It’s passionate, it’s absorbing and it’s starting. The next Serie A [2], the most important soccer Italian league, starts next week and it already seems very promising. Last year, Juventus F.C. [3] won its twenty-eighth title, being undefeated the entire season. 

After the betting scandal, which troubled the whole soccer system, with some coaches and players already convicted, every team is preparing to restart, hoping to offer an exciting and challenging championship. 

Who is the favorite for this season? Probably, despite the scandal that involved both the coach and some players, F.C Juventus is still the preferred team for the final prize, since it has been one of the most active on the transfer market, with A.C Milan [4] ready to fight to get the title back to Milan with a completely renewed team due to a lot of departures, starting with Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva and some retirements. 
 

F.C Inter [5], on its side, has to rescue the last non-brilliant year even if the expectations are not that high among the fans because of a low transfer market. 

S.S.C Napoli [6] and Udinese F.C. [7] could take advantage of this situation, with the former having great ambitions and aiming to conquer a Champions League’s position this year, and the latter struggling between the Champions League’s competition and the wish to establish itself as a great team. In the same position there is SS Lazio [8], which conquered an Europa League’s placement, considered as a “second division” tournament in Europe, last year, and aspires to confirm itself, even if the transfer market was very low. 

Halfway through the ranking, AS Roma [9], as well as F.C Inter, aim to return to higher positions, with a lot of new players and a new coach that is very well-liked by the fans, who have been waiting for him for months. 

But curiosity is saved for the new teams, coming from Serie B, who have always given some troubles to the big teams in the past few years. U.C Sampdoria [10], which spent a year in the second league after nine years in the major division, wants its revenge on the field especially because its failure two years ago was totally unexpected.

The other two teams from the second division have completely different backgrounds: Torino F.C. [11] comes back to Serie A after a three years hiatus, with its long history of both great successes and huge failures, while Pescara [12] returns to the major division after twenty years thanks to the coach, Zdenek Zeman, who has just moved to AS Roma. 

The next season is challenging for some teams, such as ACF Fiorentina [13], U.S Palermo [14] and Genoa ACFC [15] which have been very active on the market to try to make fans forget about the last-year failure after years on the top, and some others, like Bologna FC [16], Parma FC [17] and A.C Chievo Verona [18], which surprised last year, considering the expectations. 

The fans are hoping for a breathtaking and intriguing season, starting on Saturday with the game between ACF Fiorentina and Udinese F.C that will open the season. And there is an entire nation waiting for it.