Football in Italy: national, league, and local soccer. With free audio podcasts.

Coming direct to you from soccer grounds around Italy - Mike's weekly fan's-eye view of Italian football : the national team, the leagues, the players, the results - and all the gossip.

Football is an enormous part of Italian culture - you simply can't visit the country without knowing something about it!

Whether you're just learning about European soccer or you're already an avid fan, you'll find everything you want to know about football in Italy here.

Why?

Both in the UK and in Italy we are avid football (soccer) fans. Mike follows it (some would say) obsessively, we both go to games in Italy as often as we can and Mike's newspaper of choice is the 'Gazzetta dello Sport'.

So our knowledge is first-hand, passionate, and extensive.

What our football section covers.

Are you really looking forward to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil? Do you want to know four times winners Italy are shaping up for the competition?

Want to know which teams are fighting for glory in the 2013 / 14 Serie 'A' season - and which teams are good to support apart from the 'giants' like Juventus and the Milan teams?

Thinking of creating your own Italian 'Fantasy Football' team and want to know who's hot and who's not?

Look no further!

On these pages and in Mike's podcasts we will cover Italian football for everyone.

We'll look at the Italian National team (in Italian they are called the 'Nazionale' (or more commonly the 'Azzurri', for their blue shirts), its rich and successful history, and the current squad with world-famous but ageing players like Del Piero and rising stars like Al Shaarawy and Balotelli.

The 'Azzurri' - Italy's national soccer team.

Italy's national football team - the 'Azzurri'

We'll look at the league system in Italian football - perhaps not surprisingly spending most time looking at the top division - Serie 'A'.

We'll look at the past great winners of the 'Scudetto', the shield presented to the champions.

This season in the Italian soccer leagues.

But what of this year's teams? Who will lead the way? Will Juventus dominate again, or will a new owner mean that Inter Milan will see their fortunes rise? What about the newly promoted Sassuolo, Verona and Livorno?

Will it be one season of glorious struggle with the big boys and back to Serie 'B', or can they mount a challenge?

Not just football in Italy - we look at Italian soccer teams in Europe too.

The UEFA Cup.

We'll also be watching out for the Italian teams taking on the best of the rest of Europe in the Union of European Football Associations (better known as UEFA) Champions League and the Europa League.

Italian footie : by a fan, for the fans!

This will be a fan's eye view, watching as many games as possible, keeping across all the Italian press and club releases and consulting the most knowledgeable source of all - the Italian supporters.

And if you want to see a soccer game while you're in Italy, we tell you how to do it.

Here's hoping for a great season!