Football trips to Serie A

The love for football is enormous in Serie A

A number of regional Italian leagues merged together back in 1929. Italy formed a national competition that we know today as Serie A. Italian football is known for the fans who try to drive their club on to victory with their huge amount of passion. While Italian football used to be known for its turgid football, people nowadays can watch some very attracive football in the Italian top flight.

It was of huge benefit to Italy that a lot that the country had a national competition set up so early. The country is one of the most successful when people look at European competitions. Italian clubs have won the Champions League (or the Euroepan cup) on thirteen occasions. Italian clubs dominated European football in the 1960s. Italian clubs even won the European cups in three consecutive seasons between 1963 and 1965.

Serie A still remains one of the strongest leagues in the world today. Romantics in particular can enjoy the competition: a glorious history, superb stadiums, passionate supporters and the global stars who play there. All of these factors combined make Serie A a brilliant competition that is definitely worth following.

Serie A consists of twenty teams with 38 rounds being played each season. Each club competes for seven places in European competitions. The top four clubs qualify automatically for the Champions League. The team that finishes fifth and the winners of the Coppa Italia qualify for the Europa League. The seventh place club enters the UEFA Conference League. The bottom three teams in the league are relegated to Serie B at the end of each season.

• The most popular clubs in Serie A
• Historical Serie A facts
• Special Serie A derby games
• An overview of the football stadiums
• The “Hall of fame” players

The most popular clubs in Serie A

Italian football has been dominated by a small group of clubs for many years. Only three different teams have won the title dating back to 2001: AC Milan, Internazionale and Juventus. These are the three biggest clubs in the country. There are also a number of teams who regularly compete for the title, but who never actually manage to become champions. These are teams such as AS Roma and Napoli. There are also have teams that used to compete for the Scudetto but who no longer do. Fiorentina falls into this category. The three top clubs and their large group of followers make Serie A an exciting national title race every season. Visiting a match in the Serie A is therefore always exciting and worthwhile.

The most important Serie A derby matches

There is nothing better than attending a derby match during your football trip. There are a number of derbies in Serie A. These encounters are always that bit more intense and exciting than other matches and the atmosphere inside the stadium is also that bit better.

Famous Serie A football stadiums

Italy is full of old-fashioned, and sometimes almost dilapidated stadiums. These stadiums include a cinder track around the pitch. There are also plenty of modern arenas which are equipped with state of the art and modern developments. Below are some stadiums that the average football fan falls in love with.

Serie A Hall of Fame

Serie A has seen a number of world stars throughout the long history of the competition. Among these stars are a number of Dutch players, who are still seen as Gods in Italy. We've compiled a list of the most amazing players throughout the history of the Italian league.

Gianluigi Buffon

Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is a living legend. The goalkeeper left for Juventus following his breakthrough at Parma. Buffon was between the sticks at Juve from 2001 to 2018. A brief foray to PSG followed, however the Italian soon returned to Juventus. He moved back to the club where it all started in 2021: Parma. He became a champion of Italy ten times and became a World Cup winner with his country in 2006. The only blot on his copybook is that he never won the Champions League.

Paolo Maldini

The Maldini family will be forever associated with AC Milan. Cesare, Paolo and Daniel Maldini were the three generations who played for the Rossoneri. Paolo Maldini sported the AC shirt throughout his career. The defender played over 600 games for the club. He won seven league titles and won the Champions League five times.

Javier Zanetti

Javier Zanetti came to Internazionale in 1995 from his home country of Argentina. He was a very versatile player, who could play in various positions in both defence and in midfield. Zanetti is the overseas player with the most Serie A appearances. He won 16 trophies with Inter, including the Champions League in 2010. Zanetti played over 500 league games for the club, but was never once sent off. A true gentleman, who became vice president of Inter once his career ended.

Francesco Totti

A true club legend. Francesco Totti was a trainee at AS Roma, and the striker remained loyal to that club throughout his career. Totti was the face of Roma for years alongside Daniele de Rossi. In fact, he was too good for his club for a number of years. Totti was given the opportunity on several occasions to join other clubs, but the Roman’s club for his club prevailed. He played over 600 Serie A matches and became a World Cup winner with Italy in 2006. Totti only won the title once with AS Roma. The club became league champions with Totti as captain in 2001. 'Il Capitano' stayed with the club for another sixteen years, but they failed to win a second Scudetto.

Diego Armando Maradona

Maradona was the best footballer to have ever played in Serie A. He scored 115 goals for the Neapolitans in 259 appearances. Maradona could do anything with the ball, and decided matches single handedly. He delivered Napoli their only two league titles in club history. The fluffy one was a flawed genius. He ws the best of all time on the pitch, but Maradona regularly lost his way off the pitch. The Argentinian passed away in November 2020, after which the stadium in Napoli was named after him.

Marco van Basten

A number of Dutchmen made an impression in Serie A. People would thik for instance of world stars such as Ruud Gullit, Clarence Seedorf and Mark van Bommel. The greatest of all however was Marco van Basten. San Marco won everything at AC Milan: three Serie A championships and the European Cup twice. He also won the 1998 European Championships with The Netherlands scoring some amazing goals. Van Basten scored from all angles and positions, with both feet or with his head. He had to end his career early due to a persistent ankle injury in 1995.

Giuseppe Meazza

What do Johan Cruyff, Diego Maradona and Giuseppe Meazza all have in common? A stadium is named after all three of them. Giuseppe Meazza played for both of the Milan clubs. The diminutive striker played for Inter between 1927 and 1940.He scored 240 goals in 348 games. He left two years later to join city rivals AC Milan. Meazza finished his career at Inter at the end of the 1940s. He was also coach of the club on two cassions. Balilla was twice a World Cup winner with Italy both in 1934 and in 1938.

Alessandro Del Piero

Alessandro Del Piero joined Juventus back in 1993. Nineteen years later, he left with six league titles and a Champions League in his pocket. The number ten scored 208 goals in 513 appearances. His trademark was his free kicks. He was able to regularly let keepers fish the ball out of the net due to his outstanding technique and accuracy.Del Piero was also part of the Italy squad which won the World Cup in 2006. He scored the winning goal for his country in the very last minute of extra time in the semi-final against Germany.

Fabio Cannavaro

He played Napoli, Parma, Internazionale and Juventus. Il Muro di Berlino (‘The Berlin Wall’) was a defender you could rely on. Cannavaro was a professional footballer for 19 years. He is the most capped Italian international with 136 appearances. He was not a goalscorer: he only scored twelve times in over 400 games. Cannavaro only wone one league title throughout his career. He was the captain of the Italy when they won the 2006 World Cup. His brother Paolo also played in Serie A for a long spell.

Zlatan Ibrahimović

Zlatan joined Juventus from Ajax back in 2004. He also played for Internazionale and AC Milan thereafter. Ibra has won the Italian Scudetto on four occasions. He scored a total of 147 goals in Serie A. The Swede is particularly tall and strong, always is capable of scoring athletic goals. Brilliance and madness often went hand in hand with Ibrahimović: every game he could either score a great goal or lash out at someone, which meant he was entirely unpredictable. Zlatan is Sweden's all-time leading goalscorer. He won a number of trophies, and only the Champions League is missing from Zlatan’s cabinet.

Roberto Baggio

Roberto Baggio, the striker with the distinctive ponytail, played successively in Serie A for Fiorentina, Juventus, AC Milan, Bologna, Internazionale and Brescia. Baggio scored goals wherever he was. Il Divin Codino (‘The Divine Ponytail) was voted World Footballer of the year in 1993. He won two domestic titles. Baggio is also the person behind the biggest catastrophy in Italian football: the top striker missed the decisive penalty in the 1994 World Cup final against Brazil.

Andrea Pirlo

Rarely has there been anyone who played football as gracefully as Andrea Pirlo. Pirlo even had a somewhat idle style on the pitch. He would never sprint, however Il Maestro would be able to dictate the pace of the game whenever he was playing. Pirlo's passing was phenomenal, he always created chances for his team mates. He played for Inter, AC Milan and Juventus. Pirlo dominated Italian football with Juventus for another four years after AC Milan released him, claiming that he was too old. He won six Serie A titles and the Champions League twice. Pirlo won the man of the match award at the 2006 World Cup final.