Key dates for the new Serie A season have been revealed, as reported by the Calcio e Finanza website: The fixture schedule is expected to be drawn up on 4th July and publicised soon afterwards. The first round of matches will take place on the weekend of 17-18th August. There will be a two-week hiatus incorporating the weekends of 7-8th and 14-15th September due to Italy’s participation in the UEFA Nations League. As with the 2023/24 season, matches will take place over the Christmas period. As yet, there has been no confirmation of the date of the final matchday of the season. The ..read more

Atalanta’s Europa League Final victory will go down in history as one of the greatest team performances in a major European final. Gian Piero Gasperini’s men executed his meticulous plans to the letter.  It was supposed to be Xabi Alonso and Leverkusen’s night. But they were simply outclassed, overawed.   The plaudits from the mainstream media were gushing. The clinical maturity of Ademola Lookman took many by surprise, astonished that a Lambeth boy could go on to achieve such heights after turning his back on the Premier League. There was also a mainstream awakening f ..read more

Catenaccio is perhaps the most misunderstood and misused term in the tactical lexicon.  First coming to prominence in Italian football in the 1940s, catenaccio is founded on the core principles of a deep-lying formation and aggressive man-marking. In the decades that followed, it became the dominant strategy within the Italian coaching fraternity. Over time, the bolt across the door became a byword for any defensive style.  However, this convenient shorthand neglects the essential counterpart to a robust defence. After all, you can’t win matches with clean sheets alone.  He ..read more

With the Serie C season almost complete, clubs and supporters will have just a few days to catch their breath and steel themselves for the marathon of the play-offs.  No fewer than 28 teams will be competing throughout the month of May and into June for the single remaining promotion berth. The victor will join Serie C divisional winners – Mantova (A), Cesena (B) and Juve Stabia (C) – in Serie B next season.  The Serie C play-offs are amongst the most physically demanding in European football. There will be a total of 39 matches played and team entering in the first round would need ..read more

Como have embarked upon a remarkable journey since the arrival of their Indonesian owners in 2019. Having risen from the depths of Serie D, they now stand on the brink of promotion to Serie A.   When the club was declared bankrupt for the second time in 2017, Como’s loyal supporters would not have dreamed of the scenario they now find themselves in. Benevolent billionaire owners, Cesc Fabregas stepping out in the blue shirt and Thierry Henry in the boardroom are the makings of a fairy tale.  Como are on the way back – and they’re doing it in the right way.  The club has har ..read more

From the bleak adversity of war sprang the most unexpected of opportunities for one pioneering footballer.  As Europe was emerging from the devastation of the Second World War, Charles ‘Norman’ Adcock became the first British player to earn a professional contract in Italian football. Nearly eighty years on, he remains one of the most prolific British forwards ever to have played in the country.  The courageous steps taken by Adcock – in a country bearing the deep scars of conflict – paved the way for the likes of Hitchens, Hateley, Platt and Abraham in the decades that followed ..read more

The city of Padova is a hidden gem…albeit hidden in plain sight.  A picturesque walled city with a quarter of a million inhabitants, Padova is home to one of the world’s oldest universities and a trove of protected heritage monuments. So why haven’t you heard more about it? The answer is Venice. The tourist honeypot located 40km to the east casts a long shadow over the region.  Padova’s arcaded streets and charming piazze have an authentic feel. The daily rhythm of local people going about their business is all in stark contrast to the commercialised and saturated – both metapho ..read more

The verdant slopes to the north of Treviso are dressed with orderly rows of vines. In this idyllic rural landscape, the patient work of the winemakers is reflected in a tranquil pace of life. It was against this peaceful backdrop, the unlikely setting of Prosecco country, that one of Italy’s finest footballing talents emerged.  Alessandro Del Piero’s footballing journey began in the red and white shirts of his local San Vendemiano club. His mother, Bruna, had initially wanted him to play in goal, away from the rough-and-tumble in the centre of the pitch. A quiet but determined child, than ..read more

On Thursday evening, Napoli and Fiorentina players lethargically performed before a few thousand impassive customers, in a soulless stadium thousands of miles from home. It was a sorry spectacle as the once magnificent institution of Italian football contorted itself at the whim of the highest bidder. The official attendance of Napoli v Fiorentina was 9,782, though the images shown on television suggest this is an optimistic assessment. “Don’t worry”, they said, it’ll be full for Inter v Lazio. Yet only 20,767 attended that fixture the following evening. It’s easy to pour scorn on the decision ..read more

Empoli is not typically regarded as one of the pearls of the Tuscan necklace.  Located betwixt two of the region’s tourist honey pots, the tower-ogling tourists in Pisa pass directly through Empoli in on their way to the overflowing cultrual cup of Florence. Existing in the shadow of its glamourous neighbours, Empoli is little more than a dot on a train line to these transient hordes. Niether would it be controversial to suggest that Empoli also lacks the medieval charm of Tuscany’s smaller walled cities, such as Lucca and Siena. It is, by local standards, a somewhat non-descript place. T ..read more