Football is a very popular game right now. It is also known as soccer or association football in some areas. This game does not require any special place, it can be played anywhere like gymnasiums, school playgrounds, beaches, streets, etc. It also does not require many instruments, only a ball is enough to begin the game. Unlike other games, it is a short time game. Usually, the game is about to end within 1.30 hours. In todayโs busy world, this time duration seems pretty smart. Thus, it gains a lot of attractions from the viewers. These are the reasons why this game is so popular around the world.
If we look at the history of football, modern football started in Britain back in the 19th century. Folk football was popular since before the medieval times and played in villages and towns.
However, the development of modern football happened due to the urbanization and industrialization of the Victorian period. At that time, people had their Saturday afternoons off. Thus, they started to play football or watch football. Eventually, football had spread across Europe by the end of the 19th century. It was needed a governing body and that is why FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) was formed.
In 1904, representatives from Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland established the organization.
If we look at the club football history, we see similar developments as well. You know there were football clubs since the 15th century. However, they were there without any official status and they were not organized at all. Moreover, it is difficult to say which the first football club was.
According to Wikipedia, the first documented football club was called โThe Foot-Ball Clubโ. It was formed in 1824 and based in Edinburgh, Scotland. On the other hand, the oldest professional football club is Notts County, which was formed in 1862. You will be surprised to know that they still exist.
Later in 1885, professional football was legalized and Football League was established in 1888.
With the passage of time, we see a lot of leagues nowadays. English Premier League (EPL), Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, Major League Soccer (MLS), etc. are some major football leagues right now. Every league has its own history. Here, English Premier League deals with the teams of England, Serie A is the top league of Italy, La Liga stands for the highest Spanish league, Major Soccer League is the league of the USA. All of these leagues are different in nature.
EPL is famous for its aggressive playing, Serie A is known for solid defense, La Liga is famous for its rivalry, Bundesliga is famous for tactical attack and MLS is known for the destination of the aged.
Today, we will discuss Serie A in details.
According to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), Serie A was the worldโs strongest national league in 2020. Teams from Serie A show their class and quality in both Champions Leagues and Europa Leagues repeatedly. Serie A also lead the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) ranking from 1986 to 1988 and from 1990 to 1999. Now, this league is full of world class clubs.
It hosts three of the worldโs most famous clubs which are Juventus, Milan and Internazionale. Other than La Liga, Serie A players won Ballon dโOr award record times. Therefore, Juventus is the only club to win all possible confederation competitions.
Similarly, Milan won 18 official international titles, i.e., the third highest position in the world. Then, there is a team named Inter which has not been relegated ever in the history of Serie A. Thus, you see Serie A teams have a lot of records which are tough to break. You will be glad to know that Juventus, Milan, Inter, Lazio, Florentina, Roma and Napoli are known as the Seven Sisters of Italian football.
Now, let us have a look at the best scorers in Italy. Silvio Piola is the highest goal scorer of all time in the history of Serie A. He scored 274 goals in 537 appearances. He played for Pro Vercelli, Novara, Lazio, Juventus. The second highest scorer is Francesco Totti with 250 goals in 618 appearances. The surprising fact is he scored all his 250 goals while playing for Roma. He is a living legend that Roma will remember forever.
The third person on the list is Gunnar Nordahl. Unlike the two of them, Nordahl is not an Italian, he is a Swedish. He scored 225 goals in just 291 appearances.
His average is 0.77, which is enviable. The fourth one is named Giuseppe Meazza. He scored 216 goals in 367 appearances. He played for Internazionale, Milan and Juventus.
Now, if we look at the current best scorers of Italy, we see different things. Firstly, Cristiano Ronaldo is the top scorer of 2020-2021 season. He plays for Juventus and he is a national player of Portugal. He scored 25 goals so far. Secondly, Romeo Lukaku holds the second position with 21 goals. He plays for Inter and he is from Belgium.
Thirdly, Luis Muriel stays in this position with 18 goals.
He plays for Atlanta and he is from Colombia. Fourthly, Lautaro Martinez is an Argentine player. He plays for Inter and scores 23 goals so far. Now, if we compare this group with the earlier group, we see one major change. None of them from the second group are from Italy. Thus, we can understand how competitive Serie A is.
Finally, let us look at the market value of Serie A teams. Juventus Turinโs market value is about โฌ678.10m. Similarly, the market value of Inter is โฌ618.30m. Napoli has a market value of โฌ533.00m while the market value of Ac Milan is โฌ508.80m. They all own nearly 9.9-13.2% MV share.
Thus, you can understand their market value and there is no way to ignore their existence in the world of football. However, it is not possible to explain everything related to Serie A in one single article. I believe this article truly shows how competitive Serie A becomes.
