Serie A has spent the 2020s turning champions over. Inter go into the next season as the latest winners, but the bigger story is the league's refusal to let anyone hold the Scudetto for long. Juventus won nine consecutive titles from 2011/12, then no Serie A champion successfully defended its crown after 2020/21.
The list of winners since then says enough on its own: Juventus, Inter, AC Milan, Napoli, Inter, Napoli and Inter again. That is not a league built around repeat certainty. It is a league where the title keeps moving, and where even the best side is only a temporary owner of it.
Why this title race keeps changing hands
Inter are not scraping home. They sit on 82 points from 35 matches, with Napoli on 70 and AC Milan on 67. The title-winning cushion is already there, and the 2-0 win over Parma that stretched the gap to 12 points with three games remaining was a strong ending, not a nervous one.
That is what makes the pattern more interesting, not less. The problem for repeat champions in Serie A has not been that the winners are weak. It is that the league keeps shifting under them. Napoli won the title in 2022/23 for the first time without Diego Maradona in their history, then the order changed again. AC Milan won the 2021/22 Scudetto by two points over Inter, which shows how narrow some of these margins have been even while the overall picture has stayed unstable.
The current numbers point the same way. Inter's last five league results are W-D-W-W-W, and Napoli's are DWLDW. Inter finished the job with momentum, while the runners-up never found a clean enough run to threaten them seriously.
Why Inter may find a defence harder than a win
There is still a decent case for Inter starting next season as favourites. They have the trophy, the points total and a clear gap over the rest. But the warning signs in the brief are real enough to keep that discussion open. Inter had the second highest average age in their line-up this season, behind Napoli, and that is the sort of detail that matters when a squad has to go again.
Cristian Chivu had only 13 games of managerial experience when he was appointed Inter coach in summer 2024. That does not tell you everything about the future, but it does underline how much of this cycle is still being managed on the fly rather than locked in for years. Romelu Lukaku is part of the wider picture too, because the article frames this title race around clubs that keep changing shape rather than a settled hierarchy.
The workload point is real, but it does not erase the main fact. Serie A has gone seven champions deep in the 2020s without a successful defence, and Inter's age profile suggests the league may make them work for another one.
If they do keep the crown, it will be against a recent record that has been stubborn for years. For now, the next season begins with Inter top, Napoli chasing, and the Scudetto already looking like a difficult thing to keep.
FAQ
Will Inter be able to defend their Serie A title next season?
Inter start next season with the title, but the case for a repeat is not clean. Serie A has not had a successful Scudetto defence since Juventus' nine-in-a-row run ended in 2020/21. The article also points to Inter's second-highest average age in the league and the need for squad renewal.
Why is Serie A producing so many different champions?
The league has moved into a period of churn. Juventus, Inter, AC Milan and Napoli have all taken turns winning the title in the 2020s, and no club has defended the Scudetto successfully since 2020/21. That makes repeat success harder than simply winning once.
How strong is Inter's title advantage over Napoli and AC Milan?
Inter finished on 82 points from 35 matches, 12 clear of Napoli on 70. AC Milan were third on 67. They closed the season with a 2-0 win over Parma, which showed the gap was already large by the end.
Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
