Exclusive:BBC Alba agrees Serie A TV rights deal as Scotland stars to feature in groundbreaking opening match

So why shouldn’t we enjoy watching Scots play for Italian clubs on free-to-air television? Well, from Sunday we can. Nearly 35 years after those of a certain age became Serie A addicts courtesy of Channel 4 and the golden age of Gazzetta Football Italia, BBC Alba – yes, you read that correctly - have paid a six-figure sum to show up to eight live matches from the Italian top-flight between now and the end of the season. What’s Gaelic for Golazzo?

In news that seems as surreal as it is astounding, a channel more used to showing SPFL Challenge Cup games is venturing into one of the big five leagues in Europe. After the BBC signed a deal to show all Scotland international matches leading up to the World Cup, BBC Alba were keen to take advantage of the opportunity to broadcast the adventures of those Italian-based Scots vying for a spot in the North America.

A BBC sports department executive contacted Serie A last year to enquire about licensing rights possibilities because of the growing clan.

Clearly Scott McTominay is the major sell, much like Paul Gascoigne was in the early 1990s. In contrast with Gazza, who only had David Platt and Des Walker for company, McTominay has a significant supporting cast: currently injured teammate Billy Gilmour, Che Adams at Torino, Bologna skipper Lewis Ferguson and Josh Doig at Sassuolo. Then there’s Lennon Miller, who has started featuring weekly for Udinese, as well as the newest arrival, former Hibs striker Kieron Bowie at Hellas Verona.

Scotland manager Steve Clarke will be among those most excited by the news as he bid to keep tabs on players playing a long way from home. It’s one of the challenges he faces. By contrast, the last time Scotland qualified for a World Cup in 1998, Craig Brown’s squad featured just one player playing outside the British Isles: Scott Booth.

Compared with Channel 4’s relatively limited scope back in the day with regards players with British links, there’s a veritable smorgasbord of Scots for BBC Alba to cover. Their problem might be choosing which game to feature. Take this weekend for example. McTominay is on another roll with 5 goals in his last nine outings, including last Saturday’s screamer in Napoli’s 3-2 win over Genoa. The reigning champions host fifth-placed AS Roma on Sunday evening in what is undoubtedly the game of the weekend.

The Scottish tie to kick it all off

This would likely have been BBC Alba’s first pick to kick-off their unexpected partnership with Serie A. On this occasion, however, they must kowtow to TNT Sports, who have an existing deal where they can cover two matches per matchday week. They’ve plumped for Napoli v AS Roma, understandably. That kicks off at 7.45pm UK-time at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Still, plenty other matches with Scottish interest. For the big launch, BBC Alba have opted for Torino v Bologna, which kicks-off at 5pm. Or alternatively, Adams v Ferguson. Two Scots could be just one fewer than are playing in the top of the table Rangers v Hearts clash on Sky Sports that clashes with this historic first broadcast.

BBC Alba might have gone for Udinese v Sassuolo – or Miller v Doig - or Parma v Hellas Verona, where Bowie is set to make his second start for the bottom-of-the-league visitors after his debut in last week’s 0-0 draw with Pisa.

An advance party is already in Turin to prepare. Whether they will have someone as charismatic as James Richardson to flick through the pink pages of La Gazzetta dello Sport while sipping espresso remains to be seen. Maybe BBC Alba might hire the man himself. An even more obvious recruit is former Rangers and Hearts midfielder Derek Ferguson, father of Lewis. He will provide insight - in English - while regular BBC Alba commentator Alex O'Henley will describe the action in Gaelic. Initially, they will do so from a studio in Uddingston. Richardson would struggle to find a suitable pavement cafe there.

They wouldn’t be doing it right if they didn’t pay some kind of homage to Channel 4’s coverage during Serie A's heyday. This is when the primeval scream of "Gollllll-azzo!" entered everyday usage for an extended period. No playground goal celebration was complete without someone anointing the occasion with this commentary flourish.

Coverage began on 6 September 1992, with a football smashing into the Channel 4 logo. It bruised green, white and red, the colours of the Italian flag. A BBC graphics team has created similar visual effects for the BBC Alba launch and they are also using the same soundtrack as Channel 4, I’m Stronger Now by Definitive Two.

With no top flight fixtures in Scotland because the national team were preparing for a World Cup qualifying opener against Switzerland, Scottish football fans relished the chance to watch Channel 4's first match from the comfort of their own home on a Sunday afternoon. Around three million British viewers enjoyed a thrilling six-goal draw between Sampdoria and Lazio.

The new BBC Alba tie-up has been welcomed within Italian football. “We work very closely with Serie A to promote Italian football in every country, in as many languages as possible,” said Italo Zanzi, executive chairman of Hellas Verona. “This is completely aligned with that objective. Scottish football is in a very positive place right now in my mind, both with the international team and domestically. Obviously we have had many players who have not only come to Italy, but really succeeded.”

He hopes one of them will be Bowie, for whom he sanctioned an initial €6 million fee. The influx of players from Scotland, he continued, “warrants as much coverage as possible in Scotland. The idea that BBC Alba has become a broadcast partner for us is a wonderful thing.

“At a club level, we are thrilled to have Kieron,” he added. “We believe in him today and tomorrow. We are confident he will do very well for us and earn a spot on the World Cup team.”

Born in New York to Chilean parents, Zanzi’s father’s family were Italian. He is tickled by the idea of Italian league games being broadcast in Scotland in Gaelic. “I am an ethnic hybrid,” he said. Born in 1974, he is of an age to remember the glory days of Serie A in the late 1980s and early 90s.

“I was watching from the US, not Scotland, during those days and the memories created were valuable for the league and its growth,” Zanzi, a former CEO at AS Roma, recalled. “Now this is helping bring back some of the mystique."