Juventus' players celebrate after winning their Italian Serie A soccer match against Napoli, at the Juventus stadium in Turin November 10, 2013. REUTERS/Giorgio Perottino
MILAN (Reuters) - When Italy's cash-strapped football clubs meet on Monday to prepare for a new deal on broadcast rights, their deliberations will be coloured by the unhappy knowledge that Italian football is in a dismal state and viewers are switching off.
A farcical match in the third division this month, which saw a local derby near Naples abandoned after players were threatened by fans and faked injury to avoid playing, underlined the grim climate in the Italian game, beset for years by match-fixing scandals and stadium violence.
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