The Talent Development Ecosystem in Italian Football

The collaboration between San Raffaele Open University (Rome, Italy) and the RAYSD Lab has led to the development of the Talent Development Ecosystem in Italian Football project. This initiative seeks to explore the cultural and contextual characteristics of the Italian football environment and how these factors shape, constrain, and define the developmental experiences and career trajectories of Italian players. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, the project will combine empirical data with established theoretical frameworks to examine the complex interplay between players and their surrounding ecosystem. In doing so, it aims to uncover the diverse factors that influence access to playing opportunities and competitive pathways, ultimately shaping long-term development and success in Italian football.

Part one: Understanding the Italian football talent map

Part one of this project will use quantitative analysis to examine the recruitment strategies employed by Italian football clubs. Data collection will include player selection records, birthdates, birthplaces, and longitudinal career trajectories. In addition, national census data will be integrated to explore contextual variables and their relationship to talent identification and development processes. This approach will help identify potential selection biases within the Italian talent pathway and reveal geospatial patterns in player production across different regions of Italy.

Part two: Capturing Italian football talent stories

Part two of this project will employ qualitative methods, including document analysis and semi-structured interviews, to explore the dominant narratives in Italian football surrounding concepts such as ‘talent’. This will involve examining the values, beliefs, and expectations that underpin selection practices and shape developmental pathways. Additionally, the study will investigate the lived experiences of both practitioners and players, offering insights into how these narratives are enacted in practice. Building on the geospatial findings from part one, this phase will also focus on individuals’ interactions with their environments—exploring themes such as social awareness, personal perceptions, support systems (both perceived and received), and migration experiences—providing a richer understanding of how context influences development.

Morganti, G., Brustio, P. R., Apollaro, G., Strassoldi di Villanova, F., Vitarelli, M., Padua, E., Ruscello, B., & Kelly, A. L. (in press). Local talent yields in the Italian football ecosystem: Exploring the socioeconomic, cultural, and contextual factors that influence attaining a professional contract.

Morganti, G., Brustio, P. R., Grossi, A., Ruscello, B., Strassoldo di Villanova, F., Vitarelli, M., Padua, E., & Kelly, A. L. (in press). Talent drain or talent exchange? International recruitment strategies and players characteristics in Italian male youth football.

Morganti, G., Kelly, A. L., Tufo, F., Ungureanu, A. N., Lupo, C., Li Volsi, D., Ruscello, B., McAuley, A. B. T. Verbeek, J., & Brustio, P. R. (in press). Laterality in male international football: The influence of footedness on selection and progression.

Morganti, G., Kelly, A. L., Lascu, A., Brustio, P. R., Padua, E., Filetti, C., Porta, M., Briotti, G., & Ruscello, B. (2025). Relative age effects in European soccer: their association with contextual factors, impact on youth national teams’ performance, and presence at the senior level. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 7, 1546978. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2025.1546978

Morganti, G., Brustio, P. R., Ruscello, B., Apollaro, G., Padua, E., & Kelly, A. L. (2024). Birth advantages in male Italian soccer: How they influence players youth career and their future career status. Sports, 12(4), 103. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports12040103

Morganti, G., Lascu, A., Kelly, A. L., Ruscello, B., Apollaro, G., & Blackwood, T. (2024). Influences of sociocultural and historical constraints on athletes’ developmental experiences: a case study of baseball in Japan. Sport in Society, 28(5), 776-798. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2024.2390982

Morganti, G., Kelly, A. L., Vitarelli, M., Strassoldo di Villanova, F., Ruscello, B., Campoli, F., & Padua, E. (2024). Relative age effects and place of early development constrain male youth Italian swimmers’ developmental experiences. Sports, 12(11), 309. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports12110309

Morganti, G., Kelly, A. L., Apollaro, G., Pantanella, L., Esposito, M., Grossi, A., & Ruscello, B. (2023). All roads lead to Rome? Exploring birthplace effects and the ‘southern question’ in Italian soccer. Soccer & Society, 25(1), 62-75. https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2023.2226077

Morganti, G., Kelly, A. L., Apollaro, G., Pantanella, L., Esposito, M., Grossi, A., & Ruscello, B. (2022). Relative age effects and the youth-to-senior transition in Italian soccer: the underdog hypothesis versus knock-on effects of relative age. Science and Medicine in Football, 7(4), 406-412. https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2022.2125170

Conference Proceedings and Related Articles

Morganti, G., Blackwood, T., Lascu, A., Ruscello, B., Strassoldo di Villanova, F., Padua, E., & Kelly, A. L. (2025, July). “It was clear from his childhood he was destined to be a top striker”: Football ‘talent’ narratives in the Italian sporting press. Presented at the European College of Sport Science Congress (ECSS) in Rimini, Italy.

Morganti, G., Brustio, P. R., Ruscello, B., Apollaro, G., Strassoldo di Villanova, F., Vitarelli, M., & Kelly, A. L. (2025, June). Local talent yields in the Italian football ecosystem: Exploring the socioeconomic, cultural, and contextual factors that influence attaining a professional contract. Presented at the World Congress of Science and Football (WCSS) in Glasgow, Scotland.

Morganti, G. (2024, April). Talent identification and development environments in Italian football. Presented at the Calcio 4.0: Innovazione, Staff e Talento al Centro della Performance [Football 4.0: Innovation, Staff, and Talent at the Heart of Performance] in Firenze, Italy.

Morganti, G., Grossi, A., Brustio, P. R., Ruscello, B., Strassoldo di Villanova, F., Vitarelli, M., Padua, E., & Kelly, A. L. (2024, September). The volume and spatial logic of distribution of recruitment in Italian male youth football: investigating the international division of labour. Presented at the Italian Society of Sport and Exercise Sciences Congress (SISMeS) in Chieti, Italy.

The Talent Development Ecosystem in Italian Football

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