The issue gets brought up in some corners of the football world, but strangely, whenever the nation faces another disaster, it’s largely ignored.Photo by Getty Images/Getty ImagesInstead, the discussions revolve around the lack of grassroots structures, dwindling amounts of Italian players in Serie A, and timidity of the 3-5-2 formation. Fair enough, those are problems that need to be fixed and have been haunting calcio for many years. They have hung around like a stench that spreads across the apartment, leaving every room reeking.But the rankness is part of a much deeper problem that takes the form of rot underneath the sink.

Now, Italian football has reached a point where simply using a room freshener won’t fix things.Structurally speaking, too many young players fall through the cracks in Italian football at a young age.This was confirmed by Vittorio Petrone, former agent of Roberto Baggio, who famously created a 900-page report that outlined an overhaul of the Italian federation in 2011. The FIGC largely ignored the document. Petrone discussed the “Baggio Report” with Italian podcast Cronache di Spogliatoio, saying, “We’ve calculated that in Italy, only one out of every 67,000 players turns professional.”Sure, that number might not seem too shocking considering the odds of becoming a pro athlete were never favorable, but it ties into a larger problem within Italian football — a lack of young players getting significant minutes in Serie A.According to a study from the CIES Football Observatory, U-21 players eligible for the Italian national team played in just 1.9% of the minutes in Serie A over the 2025 calendar year, which ranked 49th out of the 50 monitored leagues.It doesn’t end there, as players that are not eligible to play for Italy have played in 67.9% of the total minutes in Serie A this season through April 1.

This is the sixth-worst figure in Europe. While England and Portugal rank worse, they both boast thriving academies, which can’t be said for Italy.Benfica, in fact, rank first for income earned from sales of academy graduates. Sporting rank fifth, with Chelsea, Manchester City, Aston Villa, and Tottenham ranking high up too.

One would have to scroll down to the 53rd spot to find Inter, whose biggest sale was that of Andrea Pinamonti. The striker is barely even considered for the Azzurri anymore, falling off the national team radar quite a while ago.Many Italian clubs have turned to selling their young players as a quick-fix problem to their academy woes. These sales guarantee healthy capital gains, or plusvalenza, thereby temporarily fixing their financial situations.

The vicious cycle follows too. Soon enough, the same player will once again be sold, earning a hefty plusvalenza for his next club.Instability catches up with the player, affecting his skillset and keeping him completely away from the Azzurri setup. Unless he joins a slightly more self-sufficient club like Atalanta, his career risks falling away.Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty ImagesA majority of times, young players are simply seen as bargaining chips for larger deals too.

Juventus attracted immense criticism for their sale of Dean Huijsen to Bournemouth. The plusvalenza was too much to turn down for a club that is seeking immediate results and a quick injection into their finances when other signings are needed instead.This has become a trend across the board, as Italian clubs barely have sustaining revenue chains. They rely excessively on sales.

It is a largely-ignored issue which allows lesser-known English clubs to sign players from Serie A clubs relatively easily. That is perhaps why Huijsen joined Real Madrid from Bournemouth within 12 months of leaving Juve.Each Premier League club has five main sources of revenue: merchandising, stadium revenue, broadcasting, transfers, and if relevant, money from winning trophies. The Italian context is much different.

Clubs don’t own the stadiums they play in, reducing the revenues earned from ticket sales. In addition, international media interest in calcio has declined significantly in the last 10 years.Every season, the league faces a real struggle to sell itself to international broadcasters. The most recent international broadcast deal sees the league earn only around €300 million per year.

That is just 21% of the league’s total broadcasting revenue, which stands at around €1.1 billion. Unsurprisingly, domestic broadcast revenue has also reduced by €30 million from the previous deal, with channels like Sky Italia often telecasting Premier League games instead of th