The Politics of Italian Soccer

In our six previous visits to Italy, Carol and Roger had never been to a professional soccer match.  This trip, we were finally in Italy during soccer season. 

Our expectations were high.  We imagined huge crowds of passionate and knowledgable fans who lived and died by the results of every slide tackle or corner kick.

Instead, we saw this….

A ”crowd” of perhaps 20,000 in Rome’s Olympic Stadium…which holds 72,000.

The home team’s fan club was noisy but about one tenth of the size of the Sounders’ fan club at CenturyLink Field.

The play of the two teams was uninspired.  In the second half, the goalie for home-team Lazio fumbled a weak kick, letting the ball dribble through his hands and into the goal…tying the game.  Derisive whistles flooded the stadium.  At the end of regulation, the score was 2 - 2.  In stoppage time, the Parma defense collapsed, allowing Lazio's winning goal.

The Lazio fans went home happy…if not inspired by the level of play.

The next day, we had coffee with one of Carol’s UW professors, Alberto Sbragia…teaching this quarter at UW Rome Center.  He explained that politics drives top-level Italian soccer.

The top Italian soccer league is Called Serie A.  There are 20 teams that qualify for Serie A.  They play a 38 game league schedule, plus a number of non-league games that count in the standings.  The top two teams qualify for the European Champions League.  The bottom three teams are relegated to Serie B the next season.

While small-market teams like Parma do well occasionally, Serie A is dominated year-after-year by the same handful of teams.  This is where the politics comes in.

Lazio FC, whose game we went to, is one of two teams based in Rome (Lazio is the region of Italy that Rome is in).  Their tickets are priced at one-third that of their cross-town rival, yet their attendance is weak.  Traditionally, their fan base is right-wing and comes from the Rome suburbs.  There just aren’t that many right-wingers in Rome.  

The team is owned by Claudio Lotito.  His biography describes him as an “entrepreneur,”  owner of several ill-defined “cleaning companies” and a real-estate magnate.  He has been convicted of insider trading and sentenced to prison time…which he never served.

Lazio’s cross-town rival is AS Roma.  AS Roma was formed in 1927, when Mussolini forced the merger of several smaller soccer clubs.  Despite this, the team is the darling of left-wing sports fans…which are far-more common in Rome.  They are more successful than Lazio, which may explain why they draw better and can command ticket prices that start well in excess of $100 per seat.

AS Roma is owned by an American billionaire, James Pallotta.  He is the principal partner in the hedge fund Tudor Investments.  He’s also a minority owner of the Boston Celtics.

The most successful soccer club in Italian history is AC Milan.  It has won more international trophies than any European club save Manchester United.  The Milan metro area is actually more populous than Rome, so it has a huge market to draw from.

AC Milan is owned by Silvio Berlusconi…former Italian President and Prime Minister (first elected to that office in 1994) He was removed from office last fall after his conviction for tax evasion.  That is merely what he was convicted of.  His adventures would make a movie Americans would find unbelievable... a head of state appointing girlfriends as government ministers,  parties at the official residence filled with teen-aged prostitutes, and having his parliamentary backers vote for bills that provided legal immunity from his bad-boy activities   Berlusconi originally made his billions as chairman of RAI, the Italian radio-TV giant.  For decades, they broadcast Italian soccer, and guess which very successful team appeared most often on its screens?

That leaves only one other team with a national following…Juventus from Torino.  This season they sit atop the Serie A standings with a 27 and 3 record…and a 10 point lead over the second place team .

Juventis is owned by Andrea Agnelli, who sits on the board of directors of Turino-based Fiat.  If he looks a bit young to be a corporate board member, consider that his now-deceased father was the long-time CEO and board chairman of Fiat.

So, when it comes to rooting for a favorite Italian football club, pick your poison.