Alberto Zaccheroni is perhaps best known for winning the Scudetto with AC Milan in 1999 and for the use of his unconventional 3-4-3 formation. The 61-year-old manager recently resigned from his position as Japan’s national team coach and spent the majority of his 30-year managerial career working in Italian football.

During an interview with the Italian newspaper Gazzatta dello Sport, Zaccheroni gave a damning assessment of the current state of football in his country. The manager pointed to the loss of big money investors, a lack of investment and the ‘win now’ model in Italy’s youth system; and the overall mismanagement from the top to the bottom of Italian football.

Zaccheroni came to the conclusion that Serie A has reverted back to the 1970’s and 1980’s when the league was always a two-horse race.

“It seems simple – we have less resources than we did before, but we still adopt the same method,” the former manager told Gazzetto dello Sport. 

“The great families that invested in football are not there anymore – names like Agnelli, Berlusconi, Moratti, Sensi, Cragnotti and Tanzi.”

“If there is no money, we must start again from the local pitches, from the day-to-day work, cultivating our youth properly.”

Zaccheroni then spoke about the mismanagement at clubs as well as the failure of officials to identify the right talent.

“We must buy less – and with greater carefulness – from abroad.”

“We take up a massive load of foreigners without familiarizing ourselves with them, without following them first, without knowing what their qualities or their personalities are.”

“The first-class foreigners, those who need no introduction, are beyond our economic means now.”

The former AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus manager then pointed to the ‘win-now’ philosophy that he believes has damaged Italy’s youth systems.

“The coaches of our most prominent youth teams – like those of the smaller clubs – only ever think about winning, so they neglect a fundamental process called growth.”

“In Serie A and Serie B there are more and more players who know neither how to defend nor how to attack. At most they know how to interpret their role within the formation chosen by the coach.”

“If the fundamentals vanish, we can forget about people like Paolo Maldini and Fabio Cannavaro.”

Zaccheroni then summed up by saying the poor business model and decline of the youth system has led to Serie A becoming a two-horse race year after year.

“We have gone back to the 1970’s and 1980’s, when the Scudetto was always a two-horse race. In the 1990’s there were six or seven sisters, but seems like centuries ago.”

Despite his bleak outlook, Zaccheroni believes there is still quality in Italy and he wants to see the country pick itself up.

“We know that we were never short of talent, and we never will be. In this area we’re still the best.”

“So let’s develop what we’ve got, let’s build an exemplary business and you’ll see that in Italy too, like in Germany or in England, the foreign investors will come in droves.”

“If work is done properly, money comes in. In Germany, for fifteen years the best coaches have dealt with the youth sectors. We should be doing the same.”