⚽️🇮🇹 Roma's incredible new stadium plans revealed
In this week’s Italian soccer digest, we're enjoying Zlatan back on our screens, we're learning about the youth prodigy taking U19 Euro 2024 by storm, and much more!
📺 Serie A renews relationship with CBS Sports
Good news: Calcio will remain on CBS Sports and Paramount+ for the next two seasons! The network will continue as the exclusive U.S. English-language rights holder of every Serie A, Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana match.
🤩 More than 400 matches per season will air on Paramount+, with select games also airing on CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports Golazo Network.
👏 As an additional demonstration of the league’s commitment to growth in North America, games will also be shown on CBS’ over-the-air television network.
🗓️ Details of studio coverage and live match designations will be available shortly.
🇨🇦 Canadian fans will continue to be able to watch Serie A on Fubo and TLN.
✍️ Transfer update: Morata arrives in Milan, Juve’s Thuram dynasty continues
Fresh from captaining the Spain national team to Euro 2024 glory, Alvaro Morata has joined Milan. The Rossoneri unveiled the Spaniard with a video declaring “Champions are in our DNA”…
🔴 “Morata opens tactical possibilities that change the character of the team,” say Football Italia, in an article about the ways the forward will change Milan’s approach this season.
🔵 Milan’s neighbors Inter, meanwhile, have added another Martínez to their roster - at the other end of the field to Lautaro. Goalkeeper Josep Martínez has joined the reigning champions from Genoa.
⚫️ Juventus has been very busy in the market as they prepare for their first campaign under new coach Thiago Motta. Midfielder Khéphren Thuram has arrived in Turin from Nice, where he will carry the Bianconeri legacy of his legendary father Lilian Thuram.
😂 Well, actually, it looks like Lilian is carrying him for now…
😲 Khéphren will be pitted against his older brother Marcus when Juve head to Inter on October 27th.
👍 Bologna will head into their first-ever Champions League campaign this season with an attack bolstered by the arrival of Thijs Dallinga from Toulouse. The Dutch forward replaces the departed Joshua Zirkzee.
🐺 Continuing the theme of new Serie A stars arriving from French teams, midfielder Enzo Le Fée will wear Roma colors this season after moving from Rennes.
🇮🇹 Francesco Camarda shines as the Azzurrini reach final four at U19 Euro 2024
Italy’s U19 side, known affectionately as the Azzurrini, are defending champions in the U19 European Championships, and have been in Northern Ireland competing in the latest edition. Milan’s young prodigy Francesco Camarda has been showing his very impressive credentials…
👏 Camarda became the youngest scorer in tournament history when he bagged a brace against the hosts in the group stage.
✍️ Two days later, Milan rewarded the precocious forward with his first professional contract.
👶 You may remember Camarda from the most recent Serie A campaign, where he became the league’s youngest-ever player at 15.
🤯 Camarda has had a very busy summer: he also represented Italy at the U17 European Championships, where he was named Player of the Tournament.
⏭️ The Azzurrini went all the way to the U19 Euro 2024 semi-finals, where they were eliminated earlier today by Spain, via a 1-0 win after extra time.
👕 Juve, Inter and Roma drop new kits
You know a new season is on the horizon when the new jerseys start hitting the shelves! Among the highlights is Juventus’ new intergalactic effort, which was celebrated at a New York fashion event last week…
⭐️⭐️ Inter, meanwhile, will wear two stars on their jersey for the first time, after securing their 20th scudetto last season…
🐺 Roma will be wearing some very natty pinstripes in the capital in 2024-25…
👀 And all eyes will be on Serie A newcomers Venezia when they reveal their latest jerseys. The Leoni alati have historically had some of the most coveted kits in calcio, and even drew plaudits for a stopgap strip worn in a recent friendly.
💬 Calcio Conversations
We’re fast approaching the time of year when groups of friends will be building their squads for the new season: that’s right, a new campaign of ferocious Fantacalcio action awaits!
🧐 What is Fantacalcio? It is the literal Italian translation for fantasy soccer. Groups of friends set up leagues to put their calcio knowledge to the test, with the real-life performances of the players they pick determining how well their squad performs. Players are typically signed in ‘aste’ or auctions, where bids are made as the names of players are called out. Each player can only be represented by one team.
🤷♂️ How does it work? There are different ways to play, but usually each fantasy manager gets a set budget with which to sign a squad of three goalkeepers, eight defenders, eight midfielders and six attackers. They then must pick a starting XI for each Serie A game week, and earn points based on how well their players perform in real life.
🍾 How seriously do fans take Fantacalcio? Well, a fantasy manager made headlines recently for sending Genoa striker Albert Gudmundsson a bottle of champagne and a letter expressing heartfelt thanks for unwittingly firing his team to glory. So, yes, they take it fairly seriously.
🏟️ Roma unveil new stadium plans
Roma and city neighbors Lazio have called the iconic Stadio Olimpico home since it first opened in 1953. Yesterday, the Giallorossi unveiled brand-new plans for a new home of their own…
🧱 The club has revealed design concepts for a 65,000-capacity new home in the northeast of the city in the Pietralata district. The club note that the plans were met with enthusiasm by Rome’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri.
😮 The new stadium’s Curva Sud would be the largest single stand in Europe. That honor is currently held by Borussia Dortmund’s ‘Yellow Wall’ at the Westfalenstadion.
👕 Lazio has also been linked with a move away from the Olimpico in recent years - most recently with a redevelopment of the nearby Stadio Flaminio, which has sat unused for over a decade.
🫡 Become a Calcio Weekly Capitano
Share this newsletter with 10 friends, and we’ll send you a genuine Serie A captain’s armband (as seen below, expertly modeled by the Coppa Italia trophy in our NYC offices)…
🧤 Pepe Reina returns to Serie A at 41 with Como
Como are back in the top flight after a 21-year absence, and coach Cesc Fabregas has brought in a familiar face for goalkeeping duties…
👋 Pepe Reina, 41, has joined the Lombardy side on a free transfer from Villarreal. The Spanish shot stopper is no stranger to Serie A, having previously enjoyed spells with Napoli, Milan and Lazio.
🗣️ Reina already has minutes with Como under his belt, having debuted in a friendly against Las Palmas: “My first game with Como 1907 went very well […] We’re organized, it’s a team with the courage to go and press high, to play the ball, to keep control of the game and not let it control us. I’m very happy.”
🤗 Fabregas is a former teammate of Reina: they were both in the Spain squads that won the European Championships in 2008 and 2012, and the 2010 World Cup.
🤝 It’s also worth noting that Fabregas is now the official coach at Como, having completed the coaching badges that prevented him from formally taking the role last season.
👟 Win Christian Pulisic’s signed boots!
We’re giving you the opportunity win a pair of PUMA ULTRA cleats signed by Christian Pulisic - plus a brand-new pair for you and a friend to wear on the field!
📲 To enter, head to Instagram and follow @seriea_northamerica, @puma.usa and @ftbl AND tag a friend in the comments who you want to kick around with in the new ULTRAs. We’ll be picking a winner this Saturday, July 27th!
🇺🇸 Pulisic’s Milan are in the USA for the DIRECTV Soccer Champions Tour: they face Premier League champions Man City in New York on Saturday. They then head to Chicago to take on reigning European champions Real Madrid next Wednesday, before making a final stop in Baltimore to play Spanish giants Barcelona on Tuesday August 6th.
👋 Grazie e arrivederci!
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Ciao ciao!