Serie A 2015-16 Odds – Juve Favored for 5th Straight Title

The Italian Serie A will start its 114th season this Saturday (August 22) with 20 teams battling in a round robin format. The reigning champs, Juventus, are the favorite to take the title for a fifth straight year, but several other clubs made key additions in the offseason and could surprise.

Along with the league champion, the second and third-place teams from the Serie A will qualify for next year’s UEFA Champions League, making a top-three finish a primary goal for many Italian squads. (Fourth through seventh will go to the Europa League.)

Before the action gets underway this weekend, let’s take a look at the odds to win the 2015-16 Scudetto.

Juventus (4/6): Juventus suffered some unexpected departures over the summer (midfielder Arturo Vidal went to Bayern Munich, striker Carlos Tevez returned to Boca Juniors in Argentina, and Andrea Pirlo headed stateside to the MLS). But Juve remain the favorites thanks, in part, to additions like Simone Zaza (forward, Sassuolo) and Mario Mandzukic (forward, Atletico Madrid), and Sami Kedhira (midfield, Real Madrid).  Perhaps the biggest signing was young star Paulo Dybala, who came from Palermo for €32 million. Juventus inarguably have the strongest roster; the only question is whether all the new names can find enough chemistry to keep the challengers at bay.

AS Roma (5/1): Over the last few years, Roma have been the only team that’s given Juventus a serious challenge. Nevertheless, they don’t look deep enough to warrant better than 5/1 odds this year. The team brought Antonio Cassano back into the fold in the offseason, and added two players on loan: Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Salah from Chelsea and Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny from Arsenal.  They are built to compete, but not to win the 38-game tournament.

Napoli (9/1): Napoli saw the Rafael Benitez-era come to end last season. The Spanish manager is now with Real Madrid, and Napoli will be looking for a new identity under Maurizio Sarri, who spent the last three seasons with Empoli. After giving up 54 goals last season (30 more than Juventus and 23 more than Roma), the team really made an effort to strengthen the goalkeeper position in the offseason, adding Brazilian keeper Gabriel on loan from Milan along with Spaniard Pepe Reina from Bayern Munich (for a €2M transfer fee).

Inter Milan (12/1): Inter Milan are the last team other than Juventus to win the Scudetto, taking the title in 2010-11. A disappointing eighth-place finish last year led to major roster moves; the squad brought in Montenegrin forward Stevan Jovetic on loan from Manchester City in addition to Evans Kondogbia, a forward from the Central African Republic who previously played for Arles-Avignon.

AC Milan (14/1): No team has spent more money than AC Milan this summer. They added defender Alessio Romagnoli from Roma for €25M, Colombian forward Carlos Bacca from Sevilla for €30M, Brazilian forward Luiz Adriano from Shakhtar Donetsk for €8M, and Midfielder Andrea Bertolacci from Roma for €20m. The team also brought in manager Siniša Mihajlović from Sampdoria. The rumor is that the wealthy squad isn’t done spending, either, and have Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic on their radar. The additions should lead to an improvement on the team’s tenth-place finish last year, but don’t expect a return to the very top of the table.

The Field:

Lazio 16/1

Fiorentina 40/1

Sampdoria 200/1

Genoa 250/1

Udinese 350/1

Palermo 500/1

Torino 500/1

Sassuolo 750/1

Atalanta 1000/1

Empoli 1000/1

Verona 1000/1

Bologna 1500/1

Carpi FC 5000/1

Frosinone 5000/1

(Photo credit:  Football.ua [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo may appear cropped.)