A survey carried out by the polling agency CIRM on behalf of the daily newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport found 51 percent of supporters say Italian football is in crisis.
An overwhelming 63 percent said the reasons behind the slump are "the excessive importance of economic and commercial factors" with only 17 percent blaming tactical factors.
Following Lazio's exit from the quarter-finals of the Champions League at the hands of Spain's Valencia on Tuesday, Italy is left with no teams in the semifinal stages of European club competitions for the first time in 13 years.
In the past 12 months Italy has dropped from fourth place in the FIFA world rankings to 14th position, placing the former world champions behind countries such as Romania and Norway.
Although Italy qualified for the finals of June's European Championship, Dino Zoff's side failed to impress and have lost three of their last five games.
An editorial in Gazzetta put the blame for the decline on the huge numbers of foreign players that have arrived in Italy since the Bosman ruling in 1995.
There are currently 250 foreign players in Italy compared with just 66 four seasons ago and 78 players with dual nationality or naturalised EU citizenship. Noting the reluctance of the European Union to overturn or amend the Bosman ruling, which eliminated restrictions on the number of foreign players clubs can sign, the paper called for Italian clubs to change their attitudes and take a more long term view of the development of the game.
Reuters
More than half of Italian soccer fans say that commercialisation is behind the downturn in fortunes experienced by their country's football teams.
