Superstars at Serie A minnow clubs

Maradona, Gullit, Platini, Charles, Sivori, Schiaffino: the list of world-class players whose talent earned them a transfer to the land of the lire (much more poetic than the euro) is enormous and spans nearly a century, from back before even the start of Serie A as we know it today.

But while international focus has tended to fall on the traditional giants of the Italian game like Juventus, the Milan and Roman clubs, Napoli and Fiorentina, often overlooked is the rich history some of the lesser-lights of Serie A boast when it comes to signing and playing some of the biggest names in the world game.

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This Serie A XI gallery is comprised solely of big footballers who played for small Italian clubs. No more than a single player features from any one club and our distinctive team would line up in a voguish 3-4-3 formation.

Of course many of the footballers selected here played with other Serie A clubs too, most distinctly Dirceu who spent five seasons in Italy and played for a different one for each of them.