It’s undeniable that the Serie A has been on a slow but gradual decline after Juventus was relegated to the Serie B due to the calciopoli scandal in 2006. It wasn’t immediately noticeable, as the foundations of the other clubs had been set for a good amount of years, leaving the league in an apparent good state.In fact, the league was even rewarded heavily in 2010, after Inter had won the Champions League. But in shortly after in 2012, the Serie A lost their 4th spot in the Champions League to the Bundesliga. Now the Serie A has been slowly regaining ground for the third spot in the coefficient rankings, as England has been plummeting downwards. The six teams involved have a huge responsibility to bring the league back to the top. Having a 7th team in Europe, means there is more money being pumped into the league, obviously money being more and more necessary to have a good club. The Serie A is currently within 3 points from passing the English Premier League.

Current Association Coefficient Rankings

Champions League

Juventus has been doing it’s part recently, as they reached the UCL final in 2015, only to loose to a spectacular Barcelona side. This year, they have made it evidently clear that they are going all out for the Champions League title. Signing many players, including Mehdi Benatia, Gonzalo Higuain, Miralem Pjanic, Marko Pjaca, and Dani Alves.Signing Higuain and Pjanic from league rivals Napoli and Roma respectively, they obviously don’t care who they upset on the way. While many have seen this signing of Higuain as a negative for the league as a whole, it should be looked at positively. Gonzalo will help Juventus hopefully achieve the almighty UCL title. While Napoli, with the $90+ million can make a better overall team that in not dependent only on Gonzalo. Helping them in the league, as well as reaching a respectable stage in the UCL. While Roma have lost Miralem Pjanic, they have a solid team that performed well last season in UCL and in the league, that is worthy of of UCL, and hopefully, they will be able to win the qualification game to be in the group stages of the UCL alongside Juventus and Napoli.

Europa League

In the Europa league, Inter and Fiorentina have reached direct qualification to the group stages, while Sassuolo has been going through the qualification process. Sassuolo on August 4th, and will look to win to keep their Europa League dream alive. A team based on mostly young Italians, it is a team that all Italians are rooting for in Europe. A team full of potential with the likes of Domenico Berardi, Sassuolo could have a very exiting EL run. While Inter have directly qualified for EL, they are no stranger to the European stages. They are an experienced club despite having missed out on European competitions twice in the last 3 seasons, and are definitely appearing to not be kept out of the 2 top competitions for much longer. Having signed Ever Banega, Erkin, Antonio Candreva, and Ansaldi, they look like a very electrifying team for the upcoming season. Fiorentina haven’t made much noise in the transfer market this season as of yet, but are a strong side nonetheless. They have been performing well recently in Europe, and the Serie A needs to hope it can continue.

This season is crucial to the fate of the league, and these teams performing well in Europe will hugely impact the league. Hopefully attracting better players, bring in more money, and as a result, bring the overall level of the league back to where it was in it’s golden days.