Lia Walti's Journey from Juventus to Brighton: A Quest for Value

Lia Walti did not leave Juventus for a new adventure. She left because, in her words, she stopped feeling like a valued footballer.

The Switzerland captain, now a Brighton midfielder, had gone to Italy last summer chasing a fresh challenge after seven decorated years at Arsenal. She had lifted four major trophies in north London, including the Champions League and a WSL title, and helped drive the league’s rapid rise. What she found in Serie A Femminile, though, was a jarring step back.

“It’s such a huge difference,” she told BBC Sport. “I don’t want to speak too negatively about the Italian league, that is not my aim. 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.”

The word she kept coming back to was “professionalism”. Or the lack of it.

From full stadiums to empty seats

Walti had been at the heart of Arsenal’s evolution, making 183 appearances and becoming one of the WSL’s most reliable midfield anchors. She played in front of packed crowds, in a country where the women’s game now has a genuine football culture wrapped around it.

Italy felt like a different sport.

“We had absolutely no fan culture – not just at Juve – in general in Italy,” she said. “In Italy, it was just [empty]. Every game felt a bit like that.”

The contrast stung. In England, even the smaller grounds felt alive to her.

“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 said. “I missed the feeling of being valued as a footballer, feeling like we’re getting the full support we needed.”

That realisation cut deep: what she had in the WSL was not the norm. It was the exception.

“It’s 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,” she said.

‘You have to force people to watch it’

Walti has been part of the generation that has helped catapult women’s football in England from the fringes to prime-time. She believes other countries could follow, but only if they confront some uncomfortable truths.

“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 said.

For her, coverage is a starting point. Not a detail.

“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 explained. “It affects the way you watch a game. You don’t really see the speed, the tactics or anything and you don’t enjoy watching the game.

“In England, in the big stadiums, you can have great camera angles. I think people enjoy watching it more.”

But television is only one piece of a much bigger problem.

‘The biggest lacking starts with pitch quality’

Ask Walti where the global game is failing its players and she goes straight to the surface under their boots.

“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,” she said.

“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.”

She does not spare her homeland either.

“All of the other leagues, where do you even start? It’s so hard. We have the same [issues] in Switzerland,” she added.

The solution, in her eyes, is simple but expensive: invest first, reap the rewards later.

“You have to do the first step – invest money for all those things before you get something back. I think a lot of countries don’t have that money or patience.”

A privileged perspective – and a growing frustration

Walti’s voice carries weight not only because of her club career, but because she captains Switzerland and has more than 100 caps. She led her country at Euro 2025 on home soil, standing at the centre of a tournament designed to showcase how far the women’s game has come.

She knows she is one of the lucky ones.

“We used to not have good conditions. It wasn’t professional. Our first salaries were not enough to live from,” she said of the early days in England.

“Now, seeing the growth in England and being with players who try to push the game in their own countries, it makes you feel frustrated to still see the reality.

“You forget sometimes, when you’re in your own bubble, that this is not the norm. You’re just one of the lucky ones who can experience it.

“A lot of talent in women’s football gets lost because they are in bad environments where nobody sees them or they don’t have the chance to reach their potential.”

That is why Italy hurt. Not just because of what was missing, but because of how little changed when players spoke up.

“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,” she said.

Why Brighton made sense

With a year left on her Juventus contract, Walti knew she needed to move. Not for a bigger paycheque or a more glamorous badge, but for an environment that matched her standards.

After everything she had experienced, Brighton ticked the boxes.

“After that experience in Italy, I knew a bit more about what I probably wanted, or didn’t want,” she said.

She already trusted the club from afar, having seen their work in the WSL and heard from players inside the dressing room.

“I had a pretty big trust in Brighton before we had the conversations because I had been in the league and seen what the club was doing,” she explained. “I’ve heard from other players about the club investing a lot and I only heard really positive things. There is no better feedback than from other players.”

Brighton’s investment is tangible. In 2021, the women’s team moved into the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre after an £8.5m outlay. In April, the club unveiled plans for Europe’s first purpose-built women’s football stadium, a £75-80m project that would put them at the forefront of the game’s infrastructure.

On the pitch, they reached the Women’s FA Cup final for the first time in May and have backed head coach Dario Vidosic in the transfer market. The target is clear: break into the WSL’s top three.

For Walti, that ambition matters, but the attitude behind it matters more.

“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,” she said.

She left Italy missing the feeling of being valued. At Brighton, she believes she has found a club determined to make that feeling standard, not a privilege reserved for a few.