Former Milan and Italy legend Arrigo Sacchi believes Italian football is not the force it once was and is falling behind clubs of the English Premier League and Spain’s La Liga in terms of status and financial prowess. The comments made by the legendary Coach echoed the patter of current Serie A Tactician Jose Mourinho, who earlier this season warned Serie A does not have the same international appeal as the English and Spanish leagues. Are these figureheads of the game right? It only serves to beg the question, which country boasts Europe’s top league?
Money makes the world go round and the same is true in football. The wealthiest clubs can afford to attract the top players and thus win major trophies. Talking on Kiss Kiss Radio Sacchi said: "Years ago, when our [Italian] football was richer and more money was spent, it would have been difficult to imagine selling our stars. Now the situation is different and perhaps it's necessary to sell some of our players for a higher value to bring in money." Sacchi’s comments were prompted by Manchester City’s interest in Italy’s No.1 Gianluigi Buffon, and with the club having recently been bankrolled by Abu Dhabi United Group are deemed to be the richest in the world.
To some degree, Sacchi has a point. Italian clubs have attracted the world’s best players to Serie A for decades. During the Eighties and Nineties was undoubtedly when Serie A was the cream of European football. The likes of Diego Maradona, Michel Platini, Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten, Zinedine Zidane, Lothar Matthaus and Ronaldo, to name a few, highlight the calibre of overseas players who paraded in Italy’s wonderful arenas in the past. In today’s game, Serie A still boasts the likes of Kaka, Ronaldinho, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Adriano. David Beckham - the world’s highest earning footballer in the world - has also opted to play in Serie A rather than return back to Spain or his native homeland, albeit for a brief loan stint.
The dominance of Italian clubs bringing top players to the peninsula is reflected in the European Player of the Year Award. Since 1980, no fewer than 16 players plying their trade in Italy have been awarded the Ballon d’Or. Spanish sides have produced six winners and English clubs just two - including this year’s Portuguese maestro Cristiano Ronaldo. Yet despite the financial pulling power from the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona in La Liga and Manchester United and Chelsea in England, Italy still continues to attract some of the world’s elite. Since the turn of the century the Ballon d’Or has been collected by five Serie A talismans, and four previous winners are currently signed to Italian clubs - Kaka, Ronaldinho, Pavel Nedved and Andriy Shevchenko.
Looking at the past winners of the Champions League (formerly known as the European Cup) makes an interesting read as the three leagues can’t be separated.Each of the above mentioned leagues have had representatives lifting the trophy on eleven occasions.Although Italy has seen more beaten finalists with 14 teams falling at the last hurdle in comparison to Spain’s nine and England’s five. The last country to dominate the tournament was England as far back as the late Seventies and early Eighties when Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa returned home with the trophy in six consecutive years.
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