The State of Italian Football: How Can the Cult of Calcio Be Saved?

The State of Italian Football: How Can the Cult of Calcio Be Saved?

While it may be overshadowed by what can only be described as a magnificent performance by Bodo/Glimt to knock last season’s Champions League runners-up Inter Milan out of the very same competition at the knockout play-off round, it must be said that Italian football is in a dire state of repair.

This is not a statement fuelled only by Inter’s shock defeat last night - in truth, Bodo’s recent form, which has seen them beat both Atletico Madrid and Manchester City within the last month, made some people think it more likely that the Norwegian side would go through rather than the three-time champions of Europe.

It is instead driven by the fact that every Italian side that started the season in the Champions League is now already eliminated or, in the cases of Atalanta and Juventus, sits two or more goals adrift of their knockout play-off round rivals.

The state of Italian football:

• In jeopardy of missing third straight World Cup
• Scudetto holders Napoli knocked out in UCL league stage
• Current Serie A leaders Inter Milan DOMINATED by Bodø/Glimt
• Atalanta and Juventus both lost their playoff game by 2+ goals and are… pic.twitter.com/Zfhqzo0g2A

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 24, 2026

How has this happened? Inter were losing finalists last year, beating Barcelona in the process. Every single season since the turn of the century, at least one Italian club has made it to the last 16, and often further.

Now, though, that streak is at serious risk of snapping, and it brings forth an interesting question: if Italian football is in as much trouble as it looks to be, what steps can be taken to save it and return the nation's finest clubs to the top of the European game?

Calcio Culture: What are the Problems?

No one who has ever watched a Serie A or even Serie B game would ever criticise Italian football for lacking passion. The fans turn out in droves, stadiums are never, ever quiet, and both the playing squad and coaching teams contain some of football’s most fascinating and unique characters.

It is in the structure of the Italian game that people start to find problems – club finances are weak, with some heavily in debt; governance of the game is fractured and indecisive, while youth development is lightyears behind rival leagues such as the Premier League and La Liga.

All of these issues listed above have fed into Italian football’s biggest problem – a floundering national team, one which hasn’t qualified for the World Cup since 2014 and hasn’t got past the group stage since lifting the trophy in 2006.

Gone are the days of the Milan sides competing in the latter rounds of the Champions League every year, or Juventus’ stranglehold on the Serie A title that also carried them to two UCL finals in three years. Now, Italian clubs are all about survival when it comes to continental competition.

Bodø/Glimt have not played a league match since Nov 30th as the Norwegian league is out of season during the winter.

All four of their competitive matches in 2026 have come in the UCL — and they’ve beaten Man City, Atlético Madrid and Inter Milan twice to book a spot in the… pic.twitter.com/iFEoAnHRnX

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 24, 2026

It speaks volumes that the country’s reigning champions, Napoli, couldn’t even advance out of the league phase, bowing out in the eighth and final game in a 3-2 home defeat to Chelsea, while worse still, no Italian sides automatically qualified for the last 16 by finishing in the top eight, underlining just how far the Italian game has fallen.

So what needs to be addressed if Italian football is to return to the glory days of old?

Youth Structure and Fickle Funding

Youth development plays a massive part in football, regardless of nation. Young footballers bring constant input to the bottom of the football pyramid, and the finest of them make it all the way to the top, effectively maintaining the health of the entire footballing ecosystem.

Italy still produces a great number of talented young prospects; however, the increasing concern is that fewer and fewer of them are reaching the top of the games, impacting both the domestic and international formats of the nation's footballing exploits.

In the last 26-man international squad, only four Italian players were below the age of 25: Francesco Pio Esposito, Samuele Ricci, Riccardo Calafiori and Elia Caprile. These are concerning numbers, especially considering that the last England squad contained nine players aged 24 or younger.

The reason for the lack of quality youth graduates stems from the poor funding that most Italian sides receive. Unlike the Premier League, which receives hundreds of millions in sponsorship income and other such windfalls, Italian sides rely heavily on broadcast revenue and income from player sales to keep the club's bank account topped up.

❌ 🇮🇹 Italy are in DANGER of losing two more clubs tonight and being OUT of the Race for an extra Champions League spot!

✅ 🇮🇹 Juventus given just 13% to eliminate 🇹🇷 Galatasaray!

✅ 🇮🇹 Atalanta given just 20% to eliminate 🇩🇪 Dortmund!

💥 Huge Night for the Top 2 Race! pic.twitter.com/SxR2Q8gT35

— Football Rankings (@FootRankings) February 25, 2026

This means that when a promising youngster emerges from any given club's youth academy, the likelihood is that he will be sold sooner rather than later in a bid to cash in on his future potential, rather than allowing him to stay, develop his game, and actually become a Serie A-worthy player.

So many sales go like this – not knowing whether the player will actually reach their ceiling or not, clubs cash in on their value before their actual top-flight ability comes to light. This, in theory, creates a semi-regular stream of income, but in reality, these youngsters are never selling for more than a couple of million unless they are a truly special talent.

It doesn’t help that for the few youngsters who do survive the mass exodus, development pathways from youth team to senior squad are narrow, and more often than not, their development plans are interrupted by the need to sell them anyway.

What Fixes Need to Be Made?

In simple terms, the youth development system and the way clubs are funded need to change. How should clubs go about doing this, as both are operationally massive and incredibly difficult to overhaul in favour of more modern trends?

Youth development presents a slightly easier challenge, so we’ll start off with that. If you are in a position of power and you are not getting enough of something, what do you do? You order it, and when you do, it usually arrives pretty swiftly after.

That is what the Serie A governing body needs to do – the lack of youth talent in the league is hurting its potential to draw in future viewers and investors, and steps must be taken in order to prevent this. The ideal way of doing this would be to set a mandatory number of minutes that a certain number of U21 players must hit in a bid to encourage better youth retention and development at top-flight clubs.

It would provide these young talents with vital top-flight experience, helping to round out their game and boost their football IQ at a young age, while it would also uncover some potential future stars who otherwise would not have seen the light of day.

As long as there is a constant vein of fresh, young talent being forced into the league, fans will maintain interest, and it will also appeal to younger viewers, securing the future of the Italian fanbase.

Finances are a little trickier to solve. Between the lack of gate revenues and over-reliance on broadcasting income, the bank accounts of virtually all top-flight clubs likely make for some unpleasant viewing.

If the Italian football pyramid is to stay afloat, pages need to be taken from the books of other leagues – the Serie A may be a proud organisation that was built less upon money and more upon passion, but in the modern day and age, you are making a costly mistake if you are not thinking about both.

Private/public partnerships have to be encouraged – the partnership will provide a larger financial resource when it comes to facility development, renovations and even transfer business, allowing for the Italian league to catch up to its rival divisions in terms of player quality.

Planning incentives should also be put in place – rewards or bonuses for on-time and full tax payments and loan repayments should be rewarded, encouraging clubs to follow the letter of the law a lot closer, instead of flouting the rules, something that countless Italian sides have been found guilty of over the years.

Even something as straightforward as stadium redevelopment can be hugely beneficial – in a study conducted by sports business group Deloitte, it was found that the simple act of renovating the stadium materially increases income, whether it be due to increased capacity or simply through making a nicer place for fans to be, drawing increased visitation.

🗣 Luciano Moggi: "The crisis of Italian football began with Calciopoli in 2006. Juventus, who have always been the leader in Italian football and of the national team in particular, was destroyed and the results are there for all to see.” pic.twitter.com/Aqv7pUwNjZ

— Italian Football News 🇮🇹 (@footitalia1) March 26, 2022

There are so many other lesser issues that Italian football needs to address if it is to return to the footballing power it once was – the national team is far from complete, governance needs serious work, and the lack of globally renowned stars is a concern.

However, if the two crucial areas of youth development and club funding are addressed, these latter issues suddenly become a lot easier to solve. With the league suddenly back in a healthy position once again, star players will more seriously consider moving to an Italian club, governance will be altered through no incentives and operations, and the national team will start to take shape thanks to the increased onus on youth development.

In the short term, Inter Milan's loss to Bodo/Glimt is a huge dent in the reputation of Italian football. However, over the course of time, this result could spark a revolution, one which reshapes Italian football, and prevents a result like this from ever happening again.