Lia Walti's Journey: From Juventus to Brighton for Better Standards
Lia Walti did not leave Juventus for a bigger contract or a glamorous move. She left because, in her words, she stopped feeling valued as a footballer.
The Switzerland captain, a serial winner with Arsenal and one of the most respected midfielders in the women’s game, lasted just one season in Italy before coming back to the Women’s Super League. That alone tells a story.
‘It’s such a huge difference’
Walti arrived at Juventus last summer chasing something new after seven years in north London, where she helped Arsenal lift four major trophies, including the Champions League and WSL titles. What she found instead was a gulf.
"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 told BBC Sport. "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 keeps coming back to is “standards”. Professionalism. Infrastructure. Culture. All the things that have quietly become normal in England, she discovered, are anything but normal elsewhere.
"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."
For Walti, the contrast hit hard.
Empty stands, empty feeling
Walti missed more than just the intensity of the league. She missed the noise.
"I missed the feeling of being valued as a footballer, feeling like we're getting the full support we needed," she said.
At Juventus and across Serie A Femminile, the problem went beyond facilities.
"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.
"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.
"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."
For a player who made 183 appearances for Arsenal and helped shape the club’s modern era, the silence around her in Italy became deafening.
A generation that changed England – and a warning
Walti has lived the shift in England first-hand. She captained Switzerland at Euro 2025 on home soil, has passed 100 caps for her country, and belongs to the generation that dragged women’s football into the mainstream in the WSL.
She believes the blueprint is clear – and that other countries are still ignoring it.
"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.
"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.
"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."
For Walti, TV coverage is not a detail. It is part of the foundation. And it is far from the only missing piece.
‘Where do you even start?’
Ask her what is lacking and she does not hesitate.
"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.
"All of the other leagues, where do you even start? It's so hard. We have the same [issues] in Switzerland.
"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."
This is not theory for her. She remembers when England was nowhere near its current level.
"We used to not have good conditions. It wasn't professional. Our first salaries were not enough to live from," she said.
Now she looks around the WSL and sees what investment, time and stubbornness can build – and feels anger that so many players elsewhere are still left behind.
"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.
"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."
Why Brighton?
So when the time came to decide her future, with a year left on her Juventus deal, Walti did not just look for a club. She looked for an environment.
Brighton had already caught her eye from afar. The club have laid out plans for Europe’s first purpose-built women’s football stadium, a £75-80m project that underlines their intent. The women’s team moved into the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre in 2021 after an £8.5m investment in their facilities. On the pitch, they reached the Women’s FA Cup final for the first time in May and have been aggressive in the transfer market.
Dario Vidosic’s side are open about their ambition: break into the WSL’s top three. Walti wanted to be part of that push.
"After that experience in Italy, I knew a bit more about what I probably wanted, or didn't want," she said.
"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.
"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.
"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."
From empty stands to a club building its own stadium, from frustration to a project that matches her standards – Walti has chosen her side of the divide. The question now is how many more leading players will follow her path, and how many leagues will be left wondering why their best keep walking away.
