Football may only be the third most popular sport in India, behind Kabaddi in second place and cricket at number one, but the popularity of football in the domestic Indian leagues and the top-flight leagues from across the globe continues to grow.
The top tier of men’s professional football in India is the ISL (Indian Super League), followed by the second tier I-League.
Instead of looking at the popularity of homegrown teams in the Indian leagues, this page will focus on the most popular Italian football teams from Serie A (the top-flight of Italian men’s football) to discover which teams have the biggest following in India.
Why Is Foreign Football Now More Popular Than Ever in India?
The most popular international football competitions in India are ones that take place in Europe more than in any other part of the world. Top-flight European football leagues have directly impacted the popularity of football in India.
The rise in popularity can be attributed to many factors, some of which include the following:
- Legal sports streaming sites and improved live streaming capabilities have made it easier to watch live matches from foreign football leagues
- Superfast internet speeds (5G) mean no more lagging, latency, buffering, or disconnection issues and uninterrupted 4K quality when watching
- Advancements in desktop computers, mobile phones, and smart TV technology have improved the experience of watching foreign football
- Players like Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Luis Suarez, Erling Haaland, Sergio Ramos, Sergio Aguero, Robert Levandowski, Victor Osimhen, Dušan Vlahović, Luka Modric, Rafael Leão, Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane, and Son Heung-min, to name a few, have all helped shine a light on the respective leagues they compete in
- Huge initiatives by Europe’s biggest football clubs and governing authorities to help make football more popular have also helped
- Major football tournaments and leagues showcasing the world’s best footballers have naturally helped increase the popularity of football, not just in India but also in many other countries across the globe
Countries like Spain, Italy, England, and Germany have produced some of the world’s biggest football clubs and players. Europe’s top-flight football leagues are also where many of the best players from Africa and the Americas come from.
Which European Football Competitions Are Watched the Most in India?
The most-watched foreign football competition in India is the English Premier League (EPL), followed by the UEFA Champions League, Spain’s La Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga, and Italy’s Serie A.
Where Can I Find the Latest Odds and Place Sports Bets on Serie A if I live in India?
If you check India’s most popular Seria A betting site – the official 10CRIC Sports (10cr10.com) website, right now, you can find some of the iGaming industry’s most competitive Serie A betting odds.
https://www.10cricbet.com/football/italy-serie-a/
To access the real money gambling services on this globally renowned online sports betting casino site, you must be at least 18 years old if you live in India.
You can deposit from as little as ₹1,000 when using any of the ‘traditional’ payment methods, such as Net Banking, AstroPay, eZeeWallet, AstroPay, MasterCard, Visa, or Neteller, or from as little as ₹1,200 when using the Bitcoin (BTC), DogeCoin (DOGE) or Ethereum (ETH) cryptocurrencies.
Which Serie A Teams Have the Biggest Following in India?
Unsurprisingly to some of you, the Italian Serie A teams with the biggest following in India are the two most successful teams in the league’s history – Juventus and Milan.
Juventus have won the title on 36 separate occasions and have finished as runners-up on 21 occasions. In comparison, the two joint-second most successful teams in Serie A, Milan and their fierce local rivals Inter, incredibly, have both won the title 19 times and have both been runners-up 16 times.
What Does the Serie A League Table Look Like, and Which Team Will Likely Win the 2023/34 Campaign?
If you are looking to place a Serie A 2023/24 outright winner bet on trusted sites like 10CRIC Sports, a safer bet (still not guaranteed) would be on current table-toppers Inter. They are the current odds-on favorite team to win the 2023/24 Serie A title outright.
They are priced, on average, at around 1/66 in fractional odds, which is 1.02 in decimal odds and -6,600 in American/moneyline odds. Regarding the IPR (implied probability rate), these odds tell us that Inter Milan have a whopping 98.50% chance of winning.
However, many iGaming sites have stopped taking bets on this particular market. Even if you were to place a bet on this outcome, you would have to spend a lot to win very little.
For example, if you put INR10,000 on Inter to win Serie A outright with these same odds, and they win, your total returns would be just INR10,151.52, meaning your profit would be just INR152.52.
People (pro bettors) often look for bets like these with almost guaranteed odds and place huge sums of money only to win small amounts. It’s risky, and you should only do it if you have the money to afford to lose a bet like this.
It could take you months to build up your profit/net winnings, placing bets like these with sure odds, but all it takes is one loss to wipe out your winnings from the past few months.
In comparison, Juventus are currently the second odds-on favorite Serie A team to win the league this year, followed by Milan.
Juventus are currently priced at around 80/1 in fractional odds (81.00 decimal odds or +8,000 American/moneyline odds), meaning they only have a 1.2% chance of overtaking Milan and winning the league, and Milan are currently priced at around 100/1 (101.00, or +10,000), with only a 1.00% implied probability rate.
Final note
If you want to bet on or watch Italian football, there are now plenty of trustworthy sports streaming sites available in India that provide excellent coverage of the games. If Inter win the league this year, which looks fairly certain, it will undoubtedly increase their popularity across India.