Italy, Spain and England are the most successful nations ever to compete in the Champions League and its predecessor, the European Cup. Each nation has been victorious on 11 occasions with England providing four different winners to Italy's three and Spain's two.

Concentrating on Italy and the recent collapse in their credibility as a clean footballing nation, can it be true to say that Italian football in general is in decline? If so, why? Their reputation has been tarnished yet again in recent times with indictments about the manner in which their premier football leagues are run.

In May 2006 a scandal was uncovered by Italian police implicating Juventus, AC Milan, Reggina, Fiorentina and Lazio in match-fixing. A number of telephone interceptions revealed a network of relations between team managers and referee organisations. This has not been the first time, in 1980, AC Milan and Lazio were relegated to Serie B for match-fixing. In the 2006 scandal Juventus were eventually hit with the hardest punishment of all the clubs involved. They were relegated from Seria A, stripped of their titles and chucked out of the Champions League.

We all know that this kind of thing exists all over the world, but to what extent? Surely it was a good thing for the Italian authorities to find, punish and hold up to the world an example of how and why they will not tolerate such goings on. Is it really only in Italy where such actions are perpetrated by invisible men so desperate for success? Or are they just not as good as they used to be at covering their tracks?

It is typical of Italian football to bounce back from such adversity and world humiliation by lifting the World Cup just two short months after these shameful facts were plastered all over the press and media. Is it really just the continual underhand tactics of the Italians that gives the impression of their football being in decline?

Let's not forget that they are world champions, have just scraped through to the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 and until Manchester United lifted the Champions League a month ago, were reigning champions of European club football with AC Milan. The ability of the Italians to bounce back in the face of adversity and worldwide scorn is second to none. The style of their club football has not changed. When Serie A became the focus of British attention way back in the '90s with Paul Gascoigne's move to Lazio, we all watched it and nothing has really changed.