History of Juventus F.C.

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The history of Juventus Football Club covers over 100 years of the football from the club based in Turin, Italy. Established in 1897 the club would eventually become the most successful team^[1] in the history of Italian football and amongst the elite football clubs of the world^[2].

Contents 1 Formative years 1.1 Enter the Italian Championship 1.2 The Agnelli era begins 1.3 European success 1.4 The Lippi era 1.5 The "Calciopoli" scandal 1.6 Return to Serie A 2 References

[edit] Formative years

The club was founded on 1 November 1897 by a group of youngsters from the grammar school of Massimo D'Azeglio Lyceum in Turin. The people who decided to form the club were all between the ages of fourteen and seventeen,^[3] they came up with the idea of forming a club while sitting on a bench in Corso Re Umberto park.

Very little early documentation exists of the foundation, as during this early period in Italian football newspapers did not devote much space to the sport. One of the founding members; Enrico Canfari later wrote a document (in 1914) describing the birth of the club. The young founders heatedly discussed what to name the club; after a round of voting, the name was narrowed down to three choices, Società Via Fori, Società Sportiva Massimo D' Azeglio and Sport Club Juventus, they chose the latter.^[3] The men who were involved in the founding of Juventus were;^[4]

The first ever president was Eugenio Canfari (brother of Enrico), they played very early on at Piazza D'Armi in Crocetta, Turin. Juventus changed their name to Football Club Juventus in 1899^[5] the first ever colours of the club were pink and black, known in Italy as rosanero.

[edit] Enter the Italian Championship

Juventus eventually made their debut in the Italian Football Championship during the 1900 season, wearing their original pink shirts. The first ever game competed by the club in the championship, was on 11 May 1900 where they lost to FBC Torinese 1-0 at Piazza D'Armi.^[6] In their second ever season, Juventus fared better when they reached the semi-finals of the league by beating locals Ginnastica Torino 5-0, before losing to Milan Cricket 2-3.^[6]

The club decided to find a new kit in 1903, they asked an English player at the club; John Savage if he could help, Savage had a friend in Nottingham who supported Notts County and sent to Turin the world famous black and white striped shirts which they have used ever since.^[7] Around this period they also moved playing field to Velodromo Umberto I. For two seasons in a row, Juventus narrowly ended as runners-up to Genoa Cricket & Football Club, before beating them out for their first ever championship title victory in 1905.

Juventus had built up a strong squad, but soon after securing their first championship, president Alfredo Dick left the club after a large argument, taking with him several prominent players. Some of the staff at Juventus were considering moving the club out of Turin,^[8] so Dick left to form Foot-Ball Club Torino, also taking with him the lease for Velodromo Umberto I. The first ever Turin derby between the two clubs was played the next season on 13 January 1907 and has been an intense rivalry ever since.^[9]

From this period until the First World War, Italian football was dominated largely by other clubs, such as fellow Piedmont clubs Pro Vercelli and Casale.^[6]. The Juventus squad was steadily re-built after the war under the presidency of Corradino Corradini, and several players were called up to the Italian national team for the first time.^[10] Around this period goalkeeper Giampiero Combi debuted, he would go on to become a club hero.

[edit] The Agnelli era begins

Edoardo Agnelli of the Agnelli family, owners of the Fiat company gained control of the club in 1923.^[11] They had a private stadium in Villar Perosa (south-west of Turin) built and a complete set of facilities and services. This proved a good move for the club, as Juventus won their second Italian Championship during the 1925-26 season; they beat Alba Roma in the final with an aggregate score of 12-1, Antonio Vojak's goals were essential that season.^[6]

From the 1930-31 through the 1934-35 season, Juventus collected a record of five consecutive Italian league championships, four of which were under coach Carlo Carcano;^[6] the squad included the likes of Raimundo Orsi, Luigi Bertolini, Giovanni Ferrari and Luis Monti amongst others. Notably, the club reached the semi-finals of the Mitropa Cup before going out to Czechoslovakian side Slavia Prague^[12].

During 1933, Juventus moved to what is considered their first major home; Stadio Benito Mussolini, it was built in 1933 for the 1934 FIFA World Cup, holding a capacity of 65,000.^[13] It was originally named after Benito Mussolini who was Prime Minister of Italy at the time. Edoardo Agnelli died on 14 July 1935, this affected the club's league performance in a large manner as some of the most prominent players left soon after his death.

Although the club were unable to re-capture their form for the rest of the 1930s, they did finish as runners-up to Ambrosiana-Inter in the 1937-38 season.^[6] After-World War II the club's ground was re-named, Stadio Comunale and Edoardo's son Gianni Agnelli was put in place as honorary president;^[11] the club added two more scudetto championship's to their name in the 1949-50 and 1951-52 seasons, the latter of which was under the management of Englishman Jesse Carver. This kind of form would be a sign of things to come in the future.

After a dry spell, Juventus signed Welshman John Charles and Italo-Argentine Omar Sivori in 1957 to play alongside Giampiero Boniperti (who had been with the club since 1946). This system was very successful for Juventus and they won Serie A in 1957-58 and 1959-60 with Fiorentina finishing second on both occasions, the latter of which was Juventus' first ever double, as they also won the Coppa Italia that season. This record breaking squad became the first Italian clubs to win ten championships in 1961, in recognition of this the club were awarded a Golden Star for Sport Excellence (Stella d'Oro al Merito Sportivo) to wear on their shirt. Notably, Omar Sivori became the first Juventus player to win the European Footballer of the Year that year too.^[14]

When Boniperti retired in 1961, he retired as the all-time top scorer at the club, with 182 goals in all competitions; a club record which would last for 45 years. The last Juventus championship victory came with Heriberto Herrera as coach in 1966-67,^[6] a notable players of this time was the reliable defender Sandro Salvadore.

[edit] European success

Juventus further solidified themselves as a tower of strength in Italian football during the 1970s by winning the scudetto in 1971-72, 1972-73, 1974-75 and 1976-77.^[6] Coached in the early part of the decade by Čestmír Vycpálek, a Czech who had once played with Juventus (and Palermo), the Old Lady built up a strong squad of players to push them forward, with Gaetano Scirea, Roberto Bettega, Fabio Capello, and Brazilian José Altafini who would become the joint-third highest scorer in Serie A history.^[15]

Franco Causio also became a very popular player at the club during the 1970s, in fact he was so popular that the club allowed him to wear his hair long, prior to Causio this was against the rules.^[16] The club also provided the team with official formal wear (made by famous tailors) and forced them to complete their educational studies. Most of its players remained with Juventus until the end of their careers; many were given jobs with the club or for Fiat (and related companies) after playing retirement. Although Juventus were successful in Italy, European success eluded them until they won the UEFA Cup 1976-77, this was achieved against Spanish opposition in the form of Athletic Bilbao with goals from Marco Tardelli and Bettega. The UEFA Cup was won under the management of Giovanni Trapattoni, who continued on with Juventus through the 1980s, breaking club longevity records.^[17]

Under Trapattoni, Juventus dominated the early part of the 1980s in Serie A, the club won the league in 1980-81, 1981-82 and 1983-84.^[6] The second title of which allowed the club to add another golden star above their crest (the only club to achieve this), marking 20 scudetto titles. The club's players were also achieving a lot of notability in the wider scheme of football, Paolo Rossi who had led Italy to victory in the 1982 FIFA World Cup was awarded the European Footballer of the Year in 1982. Juve's French midfielder, Michel Platini was awarded the same title for three years in a row; 1983, 1984 and 1985, a record.^[14] Juventus is the only club to have players from their club winning the award in four consecutive years.^[14]

The height of European success was not reached until the mid-80s, when Juventus won the 1985 European Cup by beating Liverpool 1-0, with a penalty scored by Platini. However, the final match was marred by a tragedy which would change European football; the Heysel Stadium disaster, in which 39 people (mostly Juventus fans) were killed by the stadium collapsing, it has been named "the darkest hour in the history of the UEFA competitions."^[18]

With the exception of winning the closely contested Italian Championship of 1985-86 over Roma and Napoli, the rest of the 1980s were not very successful for the club. As well as having to content with Diego Maradona's Napoli, both of the Milanese clubs Milan and Inter were picking up Italian championships^[6]. In 1990, Juventus moved into their new home; Stadio delle Alpi, this was built for the 1990 World Cup and also because Juventus' old ground which they shared with Torino, Stadio Comunale had been reduced in size.

[edit] The Lippi era

Marcello Lippi an Italian who had recently left Napoli as a coach, took over as Juventus manager in 1994. His first season at the helm of the club was a successful one as Juventus recorded their first Serie A championship title since the mid-1980s.^[6] The squad of this period featured former Napoli captain Ciro Ferrara; a defender who had joined the Old Lady with Lippi, Roberto Baggio, Gianluca Vialli and a young Alessandro Del Piero, who had just broke into the squad and would become heir to Baggio's throne.

Although in the following season they finished as runners-up to A.C. Milan at home, Juventus were victorious in the UEFA Champions League 1995-96 final. This was the second time in the club's history that they won the trophy, the match was competed against Dutch side Ajax; after 90 minutes the score was level at 1-1, with Fabrizio Ravanelli scoring for Juve. The Italian club won the penalty shootout 4-2 securing them as champions; Vladimir Jugović scored the deciding penalty kick.^[19]

During the following years a second wave of what are considered Lippi-era legends joined; Christian Vieri, Zinédine Zidane, Filippo Inzaghi and Edgar Davids. Since the Champions League victory, Juventus won their home league twice more and the European Super Cup. They also reached the 1997 and 1998 Champions League finals, losing out to Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid respectively.^[20]

The latter part of the 1990s was a heated time for rivalries, especially with title rivals Inter^[21] and Roma. Roma manager Zdeněk Zeman accused Juventus physicians of doping their players from 1993 until 1998. However, after official inquiries and two trials, Juventus were cleared of all charges by the international Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland. Neither the pharmaceutical substances that were in question were banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency nor did any Juventus players have positive test results for any illegal doping substances.^[22]

Lippi left Juventus for rivals Inter briefly, but returned to Juve after one season, signing a the third wave of Lippi-era players; Gianluigi Buffon, David Trézéguet, Marcelo Salas, Pavel Nedvěd and Lilian Thuram amongst others. He led the team to two more Serie A titles in the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons.^[6] Juventus also appeared in an all Italian Champions League final in 2002-03, against A.C. Milan; the game ended in a 0-0 draw, and so had to be decided by a penalty shootout, but this time Juventus lost with three out of five players missing their penalty. Lippi left the following year as he was appointed by the Italian national team as head coach, he would go on to win the 2006 FIFA World Cup with them two years later.

[edit] The "Calciopoli" scandal

This article or section may be slanted towards recent events. Please try to keep recent events in historical perspective. (January 2008)

Since 2004, Fabio Capello had taken over the club, and lead them to two more Serie A titles. But during May 2006, Juventus were one of four clubs (along with AC Milan, Fiorentina, and Lazio) linked to a Serie A match fixing scandal. At the center of the acusations was Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi, who was acused of influencing referees and even the false imprisonment of one; no players were accused of any wrong-doing. Moggi along with two other members of the board resigned on May 13. The clubs involved were ordered to stand trial, around this time Gianluca Pessotto almost lost his life when he fell from a 4th story window, the media suggested that it could have been a suicide attempt because of the stress of trial.^[23]

Manager Capello, left for Real Madrid before the verdict had been handed out. FIGC prosecutor Stefano Palazzi called the four clubs to be thrown out of Serie A and that Juventus have their last two title's stripped.^[24] The sentences saw Juventus stripped of two titles, and relegated to Serie B for the first time in their history.^[25] The club was also docked 30 points for the 2006-2007 season, which was reduced to 17 points and finally 9 points after an appeal. Numerous players left the club, including European Footballer of the Year and 2006 World Cup winning captain, Fabio Cannavaro, two players were also sold to rivals Inter for €34.3 million. However, some highly rated players remained loyal; Gianluigi Buffon, captain Alessandro Del Piero, Pavel Nedvěd, Mauro Camoranesi and David Trézéguet.

Since the trial, further controversy has emerged due to the perceived bias in favour of the main beneficiary Inter, who finished 3rd but were awarded the 2005-06 title. Serie A's referee appointing official stated Inter were as bad as the other clubs involved and should have been punished too,^[26] adding even more to this is the fact that Telecom Italia, the company who illegally^[27] caught the Moggi phone taps, was controlled by president of Inter's main sponsor Pirelli; Marco Tronchetti Provera who successively appointed then FIGC commissioner (and loyal Inter fan^[28]) Guido Rossi as new CEO. Also the newspaper which first broke claims of the "scandal" as "facts"; Gazzetta dello Sport is heavily subsidized by Inter owners, the Moratti family.^[27]

[edit] Return to Serie A

Main article: Juventus F.C. 2006-07 season

Juventus played outside of Serie A for the first time ever, in the 2006-07 season; their first game in Serie B ended in a 1-1 draw away to Rimini. The initial 30-point--the equivalent of having 10 wins count for nothing--made it very likely that Juve would not return to Serie A until 2008 at the earliest, but the eventual reduction to nine points gave the club a fighting chance of returning to the top flight.

During December 2006, two 17 year old Juventus youth team players; Alessio Ferramosca and Riccardo Neri died at the clubs training center after trying to recover a football that had fallen into the ice-cold water.^[29] Former player Didier Deschamps took over as manager. By May 2007 Juventus was assured of finishing no worse than second, clinching a spot in Serie A for the next season. They finished the season as champions.

For their return to Serie A in the 2007-08 season former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri will be at the helm of the Old Lady.^[30]

[edit] References

Juventus Football Club v • d • e
Club: General | History | Honours | Records | Youth | Center | Channel Personnel: Players | Coaches | Derbies: Derby d'Italia | Derby della Mole Stadiums: Stadio delle Alpi | Stadio Olimpico di Torino Seasons: 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09