MILAN // Italy host Croatia on Sunday in a crucial Euro 2016 qualifier but behind the veneer of Antonio Conte’s seemingly rejuvenated Azzurri squad lies a murky backwater that is Italy’s Serie A.
Italy’s once revered top flight, a former haven for the finest purveyors of the ‘beautiful game’, is in crisis mode -- and big names from Johan Cruyff to Carlo Ancelotti are among those ringing the alarm bells.
“Serie A has to become more attractive. Nowadays, you can watch any league championship on television,” Ajax and Barcelona legend Cruyff said this week in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport.
Milan legend Ancelotti, who led the Rossoneri to their seventh and last Uefa Champions League triumph in 2007, underlined the failure of Italy’s legendary clubs to keep up with more astute foreign rivals.
“When Italy began dominating the European scene other countries, like Germany, started thinking about how to catch up,” the Real Madrid coach said in a recent interview with French football magazine So Foot.
“The English had already started by modernising stadiums. Now, Italy is trailing behind all the other big European leagues.”
Just over a decade ago, three Italian teams -- Juventus, Milan and Inter -- qualified for the semi-finals of the 2003 Champions League with Milan beating Juventus to the title after a penalty shoot-out.
Now, Italians teams are considered lucky to reach the last eight of a competition whose financial rewards mean it is crucial for any club hoping to lure the game’s top stars.
Inter Milan were Italy’s last winners in 2010, when Jose Mourinho led the Nerazzurri to an unprecedented treble. Since then, only Juventus have made it to the quarter-finals, losing to eventual winners Bayern Munich in 2013.
Then coach Conte declared: “We have to look elsewhere, to Spain, to England and to Germany to see what lessons we can learn.”
Three-time European champions Inter have failed to reach the Champions League competition for the past two seasons while seven-time winners Milan, who missed qualification this season, are now a pale shadow of the club that once attracted stars like Jean-Pierre Papin, Ruud Gullit, Andriy Shevchenko and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Milan city Mayor Giuliano Pisapia admitted: “In Milan right now, there are a lot of disappointed fans, but times have changed. We’re all feeling the effects of the recession.
“Investment possibilities have dipped and fewer people are now going to the stadium.”
With the exception of Juventus, few clubs in Italy can afford the big names who lure fans to the stadium. Once considered part of the average fan’s Sunday ritual, for many it is now a thing of the past.
The possibility of watching foreign league games via satellite television, smartphones and tablets offers fans the chance to watch the world’s best in Spain, England and Germany at a fraction of the price.
“Today’s fan has far too many advantages sitting at home watching television: replays, commentary, statistics, and multiplex,” Marco Bogarelli, the president of international sports marketing agency Infront, told Gazzetta dello Sport.
Coupled with sporadic episodes of football-related violence and the comparative lack of modernity at Italy’s football stadiums, it means a trip to ‘il stadio’ is not so enticing as it used to be.
A recent study found that Italian clubs reap, on average, only 11 percent of their revenue from stadium receipts. It is almost double elsewhere (23% in England, 23 in Germany and 22 in Spain).
Outspoken Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini said: “Going to the stadium should be enjoyable, where you can go with your family. Nowadays, in Italy it’s like walking into a prison.”
Ancelotti believes attracting fans back to the stadium is crucial.
“For me, the stadiums and how they are run is key. Television rights (money) is important, but not decisive,” he added.
“The number of people coming to watch games is a far more more important factor than television rights. Look at England, the stadiums are always full. In Italy families are too afraid to go to the stadium.”
Dutch legend Cruyff said Juventus, who have won the last three Serie A titles, are the “only club capable of overcoming the crisis”.
“They have a different philosophy and, importantly, have built their own stadium which allows the club to manage it on their own and balance the books,” he said.
“The other Italian clubs don’t have money. They are are investing less in grass roots football and buying fewer big names.”
Despite the inherent economic constraints, Bogarelli believes league chiefs must revolutionise their key ‘product’ if they are to grab a slice of the competitive global market.
“The market for Real Madrid and Barcelona, once Latin-American has now gone global. Serie A doesn’t have a Cristian Ronaldo or a Lionel Messi, so you have to invent something else,” he added.
“With a few million (euros) investment stadiums could become more (consumer) friendly.
“We need to encourage fans to spend more time in the stadium. Much like a consumer in a shopping mall.”
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
HAJJAN
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Without Remorse
Directed by: Stefano Sollima
Starring: Michael B Jordan
4/5
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
TOP 5 DRIVERS 2019
1 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 10 wins 387 points
2 Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 4 wins, 314 points
3 Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 3 wins, 260 points
4 Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 2 wins, 249 points
5 Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1 win, 230 points
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Top 5 concerns globally:
1. Unemployment
2. Spread of infectious diseases
3. Fiscal crises
4. Cyber attacks
5. Profound social instability
Top 5 concerns in the Mena region
1. Energy price shock
2. Fiscal crises
3. Spread of infectious diseases
4. Unmanageable inflation
5. Cyber attacks
Source: World Economic Foundation
Ipaf in numbers
Established: 2008
Prize money: $50,000 (Dh183,650) for winners and $10,000 for those on the shortlist.
Winning novels: 13
Shortlisted novels: 66
Longlisted novels: 111
Total number of novels submitted: 1,780
Novels translated internationally: 66
Company profile
Company name: Suraasa
Started: 2018
Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker
Based: India, UAE and the UK
Industry: EdTech
Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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The Outsider
Stephen King, Penguin
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
'Saand Ki Aankh'
Produced by: Reliance Entertainment with Chalk and Cheese Films
Director: Tushar Hiranandani
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Bhumi Pednekar, Prakash Jha, Vineet Singh
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
