Lia Walti: 'I missed the feeling of being valued as a footballer' after Juventus spell

Lia Walti, who signed for Brighton from Juventus this summer, said she "missed the feeling of being valued as a footballer" at Juventus and wanted to return to the Women's Super League, Walti told BBC Sport.

Walti, the Switzerland captain, spent seven years at Arsenal where she helped the club win four major trophies including the Champions League and WSL titles and made 183 appearances for the club. She moved to Juventus last summer seeking a new challenge but left after one season, returning to England and joining Brighton last month for an undisclosed fee. The 33-year-old captained Switzerland at Euro 2025 on home soil and has over a century of caps for her country.

Reflecting on the contrast between England and Italy, Walti said: "It's such a huge difference. It's always hard to speak about it. I don't want to speak too negatively about the Italian league, that is not my aim." She added: "It's more that it's just the reality that football in England, in the WSL, has a standard which is not comparable with any other league." Walti described it as "a bit sad and disappointing to see a lot of girls abroad do not have the same opportunities or standards in terms of being in professional environments."

Walti said she missed playing within an established football culture and the feeling of being valued: "I missed the feeling of being valued as a footballer, feeling like we're getting the full support we needed." She contrasted facilities and fan presence, saying: "We have good structures, good fields where we can play our games. We had absolutely no fan culture - not just at Juve - in general in Italy."

On matchday atmosphere and broadcast coverage, Walti said large English stadiums and television production affect how the game is experienced: "When you have been part of that growth in England, with the fan cultures, the full stadiums - even stadiums that are really small, they are exciting to play in." She added: "In Italy, it was just [empty]. Every game felt a bit like that. I missed the feeling I had before when I was playing football."

Walti criticised the quality of media coverage and its impact on viewers, saying: "I think you have to bring the game to the people. You kind of have to force people to watch it. I felt that that's how it maybe started in England." She continued: "In Italy, and in a lot of other countries, I think they have bad coverage. It's not shown [on TV] at all, or if it's shown, from where they film it, is really poor."

She pointed to pitch conditions and wider investment shortfalls as barriers to development, saying: "The biggest lacking starts with pitch quality. In a lot of countries, you play either on the worst artificial pitches or the worst natural grasses." Walti added: "Even if a Premier League team were to play there, it would probably look rubbish because it's just not possible to play nice football on it."

Walti said her privileged experience of professional conditions in England motivates her advocacy: "We used to not have good conditions. It wasn't professional. Our first salaries were not enough to live from." She described frustration at speaking up in Italy without change: "I try to make an impact and I think that was really hard in Italy because I felt like when we spoke up, nothing happened, and that was frustrating." When weighing her future with a year left on her Juventus contract, she identified Brighton as a club that could offer the environment she wanted.

Brighton have outlined major investments including plans in April for Europe's first purpose-built women's football stadium at a cost of £75-80m and the women's team moved into training facilities at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre in 2021 following an £8.5m investment. The club reached the Women's FA Cup final for the first time in May, and Dario Vidosic's side have set ambitions to break into the WSL's top three; Walti said: "After that experience in Italy, I knew a bit more about what I probably wanted, or didn't want." She added: "Once I started to have the first moments with the club, it proved to me that this is the right place - that cares about women's football, that invests in women's football, and who has the right people in place." Walti's arrival last month for an undisclosed fee comes as Brighton push to break into the WSL's top three.