Hi, new member. Spend most of my time in Indiana USA but reside officially in Maryland. Started watching football in 1990 when the World Cup was televised for first time in USA. Casual fan most of the time since then, until past few years where I’ve tried to follow a bit more. I try to follow all the big Euro leagues plus UEFA. At least as far as catching highlights. Membership in ESPN+ and Paramount+ (and sometimes Peacock) along with my TV provider offering BeIN Sports, I have access to a lot. More than I can usually handle. For reasons I cannot fully articulate, I have evolved over time to be a fan of Udinese Calcio. So of course this has been exciting watching Serie A this season. (Well, the recent home losses to Monza in Coppa Itslia and to Torino in league play are definite bummers.) Also a longtime fan of the Washington Capitals of the NHL.
Welcome! Udinese is a nice and unique team to support. Here's the Serie A thread Italian Serie A thread
Hello and welcome, great to see another new member and thanks for sharing the pic always good to see a face!!! Would always like to get an American perspective on the game too.
Umm…no! He’s OUR playmaker and spark plug now! (I’m way over the departures of De Paul and Lasagna, but not sure I’d get over losing Deulofeu or Beto.)
I think a lot of people in the UK from a certain age would have a liking for Italian teams due to the coverage on Channel four during the nineties, not sure if the USA covered the Seria A?
My memories of the 90’s here in USA - for at least 2 years, Fox Soccer Channel ran a Serie A weekly highlights show. (Or whatever Fox channel was on basic cable without paying extra fees.) In current day - Paramount+ is in their 2nd season holding Serie A rights in USA; ESPN+ held the rights for I think the 3 years prior; and before THAT I think BeIN Sports had the USA broadcast rights. Nowadays every match is available for viewing and bringing up on demand. I read a few years back the claim that USA fans had an easier time of watching any given Premier League contest than those in the UK. (True? By paying either $5 or $6 a month to streaming service Peacock, part of USA broadcast network NBC, and having standard NBC channels thru a cable TV provider, every PL match can be viewed.)
Here during the nineties the only football on free TV was the Championship or division one as it was then, Sky had all the rights to the Premiership so international viewers would have more choice (I believe), unless you had a sky subscription. From memory the quality of the First division then wasn't great as I recall Southend and Millwall being on a lot with some really dull games. The Italian matches offered topflight league action and some pretty decent stars of the time so that proved very popular. Mostly from memory but I grew up watching football and have never looked back, but I do enjoy going to the pub and watching games than sitting at home if I wasn't able to attend in person.
