetic. With their latest transfer window activities, their squads, their results and their appetite for titles, they have reached a new low.

For instance, and with all due respect to the former Ballon d’Or holder, Kaká at the age of 31 being AC Milan’s top signing of the season is not a reassuring sign.

After becoming the first Italian team to have foreign ownership, AS Roma are currently sitting on top of Serie A.  Recently, Inter Milan has been taken over by Indonesian investors. Will the Italians follow in English and French footsteps and let foreign sugar daddies be their salvation?

Simon Sammour