Alessandro Del Piero
Mike Tuckerman
In one fell swoop Alessandro Del Piero has increased the global visibility of the A-League tenfold. His decision to sign for Sydney FC made front-page news in Italy. More importantly, it made front-page news in Sydney, where the city's notoriously anti-football Daily Telegraph ran front and back-page stories on a two-year deal which will bring the former Italian international to Australia for a hefty $A2 million per season. Make no mistake, Del Piero's signing is the biggest coup in the eight-year history of the A-League and his imminent arrival has energised Australia's football community.
The arrival of a 37-year-old deemed surplus to requirements by his former club is not usually the sort of the thing that gets pulses racing. But in a competition desperate for some good news, the effect of Del Piero's signing will be considerable. Already the phones in Sydney's membership office are ringing off the hook, so keen are hitherto stay-away fans to catch 'Alex' in action. Sponsorship is expected to increase and A-League officials are expected bumper gates when the Sky Blues play on the road.
So why so much interest in an ageing superstar? After all, it's not like the A-League hasn't had other big names grace the competition before. Dwight Yorke led Sydney FC to the inaugural A-League championship and the Sky Blues have even had a former World Cup winner in their midst in the form of Brazilian playmaker Juninho. Yet Del Piero is being heralded in most quarters as the most important signing in the history of the competition. In many ways, he is.
For a competition which started out in a blaze of optimism - the gates had to be thrown open for the first ever A-League fixture so many fans were trying to get in - the A-League has more recently been tainted by the depressing stench of failure. Football Federation Australia's dismal handling of defunct Queensland sides North Queensland Fury and Gold Coast United was textbook sporting maladministration, with the FFA somehow managing to alienate fans of a community-based club and one run by a fire-breathing autocratic with equal ineptitude. An exodus of middling Australian talent to Asian leagues has sparked new insecurities about the A-League's place in the world and Australia's disastrous bid to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022 confirmed to many that the country is little more than a footballing backwater.
It's that perception which Del Piero's arrival will help change. Offered the chance to join any one of a number of storied European clubs - Liverpool, Celtic, Sion among them - Del Piero told reporters he viewed Sydney FC as a “project.” He obviously had David Beckham in mind, with the English midfielder becoming the face of America's Major League Soccer following his switch from Real Madrid to Los Angeles Galaxy. And Sydney FC clearly view Del Piero as a similar figurehead, with the Juventus legend set to draw fans not just from the city's sizeable Italian community but from right across the spectrum of so-called 'Eurosnobs' - football fans in Australia who have hitherto refused to attend A-League games.
How much impact Del Piero will really have in terms of ticket sales, sponsorship and indeed on the pitch remains to be seen. Already the Italian superstar has garnered more media coverage - both domestically and internationally - than the A-League has seen in years. And while essentially paying $2 million for six months' worth of work is clearly a gamble, Sydney FC are at least blessed with the deep pockets of billionaire Russian owner David Traktovenko. They have little to lose in signing Del Piero in a city housing a notoriously fickle sporting public.
The hope is that the 'Del Piero effect' will spark renewed mainstream interest in a competition which has stagnated over the past few seasons. The A-League is already home to some notable talent - Brett Emerton, Thomas Broich and Marcos Flores among them - and FFA officials are eager for bigger crowds and higher television audiences to witness their exploits. That will almost certainly happen with Del Piero on the ground and leading a concerted marketing push. The next question is whether the Italian superstar can leave the legacy he desires and transform curious first-time attendees into genuine A-League fans.
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