Football in Italy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Football in Italy is one of the most popular sports in that country. The Italian national football team has won the Football World Cup four times (1934, 1938, 1982, and 2006), trailing only Brazil (with five); Italy is the current title-holder. Italy's club sides have won 27 major European trophies, making them among the most successful footballing nations in Europe. Unfortunately, this success has long been plagued by bribing, game-rigging, rioting and other various incidents that have severely tarnished the image of football in Italy.
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[edit] History
Football was introduced to northern Italy in Genoa by mainly English and Swiss expatriates in the late 18th century.
The first matches were played in Genoa, Milan and Turin. The first clubs exclusively dedicated to this new kind of sport to be formed in Italy was Genoa Cricket & Football Club (1893).
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[edit] Scandals
Italian Soccer has been smeared by scandals, riots, game-rigging and other events. The most recent riot occurred on February 2, 2007. Violence caused by rioters and hooligans led to the death of an Italian police officer, and football in Italy has been canceled for a week, even withdrawing the national team from a friendly match with Romania scheduled the week after. L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, had a headline in its front-page editorial section that read "Italian football died last night".
[edit] National championship
A first national competition organized by the Italian Federation of Gymnastics (F.N.G.I.) was played in 1896 and won by the S. Udinese G.S. team from Udine (north east Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region). In 1897, a second national gymnastic-football tournament was staged by the FNGI and was won by S.G. Torinese. In 1898 the Federation Italienne du Football (FIF - FIGC) was finally formed and the first national championship was organized, with regional tournaments and playoffs. This is considered to be the first proper national football championship. The first national championship was won by Genoa Cricket & Football Club
F.I.F - F.I.G.C. Official Italian Championship
[edit] National team
The Italian national team, called Azzurri or squadra azzurra for their blue shirts, are the second-most successful national team in the world. Their honours include:
- 4 Football World Cups
- 1 European Football Championship
- 1 Olympic Gold Medal
- 5 European Championships U21
- 3 European Championships U18
- 2 European Championships U16
- 7 Summer Universiades
- 8 World Military Championships
- 1 European Futsal Championship
They have been finalists in:
- 2 World Cups
- 1 European Championship
- 2 Bronze medals at Olympic Games
- 2 European Championship U21
- 4 European Championship U18
- 3 European Championship U16
- 2 Summer Universiades
- 4 World Military Championships
[edit] World Champions Players
[edit] 1934
[edit] 1938
Note: Meazza and Ferrari are, with the Brazilians Cafu and Ronaldo (1994 & 2002), and Pelé (1958 & 1970), currently the only 5 players to have won 2 World Cup Finals.
[edit] 1982
- Zoff
- Gentile
- Scirea
- Collovati
- Bergomi
- Cabrini
- Oriali
- Tardelli
- Conti
- Graziani(8° Altobelli-88° Causio)
- Rossi
[edit] 2006
- Buffon
- Grosso
- Cannavaro
- Gattuso
- Toni
- Totti
- Camoranesi
- Zambrotta
- Perrotta
- Pirlo
- Materazzi
- Del Piero
- De Rossi
- Iaquinta
[edit] European Champions players
[edit] 1968
- Zoff
- Burgnich
- Salvadore
- Guarneri
- Facchetti
- Rosato
- Domenghini
- De Sisti
- Anastasi
- Mazzola S.
- Riva
[edit] European competitions for clubs
- 10 European Cups/Champions League won in 23 finals. (first is Spain with 11/20)
- 7 Cup Winners' Cups won in 11 finals (first is England with 8/13)
- 10 UEFA Cups/Fair Cups won in 18 finals (second is England with 10/17)
- 8 Supercups with 11 finals (second is England with 6/11)
In Total:
- Italy, 35 cups and 63 finals.
- England, 33 cups and 52 finals.
- Spain, 32 cups and 60 finals.
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Football in Italy
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