The club from the small town in northeastern Italy was once one of the best teams behind the absolute top clubs. But the challenges of modern football have forced him to adapt.
Younger football fans can certainly be forgiven if they are not too familiar with Udinese and are the only ones through the signing of superstar David Alaba in the last few days was brought into awareness. The club comes from the small town of Udine in northeastern Italy, which has fewer than 100,000 inhabitants.
But while Udinese are clearly a mid-table Serie A team today, the club was once one of the best teams in the country outside of the usual suspects. Udinese had a squad full of cult heroes, including a two-time winner Top scorerwho dedicated his best years to the Friulani.
Expectations may have changed, but Udinese have now established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in Serie A and are aiming for sustained success as they fight to remain relevant, both figuratively and literally.
Golden years in Europe
It seems a long way off now, but in the noughties and early 2010s Udinese were one of the best teams behind the top in Serie A and were regularly represented in Europe. In the 2004/05 season the club qualified for the Champions League for the first time, reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in 2008/09 and even climbed to third place in the league in 2011/12.
From 2007, the club enjoyed seven years of sustained success, regularly finishing in the European Cup places. During this time, some of the club’s most influential figures have come and gone at the Stadio Friuli, including Fabio Quagliarella, Kwadwo Asamoah and Gökhan Inler, who has since returned as sporting director.
They formed the skeleton of a balanced team that already included legendary goalkeeper Samir Handanovic, future Barcelona and Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez and iconic striker Antonio Di Natale. This core helped Udinese to its best European season in 2009 since winning the Intertoto Cup in 2000, when the team reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, narrowly losing out on penalties to eventual finalists Werder Bremen, without the injured Handanovic and Di Natale.
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“We had a lot of really good players, good leaders,” Inler added GOAL. “We had great players like Sanchez, (Mauricio) Isla, Handanovic in goal, (Mehdi) Benatia in defense.”
Inler continued: “Year after year we have improved and in the four years I have been here, the fourth year was the best. With such a young team we achieved a Champions League place. I am happy that I had this great time at Udinese.”
Double top scorer
Di Natale’s goals formed the cornerstone of the club’s success in the late noughties and early 2010s, and he is a key reason why Udinese attracted attention outside Italy during his productive 12-year spell there, as he dedicated his best years to the Friulani.
A small, quick and versatile striker with an absolute hammer in his right foot who could score from virtually anywhere, Di Natale was hugely prolific in the later years of his career following his move from Empoli in 2004 and taking on the captain’s armband three years later.
Although he had already passed the age of 30, he scored more than 25 goals in four consecutive seasons between 2009 and 2013, and he was selected twice in a row in the 2009/10 (29 goals) and 2010/11 (28 goals) seasons Top scorer Serie A crowned. His performances in the former season also earned him the Italian Footballer of the Year award in Serie A.
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“Di Natale was our captain, a big brother who helped us get along on the pitch,” says former Udinese midfielder and current sporting director Inler in an interview with GOAL. “He was really there for us, sometimes hard on the younger players, but that’s the right way to improve.”
Between 2009 and 2011, modern giants Lionel Messi (82) and Cristiano Ronaldo (86) were the only two players to have scored more league goals than Di Natale’s 67. Despite thoughts of retiring and various offers for a move, including from Juventus, then series winners, the veteran remained loyal to Udinese until his final retirement in 2016 at the age of 38.
Mixed results in recent years
Udinese’s development has changed greatly since the club and Di Natale’s heyday more than a decade ago. Although the club has played continuously in Serie A since its last promotion in 1995, the Bianconeri have only had once ended a season in the top half of the table – with tenth place last season.
The departure of the influential Francesco Guidolin in 2014 certainly had a negative impact, after all, he had led the club to fourth, third and fifth places in the three previous seasons. A series of unsuccessful coaches followed, and that golden generation of Di Natale, Handanovic, Sanchez, Inler and others eventually disappeared without being adequately replaced, while the financial gap with the biggest Serie A clubs has grown significantly.
Unsurprisingly, Udinese was also on the brink of relegation several times and narrowly avoided going into Serie B in 2015, 2016 and 2024. Otherwise, the club consistently landed in the lower midfield. After a slight improvement last season, the goal now is to somehow further reduce the gap to the teams in front of them. This responsibility lies with the Pozzo family, which has been the owner for 40 years, and the hierarchy that they have built up.
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As current majority shareholders of Watford and former owners of Granada, the Pozzos are considered pioneers of the multi-club model, with varying degrees of success. Some accuse them of favoring their other teams, with Udinese’s decline more or less coinciding with Watford’s promotion to the Premier League in 2015.
Udinese boss Inler sees greater pressure
From Inler’s perspective, mentality and discipline will be key to closing the gap, rather than spending big on new signings to compete with teams like Napoli, Inter, AC Milan and Juventus.
Tenth place last season was already a significant step forward, while experienced former Bayern Munich and Real Madrid defender David Alaba has now joined the club on a free transfer. His leadership qualities will certainly increase Udinese’s chances of success.
“The challenge is much greater now than it was before,” says Inler. “It used to be very difficult because you had a lot of great players in Serie A, but now in my position as sporting director I bring the mentality and the discipline that the players need, especially every day because you have to push them every day.”
“We used to just play football, we didn’t have social media, and now there’s this pressure from the audience too. That’s why it’s important to talk a lot to the players and also show them how to build a career. That’s why daily work is important for me, to show them which path they have to take.”
Udinese are currently 13th in Serie A and have picked up just one win from their first five games, including a run of three consecutive defeats before the long international break. Inler believes that will change.
“It’s still a long season, but we have to try to win game by game,” he said. “We didn’t have a start like the previous two years since I’ve been here. The most important thing is to stay humble, work hard and focus your energy. We need good preparation, mentally and physically.”
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Important Udinese defender Oumar Solet also shares this assessment. “We just have to stay focused in every single game. We did pretty well for Udinese last season,” said the Frenchman in an interview GOAL. “Our goal is to try and stay on this path, we know we can do it. We have to put in the work. The season has already started but I’m really excited to keep going and see what happens.”
Sustainable success
The club has made no secret of the fact that its priorities have changed somewhat since the heady days of the late noughties and early 2010s, with off-field goals also coming to the fore.
Off the pitch, Udinese has established itself as the most sustainable team in Italy and one of the most sustainable in Europe thanks to its green initiatives. This started in 2020 when the club asked supplier Macron to make its jerseys from recycled materials. The Friulians’ Bluenergy Stadium is fully powered by a 2,400-panel solar park on match days, there are also strategies in place to combat food waste, and the club has been involved in the community of Udine to raise awareness about environmental issues.
In conversation with GOAL says Magda Pozzo, a club official and daughter of owner Giampaolo: “We are one of the teams in Italy that are very committed to all sustainability practices. We try to put into practice activities that promote sustainability. For example, cycling to the stadium. We are also the only club with a solar park in Italy, so we get electricity from solar energy during the games. It’s a great project!”
She believes sustainability should be the goal on and off the field. “We must not forget that Udine is a small city, 100,000 people live there, so I think we have to be conservative and know that we are stable in the middle of the table,” she says. “But of course at the same time we should try to improve every year and I think that’s the whole idea and the whole strategy.
For Pozzo: “We are very careful, and that’s why we as a family have been here for 40 years and in Serie A for 30 years, and I think it’s very important that we act sustainably in financial matters too.”
Milan Fashion Week is calling
Over the past four years, Udinese’s drive for self-promotion has taken the club, quite surprisingly, to Milan Fashion Week. It has now become a tradition for the Friulians to present their third jersey there. The Bianconeri made no exception in 2026, as the club took the opportunity to celebrate its 130th anniversary.
The stylish cream jersey with a star motif, special anniversary crest and black details was unveiled on Tuesday at an event in central Milan, with professional players Solet, Maduka Okoye, Nicolo Bertola and Matteo Palma serving as models.
The jersey was designed by Milan-based Giuseppe Buccinna and drew inspiration from photographer Tina Modotti and poet Pier Paolo Pasolini, both of whom have captured the spirit of Friuli, Udinese’s home region, in their respective artistic expressions.
“We’ve been doing this for four years now, thanks to the club and Macron we can be at Milan Fashion Week, where there are a lot of people and famous artists,” says Inler GOAL. “Every year we look for an artist to design our jersey and it’s always special to come here. The players like it because it’s important to show them not only as footballers on the pitch, but also how they represent themselves at an event like Fashion Week.”
