Vatican City Championship

Vatican City Championship
Founded 1 May 1972[1]
Country Vatican City
Number of teams 8
Level on pyramid 1
Relegation to None
Domestic cup(s) Coppa Sergio Valci
Supercoppa
Current champions Santos (1st title)
(2017)
Most championships Dirseco
(8 titles)
Website http://www.sportinvaticano.com

The Vatican City Championship (Italian: Campionato della Citta Vaticano) is the top men's association football league of Vatican City. Founded in 1972 as the Coppa Amicizia, teams are composed of workers representing various state departments.[2] Teams are permitted to field an outside player from Italian amateur teams to play as goalkeeper.[3] The league's best players are combined to form the Vatican City national team for rare friendly matches.[4] The Vatican football association, Federazione Vaticanese Giuoco Calcio, is not a member of FIFA[5] and is overseen by its president Domenico Ruggerio as of May 2014.[4] All matches are played at the Associazione Sportivo La Salle complex in Western Rome, although the larger Campo Cardinale Francis Joseph Spellman served as home until recently.[6] The league has amateur status with matches and training taking place outside of work hours. Matches take place on Mondays and Tuesdays.[7] Equipment and uniforms are occasionally donated by organizations and benefactors[8] with deficits being covered by the Vatican government.[9] The league takes place between October and May each year with a two-month break in December and January.[3]

History

The first organized football took place in the Vatican in 1947 when a four-team league was staged. The final that year was contested between Pontifical Villas and Fabbrica di San Pietro.[10] The league was suspended shortly after creation because of fierce competitiveness. Only friendly matches were allowed for the next two decades until another league was reformed in 1966. Seven teams competed during the first season with employees of L’Osservatore Romano, the vatican newspaper, claiming the first championship.[11] The current league was founded as the Coppa Amicizia, later renamed the Campionato della Citta Vaticano, by Sergio Valci who was former president of the FA and a Vatican healthcare employee until his death in 2012.[1]

A secondary cup known as the Coppa ACDV was created in 1985. It was renamed the Coppa Sergio Valci in 1994. The Vatican Supercoppa began in 2005 and sees the winner of the Campeonato della Citta Vaticano face the Coppa ACDV winners.[2][11]

Current Clubs

Teams
Ass. SS. Pietro e Paolo
Circolo San Pietro
DirTel Team
Fortitudo 2007
Corpo Della Gendarmeria Gruppo Sportivo Sez. Calcio
FC Guardia
Musei Vaticani
Santos F.C.
Rappresentativa OPBG

Champions

Season Champions
Coppa Amicizia
1973 Osservatore Romano
1974 Governatorato
1975-1978 Not held
1979 Astor Osservatore Romano
1980 Not held
Campionato della Citta Vaticano
1981 Malepeggio Edilizia
1982 Hercules Biblioteca
1983 SS Hermes[nb 1]
1984 Virtus Vigilanza
1985 Teleposte
1986 Teleposte
1987 Tipografia Osservatore Romano
1988 Servici Tecnici
1989 Associazione S.S. Pietro e Paolo
1990 Servizi Economici
1991 Dirseco
1992 Dirseco
1993 Dirseco
1994 Dirseco
1995 Dirseco
1996-2000 Not known
2001 Associazione S.S. Pietro e Paolo
2002-2004 Not known
2005 Galacticos Musei Vaticani
2006 Cirioni AS
2007 Cirioni AS
2008 Associazione S.S. Pietro e Paolo
2009 Gendarmeria
2010 Dirseco
2011 Dirseco
2012 Dirseco
2013 San Pietro Team
2014 San Pietro Team
2015 Musei Vaticani
2016 Musei Vaticani
2017 Santos

Top scorers

Season Team Scorer Goals Ref.
1973–2006 Unknown
2007 Musei Vaticani Alessandro Quarta [12]
2008 Cirioni-Fortitudo Corrado Rossi [13]
2009–2010 Unknown
2011 Dirseco Armando Goxhaj 15 [14]
2012–2014 Unknown
2015 Musei Vaticani Alessandro Quarta 19 [15]
2016 Fortitudo 2007/Pantheon Flaviano Sperati 20 [16]
2017 DirTel Armando Goxhaj 22 [17]

Notable former players and coaches

References

  1. 1 2 Argano, Fabrizia. "Il Campionato in Vaticano: "Papa Francesco tifa per noi"" (in Italian). corrieredellosport.it. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Zinelli, L. "Vatican City - List of Champions". RSSSF. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  3. 1 2 Collodi, Luca. "Al via il Campionato di calcio in Vaticano" (in Italian). Radio Vaticano. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  4. 1 2 Montague, James. "A Friendly Games for a Beatific State". New York Times. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  5. ↑ Baxter, Kevin. "Vatican soccer tournament is a competition of Biblical proportions". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  6. ↑ McGuiness, Pat. "VATICAN CITY: A POTTED HISTORY". Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  7. ↑ Nuti, Nicola. "Anche il Vaticano ha il suo campionato interno di calcio" (in Italian). News Cattoliche. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  8. ↑ Nuti, Nicola. "Vaticano: 7 squadre per il campionato di calcio" (in Italian). News Cattoliche. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  9. 1 2 Mattei, Giampaolo. "Lo scudetto vaticano? Ai Gendarmi E per gli Svizzeri "zero tituli"" (in Italian). vatican.va. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  10. 1 2 "Chi Siamo" (in Italian). Sport in Vaticano. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  11. 1 2 Nolan, Kevin. "The unlikely marriage between football and Vatican City". These Football Times. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  12. ↑ Schöggl, Hans. "Vatican City 2007". RSSSF. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  13. ↑ Schöggl, Hans. "Vatican City 2008". RSSSF. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  14. ↑ Schöggl, Hans. "Vatican City 2010/11". RSSSF.
  15. ↑ Schöggl, Hans. "Vatican 2015". RSSSF. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  16. ↑ Schöggl, Hans. "Vatican 2016". RSSSF. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  17. ↑ "2017 Classifica" (in Italian). Sport in Vaticano. Retrieved 10 May 2017.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ later renamed Musei Vaticani

See also

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