Italian football can be very much a world of its own. A very exciting, sometimes confusing world filled with winners and losers, cheaters and the holier-than-thou, and, of course, beautiful goals. Luckily, there is an informative blog out there on the web to help us calcio lovers stay up to date and in tune with every side of Italian football.
Football-Italia is dedicated to presenting every post-match report from Series A, as well as frequent posts on analysis of tactics and popular strategies being used by the top clubs (three-man back line, anyone?). This blog also goes further into Italian culture with pieces like Fear and Fury in Florence and The Second Coming of Kaka, examining the deep connections between everyday Italian life and football.
The history of the great Italian league is also a topic frequently addressed. In The Sibling Rivalry of a Scudetto, writer Dave Taylor examines the evolution of the league from the days of the “seven sisters” (Juventus, Milan, Inter, Parma, Lazio, Roma and Fiorentina) to its current state of six great teams potentially capable of winning silverware (Juventus, Milan, Inter, Roma, Fiorentina, and newcomer Napoli). Taylor examines the remarkable transfer activity of these clubs over the most recent transfer window as a stamp of intent for the season to come. Clubs like Napoli and Fiorentina smashed old club records for buying players with the likes of Gonzalo Higuain and Mario Gomez, respectively. Taylor sees this kind of investment in Italian football as an effort to restore the league to its past glory that saw Italian clubs running rampant on the European stage, collecting trophies left and right.
There are also many posts on the various Italian clubs currently undergoing a European adventure in the forms of the Champions’ and Europa leagues. Pre-match speculation and line-ups, game-time analysis and commentary, and post-match wrap-ups can all be found on the Football-Italia page.
For comic relief, Football-Italia also features a popular “Mock the Quotes” series where the writers take quotes from popular football figures and respond to or paraphrase the meanings of the quotes in a rather funny manner. If you’ve ever thought that you were not the most talented of speakers, take comfort in poking fun at the ridiculous and just downright silly comments some of these public figures have been caught on tape saying.
The blog features nine main writers who are very well versed in Italian football, as well as a page dedicated to each team currently in the Italian top flight. This is the feature that I personally use the most, as it has almost daily posts on the main forces in Series A, including my beloved Inter Milan. This page provides information such as how injured players are doing on their road to recovery (Get better soon, Zanetti!), what players a particular club may be looking tobuy or sell in the future, and even player’s opinions on the state of the club. If you’re looking to become a true insider on your favorite Italian club, look no further than this.
Another great facet of the Football-Italia blog is the “Did you know?” series, which presents many interesting and fun facts about Italian football, all in a very relevant setting. In Series A Week 3: Did you know?, writer Susy Campanale talks briefly about hot topics such as the fall of Juventus from the top of the Series A table for the first time in 17 months, Mauro Icardi’s amazing knack for scoring goals against The Old Lady, and Balotelli’s fantastic goal-scoring record of 14 in 16 league games, just to name a few.
The site has seen a good amount of traffic in recent years, and the demand for high quality information on other leagues has led to the birth of a sister site Football-espana. This site operates very much like its Italian predecessor, boasting thirteen experience writers who report on virtually every aspect of the Spanish game. Also, both the Italian and Spanish version of the blog are available to be followed on twitter, including the twitter handles of the individual writers.
Football-Italia is truly a one-stop shop for all possible information and knowledge on Series A, and a great place to cultivate your soccer IQ in general.
I prefer Football Italia as it is a one-stop shop for every single piece of information and the same are very engaging, I frequently read it and enjoy the in-depth knowledge they provide.