There was a time when football's elite made their living under the Tuscan sun. It was there, and near the Duomo di Milano, the Colosseum, or just beneath the ascending Alps where the beautiful game took flight like never before.
It was this esteemed country that once boasted the august monikers of Diego Maradona, Roberto Baggio, Zinedine Zidane and Paolo Maldini in what was arguably the world's most competitive football league, Serie A—Italy's top-flight division. It is a country whose club teams have collectively won 11 European Cups—tied for second-most all-time with English clubs—and whose international team is the current holder of the elusive FIFA World Cup Trophy, the resplendent prize the Azzurri will be set to defend in South Africa this June.
But that was then, and this is now, and the reality is that football's former Mecca has changed drastically over the last decade and has done so at an astoundingly rapid pace, most notably these last couple of years. And it hasn't been for the better, either.
The 2002-03 season is one that will forever live in Italian football lore. In its final year in which a second group stage followed the succession of the preliminary group stage, European football's most prestigious tournament, the UEFA Champions League, awed football fans at home and abroad as astonishingly three out of the final four clubs hailed from Serie A. And, not surprisingly, they were its three most accomplished clubs. It was Torino's finest in Juventus—nicknamed the Old Lady—who ousted current holders Barcelona in the quarterfinals, while fellow domestic opponents AC Milan and Inter Milan disposed of Ajax and Valencia, respectively, to set up a mouthwatering date in the semifinals between two of the world's biggest rivals.
In the semis, however, it was AC Milan who advanced on away goals 1-1, while Juventus prevailed 4-3 in a couple of hard-fought legs versus the most successful club in European football history, Real Madrid. The stage was finally set for an unprecedented final at Old Trafford (home of Manchester United) between AC Milan and Juventus, the first European Cup Championship to take place between two members of Serie A.
And wouldn't you know it, after a scoreless 120 minutes of football, the match was ultimately decided on penalties in a nail-biting shootout that saw AC Milan hoist its sixth European Cup, winning 3-2 from the spot. The Rossoneri's triumph in Manchester is one that won't soon be forgotten by football fans alike, but the opponents and the final itself is an instant all too poignant for fans of Italian football, and one whose pride it instilled in its homeland was about to be soured.
In May of 2006, Juventus, headed by current manager of the England National Team, Fabio Capello, became one of five clubs linked to an infamous match-fixing scandal that eventually led to the relegation of the Old Lady to Serie B (Italy's second-tier division) for the 2006-07 season. And even though the bianconeri won the league and were duly promoted that year, the near irreparable damage to Serie A's credibility had already been done. It didn't get much better in the Champions League when in 2003-04, a mere year after the historic all-Italian Final, UEFA eradicated the second group stage and implemented a 16 team knockout round to follow the conclusion of the group stages. Since the alteration of format, Serie A clubs haven't fared nearly as well as in years past.
UEFA coefficients, which determine seedings, rankings, and the number of clubs from each country permissible to compete in each year's Champions League, have most recently determined that Serie A is still competitive enough to render four teams (the maximum, shared by only England and Spain—both are ranked above Italy) eligible to compete in the annual tournament. Since the change in format, however, Europe's famous tournament has proven to be Italian clubs' kryptonite as the Champions League has yet to see four Italian clubs advanced past the group stages and into the knockout rounds, whereas English teams have completed the feat four times and Spanish teams twice.
More significantly, Serie A has only claimed one European Championship since 2003, when AC Milan defeated Liverpool 2-1 back in 2007, while comparatively, England and Spain have each claimed two (Liverpool, 2005 and Manchester United, 2008; Barcelona, 2006 and 2009). And as if the recent dearth in the production of perennial contenders from Italy's top-flight division in the Champions League wasn't enough, there are even graver problems facing Serie A, such as the ongoing identity crisis of the league and its teams.
Six out of the 20 clubs that make up Serie A share stadiums (AC Milan and Inter Milan; Roma and Lazio; Sampdoria and Genoa), which wouldn't be that much of an issue if we didn't consider each club in the current English Premier League or Spanish La Liga has its own stadium, and by own, I mean own.
The vast majority of clubs in England and Spain own their stadiums, whereas every club's stadium in Serie A—with the exception of Roma and Lazio—is owned by the municipality of the city in which that particular club plays, so the modernization of these withered venues isn't up to the club but the city itself. Italian clubs are also experiencing some of the most searing financial troubles in years. The most glaring issue facing Serie A, however, is its sheer lack of Grade A players.
When AC Milan, strapped wallet and all, were forced to sell Brazilian stud and former FIFA World Player of the Year Kaká to Spanish giants Real Madrid this summer, they effectively relinquished the league's greatest superstar and effectively ushered in its new and current era of Grade A-/B+ players.
You could argue that Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the last high-profiled player to depart the country after he was swapped from Inter to Barcelona in exchange for Samuel Eto'o and some monies, but even he doesn't compare to the living legends that the EPL and La Liga boast such as Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, and Barcelona's Lionel Messi. Instead, the players atop the pecking order in Serie A these days are more along the lines of Inter's Wesley Sneijder, Juventus' Diego, and Napoli's Marek Hamsik (and if you're desperate, AC Milan's Ronaldinho).
The dip in high-profiled players has played a huge part in Serie A's dip in quality, and it should come as no surprise that a reassessment of the UEFA coefficients might be in the near future, especially with the top domestic leagues of Germany, France, Ukraine, and Russia on the rise. And yet, despite their recent hardships, the remaining three Serie A teams in the Champions League recently may have been handed a golden opportunity on a silver platter.
The draw for the knockout stages of this year's Champions League took place back on December 18, and it yielded some pretty juicy matchups. The three Italian teams of Fiorentina, Inter, and AC Milan were drawn against Bayern Munich, Chelsea, and Manchester United, respectively, and if there was a more opportune time to bring Italian football back to the fore, this is it. Adjoined by intriguing subplots including David Beckham's return to Old Trafford and Inter manager Jose Mourinho's return to Chelsea, there's a lot to be gained and perhaps even more to be lost for the Italian giants.
A Fiorentina defeat of Bayern Munich would go along way to ensuring Serie A upholds their coefficient number ahead of the German Bundesliga, and an Inter defeat of Chelsea, an AC Milan defeat of Manchester United, or both would put a temporary halt on the recent run of EPL domination in the Champions League and might begin to reestablish both clubs as genuine forces to be reckoned, and revive Serie A's waning formidability.
But failure to accomplish at least one of these feats will result in what has, as of late, become the expected outcome, and the deteriorating status of Italian football may reach its most inferior point to date. The choice, as it has been all along, is up to them. And that's amore.