Dec
6
Serie A Looking For New Horizons
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There has been talk in Europe about moving national league or cup games abroad to bolster global appeal, and now it is finally happening. For 10 million Euro, the Italian FA has moved its Super Cup game between the league and cup winner to China. The competition, which occurs annually before the start of each season, has been agreed to take place in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou for the next three seasons.
This is not actually the first time the “Supercoppa Italiana” will be played abroad, as it has been staged in Libya and the US before. However, this is the first time such a large deal has been made, and the reasoning for it seems to be that the Italian league is lacking far behind the English and Spanish ones in terms of international appeal.
It is hard to argue with that assertion, but I am not sure the lack of global awareness is the root of the problem. Football fans around the world know very well who are Roma, Milan, Inter, Fiorentina, Juventus and co. The problem is—they just don’t want to watch them that much. People like La Liga because of the sheer skill and footballing talent of the players, and they like the Premiership for its flair and fast-pace, but for too long Italian football has been branded as slow and defensive. Now, this may not be fair for all Serie A matches, but too often in the past couple of years the big games have not delivered.
But who knows—China is a big country that is fast developing, and the Italian FA might have stricken gold.