Why Serie A can no longer compete with the Premier League
Italian football still has the history, the tactics and the passion. What it lacks is the money, the stadiums and the global pull to compete with the Premier League for the attention of fans around the world.
Thirty years ago, there was no argument. Serie A was the best league in the world, the place where Maradona, Van Basten, Baggio and Batistuta played their peak years, and Football Italia on Channel 4 was appointment viewing for a generation of British fans.
The Premier League is the default league for football fans from Lagos to Jakarta, while Serie A has become a league that fans dip into rather than follow. The gap is not about the quality of the football on a good weekend.
It is structural, and the numbers show just how wide it has become. Premier League v Serie A in numbers League revenue: Premier League £6.8bn, Serie A €3bn (Deloitte) Domestic TV deal: £6.7bn over four years v €4.5bn over five years Average attendance 2025-26: 41,636 v 29,892 Stadium occupancy 2025-26: 97.1% v 80.7% Stadiums built or modernised 2007-24: 13 in England v 6 in Italy (PwC) 1.
The money gap feeds itself Every argument about Serie A's decline eventually comes back to money, because money decides everything else: which players a league can keep, which it can sign, and how good the product looks on screen. According to Deloitte's latest figures, Premier League clubs generated £6.8bn in revenue in a season, up 8%.
Serie A brought in €3bn, up 4%. The Premier League is not just ahead; it is pulling further away every year.
Broadcast rights explain much of the difference. Serie A's domestic deal with DAZN and Sky Italia is worth €4.5bn over five seasons, around €900m a year.
Higher revenue means bigger wages, better signings, more stars and more global interest, which in turn lifts the value of the next TV deal. Serie A is stuck on the wrong side of that cycle.
Stadiums from another era Watch a Premier League match and you see a full, modern ground with the crowd close to the pitch. Watch many Serie A matches and you see running tracks, empty sections and concrete that has barely changed since Italia 90.