Paddy Agnew previews what could be the most exciting Serie A championship for many years

For years now, Italians have called il campionato the most beautiful league in the world. For much of this summer, however, Italian football has been so badly blighted by a succession of judicial, political and financial polemics that, rather than looking beautiful, it has seemed more like a sour cocktail of opera buffo and palace intrigue.

The summer-long wrangling about relegations, financial probity and TV rights money has gone down to the wire, with a meeting of the Football League presidents in Milan yesterday deciding to delay the start of the Serie B (division two) championship this weekend by way of protest.

In particular, the division two clubs are furious with the Football Federation in the wake of its historic decision last week to freeze all division two relegations and simply enlarge the division from 20 to 24 clubs. Boosted by a government decree, thanks to AC Milan owner and current Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the federation had hoped to get itself out of a tight corner and resolve a six-month long row about Sicilian side Catania. Instead, it merely turned the heat on itself.

In such a context, Italian fans will be glad to finally get back to action on the field rather than off it. The fans, too, have every reason to look forward to an outstanding season. The ironic thing about all the off-the-field shenanigans is that they are in sharp contrast with the supremely healthy state of Italian football on the field.

Twelve months ago, for instance, Italy was still licking its wounds after a miserable World Cup failure which had compounded three seasons of unaccustomed whitewash in European club competitions. Last autumn, the national team struck a new low when losing 2-1 away to Wales in a European Championship qualifier.

Twelve months later, the vista is much changed. Italian clubs have returned to their accustomed place on top of Europe, following that all-Italian Champions League final at Old Trafford between AC Milan and Juventus. The national team has won six consecutive games in 2003 beating Germany and Portugal along the way. More importantly, if Italy beat Wales in a European qualifier in Milan next Saturday, then they will go top of Group Nine, overtaking the Welsh and setting themselves up to claim outright a Euro 2004 place in Portugal by winning the group.

The buoyant mood amongst the football professionals, if not the federation and league officials, was reflected at Thursday's draw for the first phase of the Champions League. Representatives of all four Italian clubs involved, namely Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Lazio, all pronounced themselves satisfied with the draw. Faced with the prospect of a tie with the burgeoning new colossus of the Premiership, namely Chelsea, Lazio director Luca Baraldi said succinctly: "We are not worried by Chelsea".

It remains to be seen if such optimism is justified. What is certain is that when it comes to assessing the field for the Serie A championship, then it is a case of round up the usual suspects. In reality, such is the impact of economic clout on the modern Italian game, only five clubs start the season with serious title credentials - the above four Champions League entrants plus AS Roma.

After a summer marked by a climate of economic austerity on the transfer front, all five clubs look distinctly similar to last season. Ominously, though, it is reigning champions Juventus who look to have done best of all the championship contenders, buying a handsome trio of players in defender Nicola Legrottaglie (Chievo), Ghana midfielder Stephan Appiah (Brescia) and striker Fabrizio Miccoli (back from loan to Perugia).

With all the major protagonists of last season (Nedved, Thuram, Camoranesi, Tacchinardi, Davids, Del Piero, Trezeguet as well as coach Marcello Lippi) still in place, Juventus look stronger than ever. One's only reservation about Juventus is linked to the fact that, in the wake of that Champions League final defeat by AC Milan, the "Old Lady" may be tempted to reserve her best efforts for Europe.

European champions AC Milan have made only two significant purchases - the Brazilian pair, Cafu (AS Roma) and Kaka (San Paolo). You could argue that they hardly needed anyone, given the overall quality of a squad that already included Filippo Inzaghi, Urkainian bullet Andriy Shevchenko and Brazilian Rivaldo in attack, as well as Portugal's Rui Costa, Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo in midfield. Furthermore, leading the line at the back will be Paolo Maldini, in what will probably be his last season.

For Milan's cross-town rivals, Inter, this is make or break time. Argentine coach Hector Cuper has had two "nearly" seasons, finishing runner-up in the last two title contests. He knows that a third "failure" will not be contemplated by the demanding Inter environment.

Cuper, too, goes into battle with a formidable squad in which Dutchman Andy Van Der Meyde (Ajax Amsterdam), Brazilian Luciano (Chievo) and Frenchman Sabri Lamouchi (Parma) have been added to midfield. Given that he can also call on such as Argentine Javier Zanetti and Fabio Cannavaro in defence, not to mention Christian Vieri, Argentine Julio Cruz and Uruguayan Alvaro Recoba in attack, then Cuper can have no excuses re his squad quality.

Lazio, who eliminated Benfica in a mid-week Champions League qualifier, played some of the best football seen in Serie A last season. Given that the Roman club has defied the odds to hold onto to nearly all their best players (including Dutchman Jaap Stam, Yugoslav Dejan Stankovic and Argentine Claudio Lopez), they will most likely prove just as entertaining this season. Nor will the addition of old hand Demetrio Albertini (Atletico Madrid) do them any harm.

Finally, we have Lazio's bitter city rivals, AS Roma. They may have had a disappointing transfer campaign, buying only the talented Romanian defender Cristian Chivu (Ajax Amsterdam), but they do still boost a certain Francesco Totti. At the moment, he is just about the best thing in Italian football. Perhaps, come Euro 2004 next summer, he will get a chance to prove himself the best in Europe and not just Italy. That, however, is a story for another day.