Football in Italy has become a real rite collective, one passion which is handed down from generation to generation that unites And divide. To identify the precise moment in which this sport has reached our country, we must go back to the end ofNineteenth centurywhen sailors And traders English They made the first games in European ports. From then on, within a few decades, a phenomenon was born that has shaped and continues to shape not only the sporting world, but also ours society And the national identity. There Serie Athe great teamsthe epic nights of the 1980s -90the wounds of Calciopoli: Telling the evolution of Italian football means, in some ways, retracing the history of the country itself.
Who brought football to Italy and where he was born: the first team
The landing of football in Europe And not only that, it is above all thanks to sailors and gods traders English that, in the ports of the cities in which they arrived, they took their free time with the ball, between shots and goals, stimulating the curiosity of the locals. Not surprisingly, the first football clubs were born in the maritime city, offices of important ports. To make some examples: in France The oldest team was born a Havre In the 1872 and, in the same year, in Spain it was constituted The Huelva Ricreation Club. In Italythe first football team would seem to have been established in 1887 in Turin from Edoardo Bosio, employee of a commercial company with frequent relations with England. Then followed the Genoa Cricket and Football Clubborn the September 7th 1893 At the British consulate of Genoa by about thirty members who surprisingly paid only ten lire each.
The first Italian official football tournament was organized in 1896 in Treviso from Gymnastics Federationwhile the first real Italian championship Umberto I was played at the Velodrome in Turin theMay 8th 1898by the Italian Football Federation (FIF). The Genoa he imposed himself on FC Torinese, Turin and International Gymnastics Turin, conquering what would then go down in history as the First “Scudetto”.
There FIFthen became FIGC Starting from 1909was established about two months before the championship precisely by the representatives of the participating teams, for the purpose of organize and regular All football activities in Italy.
The birth of Serie A in Italy
The first edition of the Italian single group championship as we know it today, however, the kick -off 6 October 1929 and the July 13, 1930 With the victory of the Ambrosiana led by Arpad Weisz. Over the years, the maximum Italian competition has evolved and changes have been made on several fronts, for example with respect to the number of teams participants or al system score (which, in case of victory, went from 2 to 3 points in 1994).
In the golden register of Serie A, the team with the largest number of victories is Juventus (36), followed by Inter (20), Milan (19) and Genoa (9). In addition to the numbers and victories, large formations and important sporting periods have alternated over time that have made our football system, one of the most important in the world.
The great teams and great champions
Over time there have been many formations, represented by great champions, who gave prestige to Serie A. The most famous example is probably the so -called “Great Turin”, Piedmontese Rosa that between the 1935 and the 1949 He put the other teams to the test showing great skill, talent and team spirit, win 2 Italian Cups And 5 consecutive badges. In addition to the titles conquered, in those years the Great Turin marked several records: 88 races consecutive housewives without defeats (almost 8 years), 125 goals marked, the wider victory in the Serie A (10-0 against Alexandria) and a goal difference equal to +92 in the same season (1947-48). The epilogue of this heroic rose, unfortunately, was truly dramatic and went down in history as the Tragedy of Superga. The May 4, 1949 The players and the staff of Turin, returning home from a trip for a game against Benfica, remained victims of an air crash against the Basilica of Superga, in which they lost their lives Ben 31 people.
Many others are the great teams that, then, took turns over time: the Milan of the Dutch (Van Basten, Gullit and Rijkaard), The Inter of the Triplete (led by José Mourinho and winner of the Italian Cup, Scudetto and Champions League in the same season) or even the Juventus of the 9 consecutive badges.
The periods that have left their mark
Analyzing our championship from a temporal point of view, we can identify some periods who remained in the collective imagination of the fans and who made the history of this sport.
The twenty years among the 80s they 90sfor example, was characterized by the advent of teams and champions who made the Serie A of the time one of the most important championships on the world football scene. In those years football could count on legendary champions: Maldini, Baresi, Van Basten, Scirea, Platini, Maradona, Baggio, Viallli, Matthäus (just to name a few).
The teams of the Italian championship distinguished themselves, then, in the same period also internationally for the victory of 4 samples cups (now Champions League), 7 UEFA cups (current Europa League), 4 Cup Cup And 7 UEFA Super Cup. As proof of the high quality of the Italian football system of that time, moreover, the conquest of the Third world title In the 1982 by the blue national team led by Enzo Bearzot.
However, the story of our football did not have only extremely positive moments like those just remembered in the center. Equally characterizing and rooted, they are some more unpleasant and controversial episodes. First of all, the scandal of “Calciopoli“. With this term, in journalistic language, we refer to a series of sports offenses who have tried to encourage some teams to the detriment of others and who have shocked the entire football sector on the eve of the World Cup 2006. Specifically, a series of telephone interceptions had brought to light a network of possible conditioning in which some were involved leaders of the Serie A teams, both i top of the FIGC and of the arbitration system. These are very serious episodes with processes and harsh convictions by justice.
In fact, at the end of the legal process, there were a series of resignation at the highest levels of the Italian football system to which they added significant measures both for the teams involved (think of the relegation ex officio for Juventus or at points penalties towards Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina and Reggina), both for the manager of the clubs concerned, who responded to the areas of sports justice and, in some cases, also of the ordinary one.
