The Fantasy Football Upset

Every religion needs its own liturgy to establish itself. It is a well-codified set of rituals that is repeated on the same days, at the same times, using exactly the same words. Anticipation also plays a fundamental role. Because days without a service are not a denial of faith, but preparation for the next celebration. This is true of every faith. This is especially true of football, the sport which, thanks to its secular sanctification of Sundays, has become a popular religion. However, the devotion of its faithful entered a crisis a few years ago. The proliferation of matches has turned the celebration once reserved for the weekend into a daily affair. And at the same time, technology has sacrificed anticipation on the altar of the ‘here and now’. Among the rituals that have fallen apart, there is one that had remained intact for some thirty years. For whilst Sunday was match day, Monday was the day when one opened the newspapers and found out the fantasy football ratings. The break was symbolic. One watched a match, analysed the performances, and made predictions about the numerical ratings. Then, the following morning, a row would break out over half a point more or less. Even the choice of newspaper (first in print, then online) from which to check the ratings was a source of debate. Because every newspaper was ‘accused’ of being lenient towards players from teams in its own catchment area. The internet age has shortened this interval. Live ratings have been around since 2011, though previously they had to be sought out on the Fantacalcio website (which was then called Fantagazzetta). It was up to the user to decide to switch from watching the match to playing the game. Now even that final step has disappeared. From this season onwards, in fact, it is the fantasy football ratings that reach the viewers. During the 380 Serie A matches, the statistics and ratings will appear directly on the TV screen, in two distinct slots: the first between the 35th and 45th minutes of the first half, and the other between the 80th and 90th minutes. That makes 760 dedicated slots over the course of the season, all sponsored by Philadelphia. It is something very akin to Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘chronosism’. Because it transforms an overall assessment into a provisional score. A player still has a whole half to go, yet his performance is already being reduced to a number. It is a new development capable of shaping the way we look at things. After reading about a barely passing mark, viewers will seek out all the evidence to justify that score. 

The Serie A ratings will be produced by Fantacalcio.it, a website that has taken the game to a whole new level in recent years, now boasting 7 million members. One small detail: in recent months, the Lega itself acquired a 51 per cent stake in the platform for around 18 million euros. In effect, the entity being assessed has bought a majority stake in the company producing the assessment. Obviously, the issue is not the independence of the ratings themselves, but something more subtle. The aim was not to acquire the ratings, but to forge a closer relationship with a community. The League’s CEO, Luigi De Siervo, explained that the objective is to transform Serie A from a seller of live broadcasts into a business capable of communicating directly with fans. In this sense, Fantacalcio offers football the chance to speak the language of young people.

A survey of 6,000 football fans across six countries shows that fans aged between 25 and 34 are the ones who consume the most sport. But they do so in a particular way. Young people aged between 18 and 34 spend almost three times as much time on non-live content as they do on live broadcasts. Not to mention that only 39 per cent of fans aged between 18 and 24 watch an entire event. The challenge, therefore, is not getting them back in front of a screen, but keeping them there. Fantasy Football ratings and DAZN’s FanZone, where fans chat during the match, are two responses to the same need: to make the match interactive, transforming the passive spectator into a supporting actor. Or, better still, a user. The battle against the second screen is being fought by incorporating it into the first. Serie A, however, is not yet a dying product: cumulative viewership has risen from 246.7 million in 2024/25 to 266.3 million in 2025/26. And to understand what scope for growth still remains, the scenario has been turned on its head, with a game being called upon to support the sport that inspired it. While it is unlikely that viewers can be prevented from switching away from watching a match, the event can be made more appealing by adapting it to the nature of social media feeds. Thus, to protect the ninety minutes from distraction, football has introduced distraction into those 90 minutes. Here’s hoping it works.