Decked out in his Juventus jersey, fan Vince Carlucci watches nearly every match his team plays.

But when it comes to Major League Soccer, the Juventus Fan Club of Toronto president is slightly less devoted and he’s not alone. For decades, he says, the GTA’s Italian community has largely preferred tuning into Serie A matches, featuring more prolific athletes and a much more calculated style of play than Major League Soccer in North America.

That’s why he visits Italy a handful of times each year to watch Juventus play, but has only made it out to a few Toronto FC games since the team began in 2007.

“The last few times I went to see them I was almost sleeping,” Carlucci says. “The soccer here is lower than the first division in Italy.”

With the recent signing of former Juventus striker Sebastian Giovinco, Toronto FC’s second-rate status is shifting.

“(Italian fans) have been a very important part, but I don’t think we have been able to galvanize them like we have through the signing of a player like Seba,” Tom Pistore, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment’s vice-president of sales, told the Star.

Giovinco’s arrival, he said, brought 3,000 new ticket buyers, plenty of them Italians.

“Our sales are skyrocketing. Our premium inventory is almost sold out. We are expecting that to be the landscape for BMO Field this year,” Pistore said. “The Italian community is coming in as strong as ever.”

But keeping them around won’t be simple, said Vince D’Elia, a sports marketer and season-ticket holder.

Supporting Serie A teams is part of a culture ingrained at birth for most Italians, he said, and not many immigrants or their children were brought up on TFC.

“MLS wasn’t even a thing when I started following soccer. My first thing was Italian soccer because there weren’t players here to look up to,” he said.

To court Italians, Pistore said TFC is building relations with “key organizations” including the Italian congress and chamber of commerce, ethnic media like CHIN, TLN and Corriere Canadese and local Juventus fan clubs.

The ties might have generated impressive sales, but how many bleachers are filled come game day is another matter — one that fans have a hard time grappling with.

They’ve seen the team gamble on big international stars before, said Red Patch Boys supporter group president Phil Tobin, and the disappointing result has left a stale taste in their mouths.

Last year’s Jermain Defoe signing, for example, came with splashy ads featuring a red, double-decker bus and promises that the star would be a “Bloody Big Deal,” but not with a plethora of British fans.

Giovinco has been different, said a cautiously optimistic Tobin.

When he touched down in Toronto, hundreds awaited his arrival armed with Juventus jerseys, Italian flags and cultural epithets including “Forza TFC.” It was a surprise for a team yet to experience en masse the devotion of Italian fans, known for blaring horns, shutting down streets and partying atop streetcars when their beloved national team wins in the World Cup or Euro championships.

That pride, said Tobin, can transform the bleakatmosphere at games.

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“We want the entire stadium to sing the songs, not just the (Red Patch Boy’s) corner,” he said. “(The Italian fans) are going to bring more voices to the stands and more willingness to sing. They are going to be able to bring new chants and ideas and that is exciting.”

But it will take more than singing to win over Italians — or any other fans really — warns Carlucci.

“We want to see our team at the top. If my team is at the bottom, it doesn’t give me the strength to go see them,” he said. “If TFC will improve, then Italians will go because they like to see a strong team, but we have to wait and see.”

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