Chelsea-West Ham: the Italian derby in Premier League
- Emanuele Giulianelli @EmaGiulianelli
The clash between Blues and Hammers that will take place tonight at Stamford Bridge (kick off at 8 pm) is not only one of the London derbies. We can even consider it as the Italian derby of England. Allow me to summarize the historical background of this statement. Italy has never been in the past a country of emigration in football: Serie A was traditionally a pole of attraction for the best stars from all over the world. In the Seventies, the Eighties and the main part of the Nineties it seemed anachronistic that an Italian player could decide to leave Italy in order to join a club abroad.
The things changed with the Bosman ruling of 1995, a decision by the European Court of Justice to allow football players within the EU to move to another club at the end of their contract without a transfer fee being paid. This decision was the first major step in handing players greater power and meant clubs would no longer profit from players whose contracts had run out.
From that moment, Italian players started to travel all along Europe and someone even in other continents, especially in the US to find new opportunities for playing football. Many of them were chosen by the English club, excited by the idea of having in the Premier League some big Italian stars, very important names capable of attracting the curiosity of the fans: it was the age of Vialli, Ravanelli, Benny Carbone and many others.
From that time, two Premier League clubs particularly become connected with Italy, two London sides: the challengers of the tonight's clash, Chelsea and West Ham. The history of the Blues is full of Italian players and managers, starting from 1996: Vialli and Di Matteo, that one who worked with both the roles for the club, Cudicini, Dalla Bona, Ambrosetti, Ranieri, Ambrosio, Borini, Casiraghi, Panucci, Emerson Palmieri, Jorginho, Zappacosta, Ancelotti, Conte, Sarri; least but not last, the Magic Box Gianfranco Zola.
The Thumper of Sardinia has managed even the Hammers, who has been on the bench of West Ham between 2008 and 2010; the other Italians who have been part of the Upton Park family are Paolo Di Canio, Di Michele, Borriello, Diamanti, Nocerino, Ogbonna and Zaza.
Even between Italian fans and the supporters of those clubs, there are important connections. West Ham and Lazio supporters are close friends. This relationship grew from the two teams’ mutual love for Paolo Di Canio, who started his career at Lazio before moving to West Ham in the late Nineties and has since seen fans of both West Ham and Lazio attending each other's matches on a regular basis. However, there is a twinning too between Lazio and Chelsea, connected by Roberto Di Matteo; the Blues have a friendship in Italy even with Hellas Verona.
The things changed with the Bosman ruling of 1995, a decision by the European Court of Justice to allow football players within the EU to move to another club at the end of their contract without a transfer fee being paid. This decision was the first major step in handing players greater power and meant clubs would no longer profit from players whose contracts had run out.
From that moment, Italian players started to travel all along Europe and someone even in other continents, especially in the US to find new opportunities for playing football. Many of them were chosen by the English club, excited by the idea of having in the Premier League some big Italian stars, very important names capable of attracting the curiosity of the fans: it was the age of Vialli, Ravanelli, Benny Carbone and many others.
From that time, two Premier League clubs particularly become connected with Italy, two London sides: the challengers of the tonight's clash, Chelsea and West Ham. The history of the Blues is full of Italian players and managers, starting from 1996: Vialli and Di Matteo, that one who worked with both the roles for the club, Cudicini, Dalla Bona, Ambrosetti, Ranieri, Ambrosio, Borini, Casiraghi, Panucci, Emerson Palmieri, Jorginho, Zappacosta, Ancelotti, Conte, Sarri; least but not last, the Magic Box Gianfranco Zola.
The Thumper of Sardinia has managed even the Hammers, who has been on the bench of West Ham between 2008 and 2010; the other Italians who have been part of the Upton Park family are Paolo Di Canio, Di Michele, Borriello, Diamanti, Nocerino, Ogbonna and Zaza.
Even between Italian fans and the supporters of those clubs, there are important connections. West Ham and Lazio supporters are close friends. This relationship grew from the two teams’ mutual love for Paolo Di Canio, who started his career at Lazio before moving to West Ham in the late Nineties and has since seen fans of both West Ham and Lazio attending each other's matches on a regular basis. However, there is a twinning too between Lazio and Chelsea, connected by Roberto Di Matteo; the Blues have a friendship in Italy even with Hellas Verona.