Gianluca Vialli

by Anthony Gardner

Seven years after leaving Chelsea FC, Gianluca Vialli still lives close enough to Stamford Bridge to hear the cheers of the crowd. This may seem strange for a man whose brilliant contribution to the club as player and manager was rewarded by ignominious dismissal, but Vialli does not harbour a grudge. 'I feel affection for all the clubs I have played for or managed,' he says. 'I have two season tickets to Chelsea, so I go whenever I can. The people I didn't get on with are no longer there, and I have a great relationship with the fans.'

Vialli believes that British fans in general have an exemplary commitment to the game, which is why the UK was a good choice of venue for the match between a European XI and Manchester United to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. 'The fans never let you down: they're always happy to celebrate something or do something for charity. Manchester United had played three or four games at home in a short period of time, but in spite of that there was a full stadium. The match was a great idea, and I personally loved being there and being involved in the selection of the EU team.'

British soccer has changed enormously since the mid-Nineties, when Vialli was part of the influx of Continental players and managers which followed the Bosman ruling. Does he think that this has contributed to the country as a whole becoming more European?

'Totally. It's been a crossover of different cultures. With football, for ages the British considered themselves the masters of the game - rightly, since they invented it - and didn't want to learn from the Continent. When we first came over we brought a new approach, and the British were a bit worried - but they soon realised that we were here to do a job, and to learn something from them too.

'Britain still doesn't feel as much a part of the EU as Spain or France, but that's normal, because it's an island. You can have as open a mentality as you want, but there's always that channel. But though it's taken a long time to agree on things, it's all gradually coming together.'

He himself enjoys the ease of travel that the EU has helped create, and the convenience of a single currency. He also notices a stronger sense of Europe as a continent emerging: 'Years ago when I was travelling to distant countries I was considered Italian - people would associate you with the Mafia and pizza. Now it's more like you're from Europe, in the way that other people are from the Far East or Africa.'

He does not believe, however, that a stronger European identity will ever eliminate the footballing differences between England and Italy. 'You play football according to your DNA and what the fans want. In Italy the fans are happy to wait until the 89th minute and win 1-0 through an own goal by the opposition: they don't want to be entertained, they want to win. In England the fans want to see a game with goals, played at a very high tempo. Even a side with eleven foreigners in it like Arsenal will play with an English mentality - they'll fight and fight and work really hard.'

There is also a darker side to Italian football which Vialli would not like to see replicated in Britain - the widespread violence among spectators. 'Society in Italy is very violent, and football is used as an excuse for that: it's seen as part of the game. Children at school are not taught enough about the values and principles of sport and being good citizens and respecting other people. We need to change the mentality, and make stadiums safer.'

As for corruption, 'Directors and chairmen seem to see football more and more as a business and less as a passion, which is not ideal. You have to keep an eye on the institutions to make sure they don't try to take advantage and do something naughty.' But he believes that players and managers are still primarily motivated by love of the game rather than money: 'They decide on the right thing to do for professional reasons, and only then tried to get paid as much as they can for it.'

For the past three years, Vialli has been running a charity with the footballer-turned-politician Massimo Mauro, the Fondiazione Vialli et Mauro per la Ricerca e lo Sport. 'We set it up because we had been thinking about football all our lives and wanted to give something back, but in a way that would let people have some fun. So we took things we were going to do anyway - golf matches or concerts - and used them to make money for research into cancer and Amiotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, which is something unfortunately that some of our colleagues have been hit by. It's a terrible disease, because no one knows why you get it and it's very difficult to survive. The profits from my book The Italian Job went towards the charity as well, and so far we have raised nearly 700,000 euros.'

A final question: who does he think will win Euro 2008? 'It's difficult to say, but I don't think it will be one of the famous teams. I'll go for an underdog.'

What could be more British than that?

To find out more about the Fondiazione Vialli et Mauro per la Ricerca e lo Sport, visit www.fondazionevialliemauro.com

© Anthony Gardner. All views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to the European Commission.