As of writing this article, one single point separates Napoli, the current Serie A leaders, with fifth place Lazio, and four points separates them with Juventus who are in 6th place. It’s common to see such a small margin between two or even three teams, but having five teams in such close proximity is simply bizarre. 

But don’t worry, the circumstances only get wackier when you take a closer look. All of the tope five teams have lost at least one match, and the only undefeated team is Juventus, who compared to the teams above them, aren’t currently a threat. 

A similar situation can be found at the bottom of the table, with three points separating 20th place and 16th place; a slim margin with major implications. Como, who are in 18th place, made several impressive signings before the season including Sergio Roberto and Raphaël Varane. 

Nine out of the 20 teams in the league are tied with at least one other team in points on both sides of the standings. What other top five league has this level of parity?

Yet, the conversation surrounding Serie A is rather tame compared to La Liga, the Premier League, and the Bundesliga and is more on par with Ligue 1. Compared to the French league, Serie A has had much more success in continental competitions and should be getting coverage that is similar to at least the Bundesliga. Roma won the Conference League a couple years ago while Inter Milan were neck and neck with Manchester City in the Champions League final two years ago. 

I’m sure there are financial and scandalous reasons rfor why Serie A isn’t on the level of other leagues advertising wise, but I suspect that the amount of parity in the league might actually be an underlying factor as to why Serie A doesn’t get as much recognition. 

In each other top five league, there’s at least two or three teams that are almost guaranteed to win the title. In Spain, it’s Barcelona and Real Madrid, and in England, it’s (currently) Manchester City, Liverpool, and Arsenal. The Bundesliga is almost always dominated by Bayern, and Ligue 1 has PSG. 

In the past five seasons, there have been four different Serie A winners, meaning that entering any season, confidently putting all the eggs behind one team is hard. This also means that it’s difficult to identify who the underdogs will be and storylines will be harder to follow. 

Just because storylines aren’t easily accessible doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. Aside from the parity, Serie A is a diverse league with a lot of intrigue; it is up to the international football community to recognize this and start to enjoy Italian football again, because the level in that league is increasing yet again.