Italian Football Playing Style Debate Between Beauty and Results
"Bye Bye Catenaccio!" Or maybe not? Italian football is split between playing well and winning at all costs. From De Zerbi to Mourinho, the debate over identity is back.
Andrea Locorotondo
Updated on 21 January 2026
Italian Football Playing Style at a Crossroads
Right now, Italian football fans and pundits are debating whether it’s better to be a player or a results-oriented team.
Let’s explain further and try to understand where this difference comes from.
So, let’s start with the context: Italian football is a long way from the glory days of the 1990s and early 2000s.
Two failed qualifiers for the World Cup have left a deep wound that is being slowly healed. It’s worth mentioning that there’s a chance Italy might not make it to the World Cup.
They’ve got Northern Ireland in the play-offs in March, and if they win, it’ll be either Wales or Bosnia.
Results Oriented Football Italy Knows Too Well
The Italian football movement has tried to fix this by copying the successful models of Spain and England, which focus on developing young players, but without success, because in Italy, when it comes to football, patience is in short supply.
To be honest, loads of coaches have been sacked by the big clubs after just one season, or even during the season.
Big projects just never seem to get off the ground. It was back to my old habits of staying in my comfort zone.
So, here’s the question we’re dealing with today: is it better to be a team with a coach who makes you play well and accept defeat (giochista), or is it better to be a team that only thinks about getting results and winning, without thinking about how you play (risultatista)?
It’s like asking which came first, the chicken or the egg.
Winning, Above Everything Else
But the truth is that everyone, whether they play well or not, has one thing in common: winning.
When he was on Viva El Futbol, Roberto De Zerbi – who a lot of people think is a “giochista” – explained this idea.
At the same time, José Mourinho asked the journalists at the press conference before Juventus-Benfica: ‘What does it mean to play well?’.
But what does ‘results-oriented’ actually mean? A lot of people in the know say Massimiliano Allegri is the guy responsible for this approach, i.e. a coach who doesn’t put on a show for the fans watching his team’s match but still manages to secure a 1-0 victory or even a last-minute draw.
What about you. In which category do you think you fall into?
Andrea Locorotondo
Andrea Locorotondo is an Italian sports journalist. He has been living in the UK since 2015 and he is accredited by the SJA and AIPS. In addition to his role as contributor for FootItalia, he has demonstrated his ability to effectively cover a range of positions in sports journalism. Former Sportitalia TV journalist back in 2014, he is currently employed as a data journalist for Opta and Sportsdata. He is the team leader of Italian commentators at GBVision. He collaborates with EA Sports and frequently appears as a guest on Italian radio and television shows, including RDS Serie A TV and La Fiera del Calcio, where he shares his insights as a Premier League expert.
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