So, everyone had a week to vote and crown the Ugliest Serie A Footballer. It was a tight race, but it in the end there had to be one winner. Who is it? Is it the man who looks like a rat (Mascara), the rapist/kidnapper (Juric), the uni-browed goalkeeper (Rubinho)? It was very close, with only 1 vote separating 1st and 2nd place.

If the Neven Subotic and Giuseppe Rossi dramas weren't enough, now we have the case of Giuseppe Nazzani as a potential new US player. Many US Soccer fans were caught off guard last week when they saw Giuseppe Nazzani of Bologna's reserve team listed on the roster for the upcoming US U-20 camp in Madrid.

According to the Nice Matin, AS Monaco is still leaning toward bringing in Americans Michael Bradley and Freddy Adu but under different arrangements. Benfica's young American appears to be close to a deal to be loaned to Monaco with an option to buy. Initially, Benfica had upped his price to €4 million after there was also interest from Bologna and Genoa.

Italy's gift to the world of WAGs Giorgia Palmas, who goes out with Bologna midfielder Davide Bombardini, is a busy girl. It seems she rarely has time to put her clothes on, as this photo gallery shows. Click on the...

(Summary is not available.)

According to Friday's edition of La Gazzetta Dello Sport, Bologna (Serie A) is targetting Freddy Adu for acquisition. The other attacking midfielder/striker they are looking at is "El Matador" Edison Cavani, a rising Uruguayan national team player (with Italian roots) currently at Palermo. All things being equal, Adu will cost Bologna less to acquire since Cavani already has over 40 appearances for Palermo (and 7 goals).

Roberto Baggio. Giuseppe Signori. Marco Di Vaio. What do all these players have in common? Yes they are all Italian, yes they are all strikers, but the main similarity is that when each of these players went to play for Bologna, their careers were rejuvenated.

There is something about the capital city of the Emilia-Romagna region that just rejuvenates a player's career.

So Lorenzo and Alessio had a good idea for a post, we are going to crown Serie A's Ugliest Footballer. There are quite a few of them, and this is the post where we'll nominate footballers. I'll list some here, and if you have a nomination state it in the comments section and I'll add him to the running.

So, the results are in and now it is time for the Final Round of Serie A's Ugliest Footballer. The footballers with the top 10 votes have made it to this round and now we will vote to see who is definitely the ugliest! Results and new poll after the jump.

Here are the top ten ugliest Serie A footballers, voted by you:

1) Giuseppe Mascara - 39 Votes
2) Sulley Muntari - 31 Votes
3) Zlatan Ibrahimovic - 30 Votes
4) Rodrigo Taddei - 29 Votes
5) Ronaldinho - 25 Votes
6) Rubinho - 15 Votes
7) Emerson - 15 Votes
8) Ivan Juric - 14 Votes
9) Antonio Cassano - 12 Votes
10) Stevan Jovetic - 11 Votes

I think everyone that deserved to be there is there, so that's good.

Don't get too many of those to the pound God bless Brazilian footballers. They can't even score own goals without using more technique and panache than we could ever dream of. Take Cicinho of Roma, for instance. Here he is scoring a 91st minute equaliser for Bologna at the weekend. An outstanding diving header to give [.

After weeks of anticipation, Serie A's clubs finally know who they will be facing on the opening day – the weekend of August 31. For the entire schedule see Serie A TIM Championship Several great first day matches are in the cards including, Fiorentina vs. Juventus, Roma vs. Napoli, and Milan vs.

IL GIORNO DOPO GLI ESAMI
Okaka:«Sto qui e andrà bene»
«Ho fatto il mio. Sono tanto migliorato in serie B
E' stato un anno fondamentale per il mio futuro»
Di PIETRO TRIA
É uno Stefano Okaka diverso quello che, dopo una stagione
a Modena, è tornato a Roma.

Hands down the goal of the week goes to Francesco Valiani of Bologna FC for the winner against AC Milan at the San Siro. (AC Milan 1 - 2 Bologna FC) Goalscorers - Di Vaio 18 (B), Ambrosini 42 (M), Valiani 79 (B) Line Ups Milan: Abbiati; Zambrotta, Maldini, Kaladze, Jankulovski (Shevchenko 46); Flamini, Pirlo, Ambrosini (Emerson 85); Seedorf, Ronaldinho; Inzaghi [.

Ronaldinho in in his element as he manoeuvres the ball against rival team Bologna. AC Milan and Bologna just kicked off their first game for the Series A title win - August 31, 2008 at the San Siro-Meazza stadium in Milan, Italy. "Milan begin this new season with high hopes, despite not taking part in the [.

We thank The Guardian, who thank Zlatan Ibrahimovic for reminding them, for reminding us of this goal, scored by one Hendrik Johannes Cruijff. A guy who once did some things way back when. Certainly one of the greatest goals ever, but is it the greatest flying kick football has ever seen? Many will say yes, [.

Stuff to read while you sue God..... A look at Bernd Stange's non-footballing job history. (Sniffing The Touchline) The WAG "circus" may be over, but those clowns will always be in our hearts. (The Spoiler) Aberdeen's in the house, and it's not written by Derek Rae. (Aberdeen Offside) Bologna too, but that one might be Derek under a nom [.

OK, so here on the Italy Offside we are searching for Serie A's Ugliest Footballer. We have all the nominees, and now it is time to vote. If you need to see pictures of each player, you'll find them all in this post and in the comments. Vote for the 10 Ugliest players, and voting will last 10 days (so everyone can vote for 1 ugly player each day).

The point of predictions is to say something which will cause a lot of argument and chair throwing while everyone who slams said predictions gets it wrong in the end as well. And for anyone who does get it correctly, well, they're just the luckiest son of a bitch alive. But it's still a good [...]

The eyes of the every milanista were set on this date.  It was well over a year in the making.  The speculations, the on again- off again of the entire operation.   From the "Gordinho" headlines to his flashes of brilliance here and there all led up to his triumphant arrival to the San Siro where [.

Draws were the main item on offer in Italy as Fiorentina and Juve finished 1-1, Inter and Sampdoria were 1-1 and Roma and Napoli finished 1-1. Elsewhere Bologna stunned Milan at the San Siro.
Reports
Napoli fans take over train and clash with police

Dedicated YouTuber Maestro 21 has put together highlights of Ronaldinho's debut for AC Milan against Bologna. Yes, Milan lost 2-1 and yes, any player can look good if you edit together their best moments. But there's definitely enough evidence here to suggest old Gaucho has still got it. Lots of shimmys and even a few flashes [.

Ronaldinho shines as AC Milan take the Milan Derby 1 - 0. Match Highlights Match Day Five Results Saturday Sept. 27 Sampdoria 0 - 0 Juventus Fiorentina 1 - 0 Genoa   Sunday Sept. 28  AS Roma 2 - 0 Atalanta Bologna 0 - 1 Napoli Catania 1 - 0 Chievo Lecce 2 - 0 Cagliari Palermo 1 - 0 Reggina Torino 1 - 3 Lazio Udinese 2 - [.

For some reason whenever Serie A plays during the week I always feel like it isn't the same. I love the tradition of Serie A Sundays and Serie A on Wednesday just feels strange. But it's still Serie A, so I could care less because I love calcio. Giornata 4 was another great round of calcio: Inter took sole lead of the Serie A table after getting a result vs a tough Lecce side thanks to Julio Cruz, Juventus drew Catania at home and wasted many chances to get all 3 points, Milan keeps bouncing back after a win in Reggio Calabria, Roma continues to struggle after losing away to Genoa, and Fiorentina were outclassed by Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico.

Can anyone tell me what type of performance enhancing drug Alessandro Del Piero is taking right now? (Juventus fans don't jump on my back, that was my attempt at humor). Another inch perfect free kick, and on his 34th birthday to boot. Serie A results after "il salto" (the jump).

Bologna-Roma 1-1
Scorers: 68´ Totti (Rom); 92´ aut.

Palermo and Italy goalkeeper Marco Amelia said saving Ronaldinho's penalty kick was "like playing Playstation". Now I bet tons of clubs will be getting calls from FIFA '09 addicts saying they should get a trial because they are good at saving penalties on Playstation. Roundup after the jump.

Serie B (which I still consider to be Europe's top second division) has made some changes for next season regarding squad size. Even though they play 42 games in Serie B, lots of squads have very big rosters and most coaches don't tinker with the line-up often, which culminates in lots of players sitting on the bench all year.

-
Goal.com - Bologna And QPR After Bogdani
Albanian striker Erjon Bogdani of Chievo is getting requests from teams both in Italy and abroad.
Daniele Arrigoni's newly promoted Bologna are still looking for a powerful striker for next season, when they will make their return to Serie A after three seasons of absence.

IL RINNOVO ATTENDERÀ LA FINE DELLA CAMPAGNA ACQUISTI
Aqui, firma a settembre. Okaka forse rimane
Dieci giorni alla chiusura del mercato, tempo di accelerare tutte le trattative.
La Roma dovrà essere particolarmente attiva sia in entrata che
in uscita. Inevitabile dunque che l'argomento rinnovi passi in secondo
piano, almeno in quanto ad urgenza.

Our beloved Serie A kicks off this weekend and it's preview time. After thinking that last season was a tough season to predict, this season it becomes even tougher. There are so many quality sides in the top flight this season that it is really hard to predict who will finish where this season.

30/08/2008
Udinese - Palermo 3 - 1
Sampdoria - Inter 1 - 1
31/08/2008
Atalanta - Siena 1 - 0
Cagliari - Lazio 1 - 4
Catania - Genoa 1 - 0
Chievo - Reggina 2 - 1
Milan - Bologna 1 - 2
Roma - Napoli 1 - 1
Torino - Lecce 3 - 0
Fiorentina - Juventus 1 - 1
Iscriviti all'RSS per essere sempre aggiornato!

(Summary is not available.)

Beppe was born on February 17, 1968 in Alzano Lombardo, Bergamo. As did most Italian boys, he loved to play and watch soccer. His own career started as a youth team player in a club connected to Inter, however he was found too small & light by the Inter youth team trainers. So at the age of 17 he moved to a non-league team called AlbinoLeffe (now in Serie B).

Francesco Antonioli knows Zlatan. Someone once called him half-gangster, half-ballerina. Got the ballerina part right for sure, because the pure athleticism required to even attempt that shot is astounding. To execute? Unthinkable. (He's humble, too.)

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to the new Bologna and Siena blogs here at the Italy Offside. Every Serie A club now has it's own blog here at the Offside, and that's really great! Round-up of Giornata 7 after the jump. But before you go there, just analyze this picture of Mourinho. Saturday Night Fever?

Here's what I found interesting after reading various calcio news sites today:

-First, we have another managerial change in Serie A. Chievo haven't won since the first week of the season and manager Beppe Iachini has been sacked. Taking his place will be Domenico Di Carlo, who was in charge of Parma until March of last season.

Roma, languishing in the relegation zone before the derby, took on Lazio, who are flying high in the upper echelons of the table. Roma needed a victory over their rivals to kick-start their season and boost morale, while Lazio were looking to confirm themselves as a side to be reckoned with this season.

Diego Milito. Who would've thought that he would turn out to be possibly the best signing a Serie A side made this summer? 12 goals in 15 games. Results after the jump.

Atalanta-Udinese 3-0
Scorers: 20´ Valdes (Ata); 78´ Doni (Ata); 88´ Vieri (Ata)
Report.

I know statistics are big mostly in American sports. You'll turn on Sportscenter and here a random sportscaster be like "This player has a 65.7893034% shooting percentage, better than the average of the league which is 54.648484645!". Usually American sports will find stats for anything, like the "second assist".

Alessandro Del Piero and Paolo Maldini. Two Italian legends, inspirational captains, and "bandiere" going at it (and for one of the last times since Maldini retires in June). Del Piero and Juventus came out on top, winning 4-2 at the Stadio Olimpico. Results after the jump.

Bologna-Torino 5-2
Scorers: 7´ Barone (Tor); 48´ Volpi (Bol); 53´ Abate (Tor);
55´ Di Vaio (Bol); 62´ Di Vaio (Bol); 68´ rig.

First and foremost I'd like to wish a Happy Holidays to everyone. I hope its a great time for everyone, and I'd like to thank everyone for reading my thoughts on Italian calcio. Due to the holiday season, this will be the last post until around January 5th, where I will resume blogging and bring you those great transfer rumors that will be all over the news once the transfer window opens.