In Praise of Free Football on TV
25.05.25, 07:32 Updated 22.06.25, 13:27
Peter Etherington
Rewind your video cassette to a soggy winter weekend in the mid-1990s — any one will do. You’ve found yourself locked out of the Premier League by a dad who won’t pay for Sky and won’t let you stay up for Match of the Day.
But don’t cry, kid, there’s a beautiful alternative waiting for you over on Channel 4. It’s a place where espresso-fuelled footballers draped in Diadora and Lotto jink and swagger on the sun-baked fields of a far-away land. You’re about to discover Football Italia, and it’s everything you need.
For a generation suddenly starved of free football on TV, Channel 4’s Gazzetta Football Italia was the answer. The vibes have echoed through the decades with such resonance that thousands of people still maintain a long-distance relationship with the Italian football club they adopted in the ‘90s. If you had the misfortune of being born in a world post-Gazzetta, there’s a YouTube channel dedicated to it. Fill your Diadora Brasils.
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