Lia Walti's Journey: From Juventus to Brighton and the Fight for Recognition

Lia Walti did not leave Juventus for a new adventure. She left because she stopped feeling like a footballer.

The Switzerland captain, now back in the Women's Super League with Brighton, is blunt about what pulled her away from Italy and dragged her back to England: standards, culture, and the simple desire to feel valued.

‘I missed feeling valued’

Walti arrived at Juventus last summer as a serial winner. Seven years at Arsenal had brought four major trophies, including the Champions League and a WSL title, and 183 appearances that cemented her as one of the league’s most reliable midfielders.

Italy was supposed to be a fresh challenge. Instead, it became a jarring reality check.

"It's such a huge difference," she told BBC Sport, careful not to turn her experience into an attack on Serie A Femminile but unwilling to pretend. The gap in professionalism, she said, was "extreme".

She missed the WSL’s structure. She missed the crowds. More than anything, she missed the feeling that the game around her was treated as elite.

"I missed the feeling of being valued as a footballer, feeling like we're getting the full support we needed," Walti said.

In England, she had grown used to proper training facilities, well-kept pitches, and stadiums – big or small – that felt alive. In Italy, she found the opposite.

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

For a player who had lived through the WSL’s rise, it was a shock. When you have felt stadiums fill, when you have watched an entire league accelerate, the silence hits harder.

England’s ‘not normal’ standard

Walti is clear on one point: what happens in the WSL is not yet the global benchmark. It is the exception.

"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," she said. "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."

That perspective has been earned over a long international career. Walti has more than 100 caps for Switzerland and captained her country at Euro 2025 on home soil. She has seen the game from the inside as it has grown in England, while other countries have stalled.

Her frustration runs deeper than crowds or training grounds. She believes the way the game is presented to fans can either accelerate growth or strangle 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 many other countries, she sees poor coverage and poor production values as a major barrier.

"It's not shown [on TV] at all, or if it's shown, from where they film it, is really poor," she said. "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."

Bad pitches, lost talent

For Walti, television is only one piece of a much bigger problem.

"The biggest lacking starts with pitch quality," she said. Too often, games are played on the worst artificial surfaces or torn-up natural grass. It is not just an aesthetic issue; it kills the football.

"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."

The issue is not confined to Italy. She points to Switzerland as facing similar problems. The pattern repeats: poor pitches, limited investment, low visibility, and a conveyor belt of talent that never reaches its potential.

"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," she said.

Walti speaks with a mix of privilege and anger. She knows she is one of the fortunate ones.

"We used to not have good conditions. It wasn't professional. Our first salaries were not enough to live from," she recalled of her early days in England.

Now she trains and plays in environments that many players can only imagine. That contrast fuels her.

"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."

In Italy, she tried to use her voice. It did not move the needle.

"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, why now

So when she sat down to consider her future, with a year still left on her Juventus contract, Walti knew what she could no longer accept. She needed a club that matched her standards and her ambition.

Brighton were already on her radar.

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

She had watched the club from afar during her Arsenal days. She had listened to players talk. What she heard stuck.

"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."

The evidence is visible. In 2021, Brighton’s women’s team moved into the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre after an £8.5m investment. In April, the club announced plans for Europe’s first purpose-built women's football stadium, a £75-80m project that underlines long-term intent.

On the pitch, the momentum is building too. They reached the Women's FA Cup final for the first time in May and, under head coach Dario Vidosic, have set their sights on breaking into the WSL’s top three.

For a 33-year-old who has lived the full arc of the women’s game – from part-time wages to sold-out stadiums – those details matter.

"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 has not just chosen Brighton to extend her career. She has chosen a club that, in her eyes, reflects where she believes the women’s game must go.

The question now is whether more leagues – and more clubs – are willing to follow, or whether players like her will keep having to leave to feel like professionals.