Football Italia

Football Italia
Title card from April 1995
Starring	James Richardson (1992–2006) Mark Chapman (2007–2008) Laura Esposto (2007–2008)
Narrated by	Kenneth Wolstenholme
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
Release
Original network	Channel 4 (1992–2002) British Eurosport (2002–2005) Bravo (2005–2006) Five (2007–2008)
Picture format	4:3, 16:9
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	6 September 1992 – 2008
Chronology
Preceded by	Sgorio, S4C (1988–1990) Serie A on The Sports Channel (1990–1992) Serie A on Setanta Sports (2005–2007)

Football Italia was a television programme in the United Kingdom showing Italian football that ran from 1992 to 2002 on Channel 4, and continued until 2008 on other channels. It was known as Football Italiano in its final season.

The show centred on live coverage of Serie A, the top division in the Italian football league system. James Richardson presented the show for a large part of its existence.

The first live match shown was a 3-3 draw between Sampdoria and Lazio on 6 September 1992, attracting three million UK viewers. Gazzetta Football Italia, a highlights show, became the highest-rated Saturday morning program in Channel 4's history at the time, with around 800,000 viewers a week in its first season, 1992–93. At its peak in the 1990s, Football Italia attracted over 3 million viewers, and remains the most watched programme in the UK about a non-British domestic football league. Presenter James Richardson was popular for his humour and his ability to avoid many of the cliches of football presenting.

After being shown on Five in the 2007-08 season, Football Italiano was cancelled by the channel and did not continue elsewhere on television.

Serie A was first shown regularly in Britain in 1988, on Welsh broadcaster S4C. In 1990, British Satellite Broadcasting brought the first live Italian football to a small number of British homes with squarials on The Sports Channel, which later became BSkyB's Sky Sports.