Is Serie A competitive or a mediocre league?

Over the last few seasons, the Serie A top four has had different teams joining the traditionally top teams in the European places.

Just like the Premier League and La Liga, Serie A used to have an established hierarchy of teams that always finished in the top spots.

However, as time has gone on, things are changing, and several teams have broken the established top four, with clubs like Bologna and Atalanta representing them in the Champions League over the last few terms.

The Italians like to believe that they have one of the best leagues in the world, and they are generally considered one of the top five leagues.

Many players want to join the best Serie A teams to continue their careers, knowing that they will make career progress there.

This season, we have experienced some shocking stats that are calling the quality of the league into question.

Some will say the level of the competition is no longer that strong, while others will say that the competition is now much stronger than it used to be.

Who are the best clubs in Serie A now?

In the 90s and 2000s, it was easy to tell which teams were the best in the league, as Serie A was the best competition in the world at the time.

Teams there paid the best salaries and even signed players from the Premier League for record fees, something that will hardly happen now.

Last season, we covered that Serie A could be the most competitive league in the world.

This explains why several more fans from around the globe have been buying Serie A tickets from Seatsnet.

However, this term, there are some changes that are making it harder to tell if the league has become more competitive or if it is now mediocre.

This season’s title race would be extremely difficult to predict as no team has been able to stay consistent enough to pull clear of the other clubs in the tournament.

This means even Max Allegri’s return to AC Milan, who have no European football, might not be enough for them to win the Scudetto.

Napoli are defending champions and are the first team everyone thinks should win the league crown this term, for obvious reasons.

Juve began the season strongly, and we thought they could win the crown, but they have now sacked yet another manager in 2025, after Igor Tudor was allowed to leave.

Ivan Juric cannot win games as the manager of Atalanta after he replaced Gian Piero Gasperini in the summer.

Italian clubs love to change managers every summer, which has caused some instability in the way the top clubs perform.

This has made it difficult to predict which teams are the best in the league this season, but if a winner of the Scudetto is not one of AC Milan, Napoli, Inter Milan and Juventus, it will come as a surprise to most followers of the league.

Why do the traditional top teams struggle?

The struggles of the top clubs in Italy are the reason we have struggled to find the teams worthy of being named the best this season.

However, the reasons for their struggle are not very difficult to spot, and it is probably more obvious than they would love to admit.

Instability is a major problem for these teams as they all want quick success, which means they often change managers and players.

Teams like Atalanta that manage to stick to the same coach for a long time have enjoyed sustained success, and La Dea are struggling now because they have changed managers.

Also, the transfer deals these top teams have been involved in over the last few seasons have made it hard for them to compete.

A team like Juve has spent the last few seasons stripping itself of its best players, with Thiago Motta removing its experienced and leading dressing room members.

They have now populated the squad with players who do not understand what it means to play for the club or sell Juventus tickets, and have reduced it to one of the struggling giants in Europe.

Lazio and AC Milan also did the same thing, and it is showing in their current results. And it will take time for any of these teams to assemble a competitive team.

However, their board and owners often do not have the required patience to trust a coach and rebuild the team over a few seasons.

The role of money in the quality of the league

Money is an important factor in every league around the world, whether it is a local league in Nigeria or the Premier League in the UK.

Every team needs money to run, and at the top level, clubs need more money to buy the best players and hire the best managers.

Over the last few seasons, Italian teams have struggled to compete with their rivals in the Premier League and other leagues because there is not enough money in Serie A.

The growth decree, which was in effect between 2019 and 2023, helped the Italian teams to sign world-class players and paid them just their net salary as their taxes were waived.

During this time, the teams in the competition were able to add new stars to their squad and compete for the best talent around the world with other clubs in other leagues.

It was abolished in 2023, and Italian teams have been struggling to sign players when they compete for them with other clubs.

The Serie A TV rights are currently worth around €1.27 billion per season, which is small compared to the Premier League.

The small amounts being shared by the 20 teams mean the teams do not get enough money to compete with the best in some other leagues.

This off-course has affected the competitiveness of the league, especially as clubs in it want to compete with the others in other competitions to win trophies.

Inter Milan earned a lot of praise for reaching the Champions League final in 2023 and 2025, but each time, they lost to a team with a better squad and greater financial muscle.

The role of money in European football is vast, so there is a huge gap between the Italian teams and their rivals from England and Spain.

With that in mind, it is hard to say Serie A has been competitive, and it now seems clear the league is mediocre.