MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – FEBRUARY 1999

Simone and Pippo Inzaghi are the cover stars of this edition of Football Italia, a spin-off magazine of Channel 4’s coverage of Italian football.

In news, Juventus will have a new manager in the summer, with Carlo Ancelotti being picked to succeed Marcello Lippi.

Italy beat a Rest Of The World XI 6-2 in a friendly to mark the 100th anniversary of the FIGC.

There are reviews of the draws for the Quarter-Finals of the three European competitions, the highlight being Inter Milan’s European Cup tie against Manchester United, while the UEFA Cup draw presents the opportunity for an all Italian final.

There is a report on the first leg of the Coppa Italia Quarter-Finals, with Juventus on the brink of elimination after a 2-1 home defeat to Bologna.

The two Inzaghi brothers get a six page profile, which also features some of the famous brothers to have played in Serie A.

Parma are the subject of a club profile, including a two page profile of Hernan Crespo.

Sampdoria also get a profile, under new manager David Platt and new signing Lee Sharpe.

There is also reviews of recent matches and previews of upcoming matches.

The magazine ends with a preview of the next edition, which will feature Lazio, as they aim to win their first title since the 1970s.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – AUGUST 1997

Ronaldo (the original one) is the cover star of this edition of Football Italia, having completed a big money move to Inter Milan from Barcelona.

In adverts, there was a full page avert for a Football Italia hotline, where you could get all the latest Serie A news for just 50p a minute.

Cover star Ronaldo gets a four page feature.

Also getting four pages is AC Milan, who have a familiar face in the dugout, with Fabio Capello returning as manager.

Capello appears in another four page feature, a profile of all the managers in Serie A.

Claudio Ranieri gets profiled, but he is an out of work Serie A manager, having just been sacked by Fiorentina.

The best goalscorers in Serie A get profiled – Sandro Tovalieri, Pasquale Luiso and Marco Negri. Negri won’t be scoring any goals in Serie A this year, as he had just signed for Rangers.

There are profiles of players who have been dubbed Heroes Of 97, including two players who would later play for Manchester United – Juan Sebastian Veron and Massimo Taibi, who was compared to AM Milan keeper Sebastiano Rossi. There was also a former United player profiled – Paul Ince, who was leaving Italy after two years to sign for Liverpool.

The magazine ends with the fixture list of the forthcoming season in Serie A and Serie B.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – APRIL 1997

Youri Djorkaeff of Inter Milan is the man of the moment towards the end of the 1996/1997 season, and this is reflected with being on the cover of Football Italia.

The editorial focuses on the good vibes in Italian football – the national team are storming to the World Cup while their clubs are aiming for a clean sweep of European trophies.

There is a review of the League Cup Final in England. Why? Fabrizio Ravanelli and Middlesbrough were aiming for glory. The game between Middlesbrough and Leicester finished 1-1 and would need a replay.

In news, Inter Milan manager Roy Hodgson announced he would be leaving the club to join Blackburn Rovers, to replace Sven Goran Eriksson, who accepted the job but changed his mind before taking charge.

There is a review of the Quarter-Finals for all three European competitions, as Juventus face a European Cup Semi-Final against Ajax, in a repeat of the previous year’s final.

There is a review of the Coppa Italia Semi-Finals, which will see Napoli take on Vicenza in the final.

There is an advert for Chelsea’s official magazine, partly due to the Italian trio of Vialli, Zola and Di Matteo.

Cover star Youri Djorkaeff gets a five page profile, billed as “The New Platini”.

There is a three page feature on what Italy’s team for the 2006 World Cup would look like. The only one they had was Gianluigi Buffon.

Gianluca Festa gets profiled having signed for Middlesbrough, who says he is up for a relegation scrap even though Paul Ince says they are too good to go down.

Ken Wolstenholme’s column predicts that Juventus will face Manchester United in the European Cup Final.

Previews of upcoming matches predict that Juventus will be champions within the next month.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – OCTOBER 1998

Christian Vieri is the cover star of this edition of Football Italia having just signed for Lazio.

Vieri’s move from Atletico Madrid to Lazio gets covered in news, as does Patrick Kluivert’s move from AC Milan to Barcelona, who areunder pressure to replace Ronaldo, who left the previous year.

Three pages are dedicated to Italy’s opening Euro 2000 game, a 2-0 win over Wales at Anfield, Dino Zoff’s first as manager.

There is also international action being reviewed in terms of Italian sides in the three main European competitions, with Juventus getting off to a slow start in their European Cup group.

Also getting reviewed is the early rounds of the Coppa Italia.

Inter Milan get a five page profile, which includes interviews with Roberto Baggio and Ronaldo.

Also getting a five page profile is Fiorentina, under new manager Giovanni Trappatoni.

Oliver Bierhoff gets profiled, having moved from Udinese to AC Milan.

Staying in Milan, there is a profile of Guiseppe Bergomi of Inter, one of the veteran players in Serie A.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – JUNE 1997

Roberto Baggio is the cover star of Football Italia this month, having made a return to the Italy team in a recent World Cup Qualifier.

There is a report of the Serie A title race, where Juventus won the title, but lost the European Cup Final.

In Rome, Zdenek Zeman has been appointed the manager of Roma, just months after being sacked by Roma, while Jurgen Klinsmann is returning to Serie A after five years away by signing for Sampdoria.

There are reviews of the European and UEFA Cup Finals, which saw defeats for Juventus and Inter Milan.

Domestically, there is a review of the Coppa Italia Final, where Vicenza beat Napoli 3-1 on aggregate.

Parma get a four page profile, mainly focusing on their young stars Gianluigi Buffon and Hernan Crespo.

Atalanta also get a club profile, with one of their youngsters who went on to bigger things, Filippo Inzaghi.

Italy have a busy month coming up, taking part in Le Tournoi in France, a warm-up tournament in France for the following year’s World Cup featuring England, France and Brazil, while their recent World Cup Qualifier against Poland gets reviewed, a match which saw a goal for Roberto Baggio.

There is a review of the FA Cup Final, while saw Roberto Di Matteo score in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Middlebrough, led by Fabrizio Ravanelli.

Sven Goran Eriksson gets interviewed as he leaves Sampdoria for Lazio, and broken a promise to Blackburn Rovers to take their job.

The magazine ends with a look at Genoa’s bid to win promotion back to Serie A.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – OCTOBER 1997

Alessandro Del Piero and David Beckham are the cover stars of Football Italia, as Italy face in England in a match that will determine automatic qualification for the 1998 World Cup.

In news, Aldair has been given Italian citizenship, meaning that Roma can now play and extra non EU player.

There is a review of the Supercoppa Italia Final where Juventus beat Vicenza 3-0.

Italian sides in Europe get reviewed with Juventus winning their opening group match in the European Cup while Parma could only draw theirs. Vicenza (European Cup Winners Cup), Inter Milan and Lazio (UEFA Cup) had first leg leads while Udinese trailed Widzew Lodz 1-0 from the first leg of their UEFA Cup tie.

The match between Italy and England gets a twenty-four page preview, focusing on the battle between the two managers, and the two young stars – Del Piero and Beckham.

There is also a guide for any England fans who are visiting Rome for the match.

There is also a profile of the four newly promoted sides to Serie A – Brescia, Empoli, Bari and Lecce.

The opening two weeks of the Serie A season (the season started in late August) get reviewed, with Fiorentina and Inter Milan being the only two teams to win their opening two games.

The magazine ends with an advert for the next month’s edition, which will review the World Cup Qualifier between Italy and England.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – NOVEMBER 1997

To Russia With Love is the headline of this edition of Football Italia. It’s nothing to do with James Bond, but the fact that Italy will be facing a World Cup Play-Off against Russia after a 0-0 draw with England.

There are two England players celebrating on the cover – Serie A old boys Paul Ince and Paul Gascoigne.

In news, Silvio Berlusconi has ordered AC Milan’s players to learn Italian in order to improve results on the pitch.

In reviews, there is a review of the 3rd Round of the Coppa Italia and the three European competitions, which still have Italian interest.

There is a ten page review of the World Cup Qualifier between Italy and England, which is quite impressive for a 0-0 draw.

Strike partnerships is a theme in this issue, with a look at the duos leading the line for Juventus, Sampdoria, AC Milan and Parma.

There is a look back at the opening weeks of the Serie A season, with Inter Milan being the team getting all the attention in the early weeks.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – JULY 1998

Two Serie A stars, Christian Vieri (Italy) and Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina) are the cover stars of this edition of Football Italia after heading the goalscoring charts at the World Cup in France.

The group stages, which Italy navigated as group winners get reviewed, but printing deadlines mean you’ll have to wait for the next issue for a review of their fortunes in the knockout stages.

It’s not all about international football, in club news, Juventus have been confirmed as one of the top seeds in the European Cup.

Staying with club football, there is a look at the major transfers in Italian Football so far.

There is a profile of new managers, with Giovanni Trapattoni catching the headlines as Fiorentina’s new manager, while Carlo Ancelotti has held talks with Fenerbache after being sacked by Parma.

There is a six page profile of Serie A champions Juventus, who couldn’t add the European Cup to their domestic title after losing the final for the second successive season, this time, 1-0 to Real Madrid.

Italy’s group games plus their Second Round win over Norway get reviewed, with the game against Austria being erroneously recorded as a 3-0 win for Italy when they actually won 2-1.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – JULY 1997

It’s a special edition of Football Italia dedicated to the achievements of Juventus, who have just won their 24th Serie A title.

There is a review of Le Tournoi in France, a four team tournament that Italy finished bottom of. Despite that, there were still reasons for the Azzuri to be optimistic.

There is a profile of two of Italy’s best young strikers, Filippo Inzaghi of Atalanta and Vincenzo Montello of Sampdoria.

Juventus get a whopping thirty-five pages, looking at their two International trophies, European Cup Final defeat, Serie A title, as well as profiles of Marcello Lippi and Zinedine Zidane.

Having pushed Juventus close in the title race, Parma get a double page profile.

The magazine ends with listing all the results in Italy in the final weeks of the 1996/1997 season.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – MAY 1997

This edition of Football Italia previews the FA Cup Final. Confused? Don’t be, this year’s final featured Italians such as Fabrizio Ravanelli and Gianfranco Zola, who were the cover stars of this magazine.

In news, there is a two page report of Italy’s win over Poland in a World Cup Qualifier, which leaves Italy four points clear at the top of the group with only two games to play, although second place England have three games remaining.

Angry AS Roma fans went out to protest at the sale of Francisco Totti to AC Milan which was announced on local radio, only to discover they were victims of an April Fools prank.

There is a report on Juventus reaching the European Cup Final, while Fiorentina’s failure to reach the European Cup Winners Cup Final could see Gabriel Batistuta decide to leave the club.

In ads, Corinthian are bringing out a range of miniature figurines of Serie A star such as Paul Ince and Roberto Baggio.

Not to be left out, Inter Milan get a profile after reaching the UEFA Cup Final.

It’s a month of cup finals, as the Coppa Italia Final between Vicenza and Napoli gets previewed.

Juventus feature prominently in this edition, with profiles of Michele Padovano and Christian Vieri.

Juve’s French players, Zinedine Zidane and Didier Deschamps get profiled in a feature of French players in Serie A.

Roberto Baggio gets a double page feature as his form declines.

The is a five page profile of the FA Cup Final, with Italian interest aplenty in the line-ups of Chelsea and Middlesbrough.

This magazine is very black and white, with Udinese also getting a profile.

The magazine ends with a review of recent matches, as the 1996/1997 season reaches it’s conclusion.