Drake, Ronaldinho and the Teams Racing to Shape Calcio’s Future

Gian Piero Gasperini was gushing with pride. The Italian manager had just masterminded Atalanta’s 3-0 win against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2024 Europa League final in Dublin.

La Dea had brushed aside the German outfit, who had gone through the Bundesliga season unbeaten under Xabi Alonso and were heavy favourites going into the final. Yet an Ademola Lookman hat-trick secured Atalanta’s first European trophy, and Serie A’s first Europa League title for 25 years.

“Winning the Europa League is an extraordinary achievement,” beamed Gasperini. “The way we did it was the most important thing, we deserved it without a shadow of a doubt against such a strong team.”

The win in Dublin represented the apex of Gasperini’s spell in Bergamo. The veteran coach made a habit of upsetting the established order in Serie A by finishing in the Champions League places, meaning the likes of Napoli, Roma and Milan missed out over various seasons.

With a historically strong youth academy and scouting network the envy of many clubs across the continent, Atalanta have become the model for many Italian sides to emulate. 

Their story is well known but which other teams, around Italy and up and down the divisions, are trying to shake things up?

Venezia

For a time there was no club in the country that did shirt reveals like Venezia. Using Venice as a stunning backdrop, the kits were all the rage at the beginning of the decade through a mix of classy design and world-class location.

Venezia’s record of producing brilliant tops got to the point where, every summer, aficionados kept a close eye on the release date, waiting for the drop. Diego Moscosoni is the man behind the instant classics, and he keeps the city in mind when designing them.

“Everything starts with the locals,” he told Soccer Bible. “The colours are sacred — they represent the 1987 unification of two regional clubs, which is a powerful symbol. We approach each design decision with the fans in mind, because they don’t hold back if something feels off.”

The club turned more heads when news broke that Canadian rapper Drake had helped save them from bankruptcy in 2024. He then strengthened the bond by investing further through global sports-focused firm APEX Capital, with a reported €100m invested in May this year to keep the club in Serie A following promotion. 

NOCTA, the Drake-owned Nike sub-label, has replaced Kappa and is now responsible for manufacturing the kits and raising the profile even higher. And the club certainly reached new heights with the recent launch, unfurling a giant home kit in the city ahead of the coming season.

View this post on Instagram

“Drake’s value to any football club is undeniable, given his scale as a global superstar and the reach of his brand,” Venezia co-owner Brad Katsuyama told GQ Italy.

“This intersection of culture and sport is exactly where we want to be, and the chance to collaborate with a brand like NOCTA, who is moving along the same lines, is incredibly valuable.”

Venezia will soon be leaving the Stadio Luigi Penzo, their ground for more than a century, to move into a new arena.

The stadium, set to hold 18,500 seats and costing approximately €150m, is being built in the region of Tessera near Marco Polo Airport and is the crown jewel within a wider project known as the Bosco dello Sport, a sprawling 116-hectare multifunctional hub covering an array of sports.

Venezia aim to be in the new ground by the beginning of the 2027-28 season, and the hope will be they are still in Serie A by the time the first ball is kicked.

They have never managed a prolonged stay in the top flight, but the bricks are being laid for them to be a consistent player for years to come.

Ravenna

The team from Emilia-Romagna made headlines this summer when it was announced that 2005 Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldinho was coming out of retirement to sign for them.

“I cannot wait to dance with the ball,” the 46-year-old said after officially signing his contract in Miami. “Football has always been joyful for me, and I’m excited to bring that spirit to Ravenna. Let the magic begin.”

Was it a marketing ploy? Was Ronaldinho really going to line up in Serie C? And why Ravenna?

The man behind it is owner Ignazio Cipriani, who grew up in the US and bought the club two years ago along with UK-based investment fund Black Duck.

It was Cipriani who coaxed Ronaldinho out of retirement and maintains the 2002 World Cup winner will play at least once for his new side. The Brazilian has also joined the board.

“Ultimately, my goal isn’t financial,” Cipriani told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “The decision to bring in Ronaldinho comes from the heart. We want to inspire local kids to fall in love with this sport and with Ravenna’s colours. We’re fully aware that right now everyone is talking about our club.”

Ravenna have had a tumultuous history to say the least, having gone through four name changes, one bankruptcy and dropping all the way down to the fifth tier. They last saw the bright lights of Serie B in 2008.

Cipriani wants to make history by leading them into Serie A. Yet the first hurdle is getting out of the Serie C quagmire.

There are plans for a new stadium and a Cipriani hotel. But shorter term, Ronaldinho’s arrival has turned heads, and it could be the start of something big.

Palermo

The Rosanero have long been considered one of calcio’s sleeping giants.

Sicily’s biggest side has languished outside the top flight for nearly a decade now, their relegation from Serie A in 2017 sent them on a downward spiral and into bankruptcy.

Palermo’s financial situation remained precarious until City Group acquired a majority stake in 2022. A slow climb back up the divisions has seen them stuck in Serie B since the summer of 2022, and repeated attempts to get back to where many feel they belong — Serie A — have failed.

Yet the City Group hold lofty ambitions and Palermo are not just another club within a global stable that includes teams from Manchester to Melbourne via Montevideo and New York.

A €300m investment into renovating their stadium is in the pipeline, with the architect Populous on board to redesign the Renzo Barbera and bring it up to modern standards with a view to hosting Euro 2032 games.

Moreover, it wouldn’t just be a mere redesign of the stadium as the City Group intends to regenerate the surrounding area, much in the same way they did with the Eastlands neighbourhood in Manchester by the Etihad. A museum is also planned, honouring not just the club but also the city.

The City Group financed the new training ground, and the main goal is very much to bring Palermo back to the big time. 

The ceiling is high, with the club earning €9million in matchday revenue in Serie B last season and boasting an average attendance of 28,000, higher than 13 of the 20 teams in the top flight. That revenue would increase substantially in a redeveloped stadium with regular Serie A football on offer.

If promotion is secured and the city – the fifth largest in Italy – is selected to host games at Euro 2032, Palermo will be in a very strong position to upset the established order in the coming years.

But first things first, getting out of Serie B is a must. 

Arezzo

The city of Arezzo is the fourth biggest in Tuscany, with a population just a shade under 100,000, yet its team has made waves over the past couple of years.

Arezzo Calcio became the first club in Italy to use the Stadium Law in order to modernise the Stadio Citta di Arezzo.

The Stadium Law, introduced by the Italian government in January 2024, is designed to streamline the process for clubs looking to either build or renovate ageing grounds, by cutting down the waiting times on bureaucratic procedures in view of Italy co-hosting Euro 2032 with Turkey.

This hasn’t helped clubs break ground on any new stadiums just yet. That being said, Arezzo became the first to use the law to its fullest, and work officially started on renovating the decrepit Citta di Arezzo at the beginning of June.

The €48m investment will see the 12,500-capacity arena fully covered, with a museum, a park and a total rejuvenation of the area surrounding the ground.

Things are also moving well on the pitch. Arezzo earned promotion to Serie B for the first time since 2007 when they won Serie C Girone B at a canter. 

Arezzo president Guglielmo Manzo has taken steps to bring back the youth sector under the control of the club, with the previous ownership subcontracting it out to a third party. 

With promotion to Serie B, a renovated stadium underway and bringing the academy back in-house, Arezzo are attempting to make more waves over the next couple of years, proving you don’t need major capital to rise up the league in Italy. 

Catania

Catania were Serie A regulars during the 2000s and into the 2010s, and despite facing yet another season of trying to escape Serie C, they have one of the most passionate and dedicated fanbases in the country.

Their average attendance of around 17,000 in 2025-26 was higher than most Serie B teams and greater than half a dozen sides in the top flight. The Stadio Angelo Massimino is a cauldron of noise and colour, and 3000 fans turned up for an open training session earlier this year.

This should be good news for Australian-Italian entrepreneur Rosario Pelligra, who bought the club in 2022, although there have been rumblings of discontent among some sections of the support.

So far had Catania plummeted that Pelligra had to buy back the club’s name. The ownership is in the process of attempting to buy back the team’s old logo and the Torre Del Grifo training ground. 

The club are attempting to tap into the massive thirst for football in Sicily by unearthing local gems. “We have identified over 5000 young footballers through our affiliation programme,” vice-president Vince Grella, who played for Empoli, Ternana, Parma and Torino, told Destination Calcio last year.

“The club is always spreading and expanding in the community. If you were to see the amount of initiatives Catania is doing, it’s probably more than the club has done in the last 10 years.”

A return to Serie A remains the target. “Our job is to build a foundation that whenever we get back there, whether it’s a year sooner or a year later, the club has the foundation to stay there,” Grella said.

Escaping through the Serie C play-offs is a mammoth task and Catania have come up short three seasons in a row. Grella told the Sydney Morning Herald recently that they expected to be in Serie B by this time.

“It’s going to take time,” he said. “It’s going to take hard work. It’s going to take the people who administer the club to have the personality and charisma to be able to live with them not giving us ever the benefit of the doubt, and us continuing to follow our morals, our values, our principles and not changing – because they’re not changing.

“At the end of the day, it’s their city. It’s their club. We are custodians. Yeah, Ross is the chairman. We’re just bringing the club forward.”