{"id":611647,"date":"2022-04-08T09:03:37","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T13:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=611647"},"modified":"2022-04-08T09:03:37","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T13:03:37","slug":"when-calcio-was-king-italian-footballs-golden-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/04\/08\/when-calcio-was-king-italian-footballs-golden-age\/","title":{"rendered":"When Calcio Was King: Italian Football\u2019s Golden Age"},"content":{"rendered":"

European club football\u2019s top table was once again missing one of its oldest guests this week with no Italian football clubs in the last eight of the European Cup for the second year in a row. In the backwaters of the Europa and Europa Conference leagues, there are just two sides: Atalanta and Roma<\/a>. The irony of Juventus<\/a> once again bowing out to a side deemed unworthy of the European Super League shouldn\u2019t be lost on anyone – Villareal joining Ajax, Lyon and Porto in this category.<\/p>\n

The national team, whose EURO 2020 triumph<\/a> acted as somewhat of a two-finger salute to the doubters of Italian football, will also be MIA on the biggest stage this year having missed out on World Cup qualification again. Since winning the competition in 2006, the Azzuri have won just one match and have not featured in the knockout stages. It\u2019ll be 20 years of pain before these wrongs can be righted.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a world away from the halcyon days of Italian football – the mid-1980s to the early 2000s – when Serie A was the best league in the world, host to the biggest and brightest stars and reigned supreme on the continent. Simply put: When Calcio was King.<\/p>\n

The Golden Age of Italian Football When Calcio Was King
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Winds of Change Sweep Through the Peninsula<\/h3>\n

Following on from the successes of both Milan\u2019s, Inter<\/a> and AC<\/a>, in the 1960s, Italian clubs would experience a barren period in the decade or so to follow. There were few finalists, and a solitary winner across Europe\u2019s three competitions, European Cup, the then-named UEFA Cup (Juve ’77) and the now-defunct Cup Winners\u2019 Cup.<\/p>\n

A series of events contributed to Calcio\u2019s golden age: Italy winning the ’82 World Cup, Michel Platini joining Juve the same summer, Diego <\/a>Maradona’s move to Napoli<\/a> in ’84 \u2013 the first of many world-record fees paid by Italian clubs. The Heysel Stadium Disaster in ’85 which led to a 5-year European banning of English clubs \u2013 winners in seven of the previous eight seasons, their absence opened the gates to Italy. Italia \u201990<\/a> resulted in a national footballing boon \u2013 boosted economy, new stadia and new fans.<\/p>\n

It was also here that Paul Gascoigne became an icon, both for his performances and tears. It led to a transfer to Lazio in 1992, a spike in UK interest in Serie A and Channel 4\u2019s creation of \u201cFootball Italia\u201d.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>