Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli, is a professional
Italian footballFootball is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italian national football team has won the FIFA World Cup 4 times , trailing only Brazil . Italy's club sides have won 27 major European trophies, making them the most successful European nation in the subject of football...
club based in
NaplesNaples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
and founded in 1926. The club has spent most of its history in
Serie ASerie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
, where it currently plays its
2011–12The 2011–12 Serie A is the eightieth season since its establishment, and the second under a league committee separate from Serie B. It began on 9 September 2011 and will end on 13 May 2012. The league was originally scheduled to start on 27 August, but this was delayed due to a strike by the players...
season.
Napoli has won Serie A twice, in 1986–87 and 1989–90. They have also won the
Italian CupThe Coppa Italia is an Italian football annual cup competition. Its first edition was held in 1922, but the second champions were not crowned until 1936. Roma and Juventus lead the way with nine wins. Roma has contested more finals, 16, while Torino and Juventus follow with 13...
three times and the
Italian Super CupThe Supercoppa Italiana is a pre-season football competition held the week before the season begins in Italy every year. It is contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season, as a curtain raiser to the new season. It is usually played at the home of the Serie A...
, and on the European stage have won the UEFA Cup in 1988–89. Napoli is also the most successful club in Southern Italy and the fourth most supported football club in Italy.
The club has had several name changes since first appearing in 1926; the most important of these was in 1964, when it was changed from Associazione Calcio Napoli to Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli. The most recent change was in 2004, when the club went
bankruptBankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
but was refounded by film producer
Aurelio De LaurentiisAurelio De Laurentiis is a prominent Italian film producer, through his company, Filmauro. He is also the current chairman of his native Italian football club Napoli....
as Napoli Soccer; he restored the name to Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli in early 2006.
History
- For more details on this topic, see History of S.S.C. Napoli
Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as simply Napoli, the most successful football club in Southern Italy and among the major clubs in the Italian Serie A, has a long history, which spans from its foundation in 1904 as Naples Foot-Ball Club to the present day.Napoli has been...
The first club was founded as Naples Foot-Ball & Cricket Club in 1904 by English sailor William Poths and his associate Hector M. Bayon. Neapolitans such as Conforti, Catterina and Amedeo Salsi were also involved, the latter of which was the club's first president. The original kit of the club was a sky blue and navy blue striped shirt, with black shorts. The name of the club was shortened to Naples Foot-Ball Club in 1906.
Early into its existence, the
Italian Football ChampionshipThe Italian Football Championship was the most senior football championship in Italy from the 1897/1898 season to the 1921/1922 season. In that last season, a concurrent championship, the Prima Divisione, was played by the richest clubs, which wanted to improve their income with a more elitarian...
was limited to just
NorthernNorthern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...
clubs, so Southern clubs competed against sailors or in cups such as
Thomas LiptonSir Thomas Johnstone Lipton, 1st Baronet, KCVO was a Scotsman of Ulster-Scots parentage who was a self-made man, merchant, and yachtsman. He created the Lipton tea brand and was the most persistent challenger in the history of the America's Cup.-Parentage and childhood:Lipton was born in Glasgow...
's
Lipton Challenge CupThe Lipton Challenge Cup also known as Coppa Lipton was a football competition competed between clubs from Southern Italy and Sicily. It was played during the period leading up to World War I when football in the country was still in its infancy....
. In the cup competed between Naples and
Palermo FBCUnione Sportiva Città di Palermo is an Italian football club from Palermo, Sicily which currently plays in Serie A, the top level of Italian football. Formed in 1900 as Anglo Panormitan Athletic and Football Club, the club had various names before assuming its final form in 1987 and is currently...
, Naples won three finals. The foreign contingent at the club broke off in 1912 to form
Internazionale NapoliUnione Sportiva Internazionale Napoli was an Italian football club from Naples. They were founded in 1912 and competed until their merger with Naples FBC to form what is today known as S.S.C. Napoli in 1922.-History:...
, in time for both club's debut in the Italian Championship of 1912–13. Though the sides had a keen rivalry in the Campania section, they were not as successful outside of it and a few years after World War I, they merged as Foot-Ball Club Internazionale-Naples, also known as FBC Internaples.
Associazione Calcio Napoli
Under the presidency of Giorgio Ascarelli, the club changed its name to Associazione Calcio Napoli on 23 August 1926. After a poor start, with a sole point in an entire championship, Napoli was readmitted to Serie A's forerunner National Division by the Italian FA, and began to improve thanks in part to
ParaguayParaguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
an-born
Attila SallustroAttila Sallustro born in Asunción, Paraguay was a professional Italian-Paraguayan football player. He is considered the first true idol at the club S.S.C. Napoli.-Biography:...
, who was the first fully fledged hero to the fans. He was a capable goal-scorer and eventually set the all-time goal-scoring record for Napoli, which still stands today.
Napoli entered the
Serie ASerie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
-era under the management of
William GarbuttWilliam Thomas Garbutt born in Hazel Grove, Stockport, most commonly known as Willy Garbutt was an English football player, and later a prominent coaching figure in Italian and Spanish football after his retirement...
. During his six-year stint, the club would be dramatically transformed, frequently finishing in the top half of the table. This included two third-place finishes during the 1932–33 and 1933–34 seasons, with added notables such as
Antonio VojakAntonio Vojak was a famous Italian football player whose career was played out during the 1920s and 1930s.He is most noted for his time with Juventus and Napoli, the latter of which he holds the second place all-time club record for goals scored in the Italian leagues.His younger brother Oliviero...
,
Arnaldo SentimentiArnaldo "Cherry" Sentimenti also known as Sentimenti II is a former Italian football player and coach from Bomporto in the Province of Modena...
and
Carlo BuscagliaCarlo Buscaglia was an Italian football player from Bastia di Balocco in the Province of Vercelli. He played club football most notably for Napoli...
. For the years leading up to World War II Napoli went into decline, surviving relegation in 1939–40 by goal average.
Napoli lost a closely contested relegation battle at the end of 1942 and were relegated to
Serie BSerie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...
. They moved from
Stadio Giorgio AscarelliStadio Giorgio Ascarelli, also known as Stadio Partenopeo, was a multi-use stadium in Naples, Italy. It was used mostly for football matches. The stadium was able to hold 40.000 people. During the 1934 World Cup, it hosted two games. The stadium was destroyed by bombardments during the World War...
to
Stadio Arturo CollanaStadio Arturo Collana is a football stadium in Naples, Italy; it is located in the Vomero area of the city. The stadium was built in the latter part of the 1920s, originally under the name Stadio XXVIII Ottobre....
and stayed in Serie B until after the war. When play continued, Napoli earned the right to compete in Serie A, but were relegated after two seasons for a bribery scandal. The club bounced back to ensure top flight football at the start of the 1950s. Napoli moved to their new home ground
Stadio San PaoloStadio San Paolo is a multi-purpose stadium in the western suburb of Fuorigrotta in Naples, Italy, and is the third largest football stadium in Italy after the San Siro and Stadio Olimpico. For the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, it hosted the football preliminaries. It is currently used mostly for...
in 1959. Despite erratic league form with highs and lows during this period, including a further relegation and promotion, Napoli had some cup success when they beat
SPALSPAL 1907 is an Italian football club, based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1907 as Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor and was refounded in 2005....
to lift the
Coppa ItaliaThe Coppa Italia is an Italian football annual cup competition. Its first edition was held in 1922, but the second champions were not crowned until 1936. Roma and Juventus lead the way with nine wins. Roma has contested more finals, 16, while Torino and Juventus follow with 13...
in 1962, with goals from Gianni Corelli and
Pierluigi RonzonPierluigi Ronzon is a former Italian football player from Gemona del Friuli in the Province of Udine. He played club football for some of the top clubs in his country, including Sampdoria, Napoli, Lazio, Atalanta and AC Milan....
. Their fourth relegation cut celebrations short the following season.
Napoli on the rise: Maradona era
As the club changed their name to Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli on 25 June 1964 they began to rise up again, gaining promotion in 1964–65. Under the management of former player
Bruno Pesaola, they won the
Coppa delle AlpiCoppa delle Alpi , was a football tournament, first organized by the Italian national league to start 1960 and then aided by the Swiss League in 1962 for the reason that the majority of the Alps are in Switzerland...
and were back amongst the elite in Serie A, with consistent top five finishes. Napoli came very close to winning the league in 1967–68, finishing just behind
AC MilanAssociazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan , is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, that plays in the Serie A. Milan was founded in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others...
in second place. Some of the most popular players from this period were
Dino ZoffDino Zoff is an Italian former football goalkeeper and is the oldest winner ever of the World Cup, which he earned as captain of the Italian team in the 1982 tournament in Spain, at the age of 40 years, 4 months and 13 days.Zoff was a goalkeeper of outstanding ability and has a place in the...
,
José AltafiniJosé João Altafini, is an Italian Brazilian former footballer. He is the joint-third highest scorer in Italian Serie A history with 216 goals. He currently holds the record for the highest no...
,
Omar SívoriEnrique Omar Sívori was an Italian Argentine football striker and manager. He is known for his time with the successful Juventus side during the late 1950s and early 1960s. At club level he also played for River Plate and Napoli.On the international level, he first appeared for the Argentine...
, and hometown midfielder
Antonio Juliano. Juliano would eventually break the appearance records, which still stand today.
The trend of Napoli performing well in the league continued into the 1970s, with third place spots in 1970–71 and 1973–74. Under the coaching of former player
Luís VinícioLuís Vinícius de Menezes, more famously known as Vinício was a professional football player, who played as a center forward. Although he is a Brazilian, Vinício played his entire career in Italy....
, this gained them entry into the early UEFA Cup competitions; in 1974–75 they reached the third round knocking out Porto 2–0 on the way. During the same season, Napoli finished second in Serie A; just two points behind champions
JuventusJuventus Football Club S.p.A. , commonly referred to as Juventus and colloquially as Juve , are a professional Italian association football club based in Turin, Piedmont...
. Solid performances from locally born players such as
BruscolottiGiuseppe Bruscolotti is a former Italian football player, who spent most of his career with S.S.C. Napoli...
,
Juliano and
EspositoSalvatore Esposito is a former Italian football player from Torre Annunziata in the Province of Naples...
were relied upon during this period, coupled with goals from
Giuseppe SavoldiGiuseppe Savoldi is a retired Italian professional football player, who played during the sixties, seventies and eighties. He played as an attacker for Atalanta, Bologna and S.S.C. Napoli, as well as the Italian national side.-Biography:Savoldi made his debut in Series A in 1965 with Atalanta...
.
After beating
SouthamptonSouthampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...
4–1 on aggregate to lift the
Anglo-Italian League CupThe Anglo-Italian League Cup was a short-lived football competition between clubs in England and Italy.-History:...
, Napoli were entered into the
UEFA Cup Winners' CupThe UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA. The first competition was held in the 1960–61 season—but...
for 1976–77, where they reached the semi-finals, losing 2–1 on aggregate to
AnderlechtRoyal Sporting Club Anderlecht, usually known as Anderlecht or RSCA , is a Belgian professional football club based in Anderlecht in the Brussels Capital Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian Pro League and is the most successful Belgian football team in European competitions as well as in the...
. The club won their second Coppa Italia trophy in 1975–76, knocking out
MilanAssociazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan , is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, that plays in the Serie A. Milan was founded in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others...
and
FiorentinaACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as simply Fiorentina, is a professional Italian football club from Florence, Tuscany. Founded by a merger in 1926, Fiorentina have played at the top level of Italian football for the majority of their existence; only four clubs have played in more Serie A...
en route, before beating rivals
VeronaHellas Verona Football Club is a professional Italian association football team, based in Verona, Veneto. The team's colours are yellow and blue and gialloblu is the team's most widely used nickname...
4–0 in the final. In terms of the Italian league, Napoli were still very much a consistent top six side for much of the late 1970s. Even into the earliest two seasons of the 1980s, the club were performing respectably with a third place finish in 1980–81, however by 1983 they had slipped dramatically and were involved in relegation battles.
Napoli broke the world transfer record fee, turning to
Diego MaradonaDiego Armando Maradona is a retired Argentine football player and widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time. Over the course of his professional club career Maradona played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newell's Old Boys, setting...
with a €12 million deal from
BarcelonaFutbol Club Barcelona , also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain....
on 30 June 1984. The squad was gradually re-built, with the likes of
Ciro FerraraCiro Ferrara is a former Italian footballer and current head coach of the Italy U-21 team. He spent his playing career as a defender initially at Napoli and later on at Juventus. He is also a former manager of Juventus.-Napoli:...
,
Salvatore BagniSalvatore Bagni is a former Italian football.Bagni is best remembered for his period at Napoli, where he won a scudetto in 1987, the first of two won by Napoli in its history....
, and
Fernando De NapoliFernando de Napoli is an Italian former professional footballer, who played as a winger during the 1980s and 1990s. During his career he won the scudetto four times.-Club:...
filling the ranks. The rise up the tables was gradual, by 1985–86, they had a third place finish under their belts, but better was yet to come. The 1986–87 season was the landmark in Napoli's history; they won the double, securing the Serie A title by three points and then beating
AtalantaAtalanta Bergamasca Calcio, commonly known as just Atalanta, Atalanta Bergamo or the abbreviation Atalanta BC, is an Italian football club based in Bergamo, Lombardy.They are nicknamed the Nerazzurri and the orobici...
4–0 to lift the Coppa Italia.
Because a mainland
Southern ItalianSouthern Italian , or Napoletano-Calabrese, is a group of Italo-Dalmatian Romance dialects spoken in Southern Lazio, Southern Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Basilicata, Apulia, and Northern Calabria....
team had never won the league before, this turned
Diego MaradonaDiego Armando Maradona is a retired Argentine football player and widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time. Over the course of his professional club career Maradona played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newell's Old Boys, setting...
into a cultural, social and borderline religious icon for Neapolitans, which stretched beyond the realms of just football.
The club were unsuccessful in the
European CupThe UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
in the following season and finished runners-up in Serie A. However, Napoli were entered into the UEFA Cup for 1988–89 and won their first major European title.
JuventusJuventus Football Club S.p.A. , commonly referred to as Juventus and colloquially as Juve , are a professional Italian association football club based in Turin, Piedmont...
,
Bayern MunichFC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....
, and
PAOKP.A.O.K. F.C. is a Greek association football club based in Thessaloniki, Greece. It is the largest supported football club in Macedonia.PAOK FC is the football department of Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans , a multi-sport club. Since its formation in 1926 the football club...
were defeated on the way to the final, where Napoli beat
StuttgartVerein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart, is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club is best known for its football team, which has participated in all but two Bundesliga seasons...
5–4 on aggregate, with two goals from
Careca and one each from Maradona, Ferrara and Alemão.
Napoli added their second Serie A title in 1989–90, beating Milan by two points in the title race. However, this was surrounded by less auspicious circumstances as Napoli were awarded two points for a game, when in
BergamoBergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...
, an Atalanta fan threw a ₤100
liraThe lira was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. Between 1999 and 2002, the Italian lira was officially a “national subunit” of the euro...
coin at Alemão's head. A controversial set of events set off at the
1990 World CupThe 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams representing 116 national football associations from all six populated...
, when Maradona made comments pertaining to North-South inequality in the country and the
risorgimentoItalian unification was the political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century...
, asking Neapolitans to root for
ArgentinaThe Argentina national football team represents Argentina in association football and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association , the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentina's home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti and their head coach is Alejandro...
in the semi-finals against
ItalyThe Italy National Football Team , represents Italy in association football and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation , the governing body for football in Italy. Italy is the second most successful national team in the history of the World Cup having won four titles , just one fewer than...
in Naples.
Napoli
ultrasUltras are a type of sports fans renowned for their fanatical support and elaborate displays. They are predominantly European followers of football teams...
responded by displaying a banner in their curva that read: "Maradona, Naples loves you, but Italy is our homeland". It was the only stadium during the competition where the
Argentine national anthemThe Argentine National Anthem is the national anthem of Argentina. The name of the song originally was Marcha Patriótica , and was later renamed Canción Patriótica Nacional and finally Canción Patriótica . A copy published in 1847 called it Himno Nacional Argentino and the name has remained ever...
wasn't jeered, Maradona bowed to the Napoli fans at the end and his country went on to reach the final. However, after the final the Italian Football Federation forced Maradona to take a doping test, which he failed testing positive for
cocaineCocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
; Napoli and he claimed it was a revenge plot for events at the World Cup. Maradona was banned for 15 months and would never play for the club again. The club still managed to win the
Supercoppa ItalianaThe Supercoppa Italiana is a pre-season football competition held the week before the season begins in Italy every year. It is contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season, as a curtain raiser to the new season. It is usually played at the home of the Serie A...
that year, with a record 5–1 victory against Juventus, but it would be their last major trophy. In the European Cup however, they went out in the second round.
Decline and rebirth
Though the club finished fourth during the 1991–92 season, Napoli gradually went into decline after that season, both financially and on the field. Players such as
Gianfranco ZolaGianfranco Zola, OBE, Ufficiale OMRI is a retired Italian footballer and manager, who most recently managed West Ham United from 2008 to 2010, after having been assistant manager of the Italy U-21 under Pierluigi Casiraghi...
,
Daniel FonsecaDaniel Fonseca Garis is an Uruguayan former footballer, now a football agent . As a forward, he played for Italy's S.S.C Napoli, A.S. Roma and Juventus....
,
Ciro FerraraCiro Ferrara is a former Italian footballer and current head coach of the Italy U-21 team. He spent his playing career as a defender initially at Napoli and later on at Juventus. He is also a former manager of Juventus.-Napoli:...
and Careca had all departed by 1994. Though Napoli did manage to qualify for the 1994–95 UEFA Cup, reaching the third round and in 1996–97, Napoli appeared at the Coppa Italia final, but lost 3–1 to
VicenzaVicenza Calcio is an Italian football club based in Vicenza, Veneto. The club was formed in 1902 and currently plays in Italy's Serie B, having spent the entire 1960s and a large part of the 1990s in Serie A...
. Napoli's league form had dropped lower, and relegation to Serie B came at the end of 1997–98 when they recorded only two wins all season.
The club returned to Serie A after gaining promotion in the 1999–2000 season, though after a closely contested relegation battle they were relegated back down. They failed to gain promotion following this and slipped further down. By August 2004, Napoli was declared bankrupt with debts estimated up to €70 million. To secure football in the city, film producer
Aurelio De LaurentiisAurelio De Laurentiis is a prominent Italian film producer, through his company, Filmauro. He is also the current chairman of his native Italian football club Napoli....
refounded the club under the name Napoli Soccer, as they were not allowed to use their old name. FIGC placed Napoli in Serie C1, where they missed out on promotion after losing 2–1 in play-offs to local rivals
AvellinoAssociazione Sportiva Avellino 1912 , since summer 2010, is the new name of the Italian football club, based in Avellino, Campania. The club was founded in 1912 and its traditional colours are green and white...
.
Despite the fact that Napoli were playing in such a low division, they retained higher average attendances than most of the
Serie ASerie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
clubs, breaking the Serie C attendance record with 51,000 at one game. The following season, they secured promotion to Serie B and De Laurentiis bought back the club's history, restoring its name to Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli in May 2006. After just one season back in Serie B, they were promoted on the final day, along with fellow sleeping giants
GenoaGenoa Cricket and Football Club, commonly referred to simply as Genoa , is a professional Italian football club based in the city of Genoa, Liguria...
. Napoli finished the season placed 8th in the Serie A, enough to secure a place in the
Intertoto CupThe UEFA Intertoto Cup, also abbreviated as UI Cup and originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition for European clubs that had not qualified for one of the two major UEFA competitions, the Champions League and the UEFA Cup. The competition was discontinued...
third round. That same year, Napoli also defeated five major teams,
MilanAssociazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan , is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, that plays in the Serie A. Milan was founded in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others...
,
InternazionaleFootball Club Internazionale Milano, often referred to as Internazionale or simply Inter, is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Italy. Outside Italy, the club is often called Inter Milan. They are the reigning FIFA Club World champions and Coppa Italia holders.Inter have always...
,
JuventusJuventus Football Club S.p.A. , commonly referred to as Juventus and colloquially as Juve , are a professional Italian association football club based in Turin, Piedmont...
,
FiorentinaACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as simply Fiorentina, is a professional Italian football club from Florence, Tuscany. Founded by a merger in 1926, Fiorentina have played at the top level of Italian football for the majority of their existence; only four clubs have played in more Serie A...
, and
UdineseUdinese Calcio is an Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and currently plays in the Serie A. Founded in 1896, Udinese is the second oldest club in the Serie A, after Genoa....
.
The 2008–09 season saw Napoli qualifying to the UEFA Cup via Intertoto Cup. However, the team was eliminated in the first round by Portuguese team Benfica. At the domestic level, Napoli made a very impressive start, proposing as one of the main candidates for a Champions League spot; however, results and performances quickly declined in mid-season, causing Napoli to fall down to 11th place in the league table, and leading to the dismissal of manager Edy Reja in March 2009, with
Roberto DonadoniRoberto Donadoni is an Italian football manager and former player, last in charge of Serie A club Cagliari.An attacking midfielder or winger known for pace and technique, he was a pillar of the powerhouse AC Milan teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s and one of the pioneers of Major League...
being appointed as his replacement.
Despite reinforcements in the summer transfer window, Napoli began the 2009–10 season began with a number of poor results. After a 2–1 loss to
RomaAssociazione Sportiva Roma, commonly referred to as simply Roma, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma have participated in the top-tier of Italian football for all of their existence but one season in the early 50s...
in October 2009, Donadoni was relieved of his duties and replaced by former
SampdoriaUnione Calcio Sampdoria is an Italian association football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria...
manager,
Walter MazzarriWalter Mazzarri is a retired Italian footballer and the current manager of S.S.C. Napoli.-Playing career:Mazzarri, a midfielder and a product of Fiorentina's youth system, made his professional debut in 1981 for Pescara of Serie B, and played a short Serie A stint in Cagliari the following season,...
. Under Mazzarri, Napoli climbed up the table, before finishing in 6th place to qualify for the Europa League. Napoli, under Mazzarri's guide and reinforced by players such as Edinson Cavani, spent part of the 2010–11 season in the second place, finally finishing third and qualifying directly to the group phase of the
2011–12 UEFA Champions LeagueThe 2011–12 UEFA Champions League is the 57th season of the European Cup, Europe's premier football tournament, and the 20th season in its current Champions League format. The final venue will be the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany...
.
Current squad
Out on loan
Retired numbers
- 10 –
Diego Armando Maradona, Second StrikerForwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...
, 1984–91
Notable players
Presidents
Below is the official presidential history of Napoli, from when Giorgio Ascarelli took over at the club in 1926, until the present day.
Eugenio Coppola
|align=left|1930–32
|-
|align=left|Vincenzo Savarese
|align=left|1932–36
|-
|align=left|Achille Lauro
|align=left|1936–40
|-
|align=left|Gaetano Del Pezzo
|align=left|1940
|-
|align=left|Tommaso Leonetti
|align=left|1940–41
|-
|align=left|Luigi Piscitelli
|align=left|1941–43
|-
|align=left|Annibale Fienga
|align=left|1943–45
|-
|align=left|Vincenzo Savarese
|align=left|1945–46
|}
|width="30"|
|valign="top"|
| Name |
Years |
| Pasquale Russo |
1946–48 |
| Egidio Musollino |
1948–51 |
| Alfonso Cuomo |
1951–52 |
| Achille Lauro |
1952–54 |
| Alfonso Cuomo |
1954–63 |
| Luigi Scuotto |
1963–64 |
| Roberto Fiore |
1964–67 |
| Gioacchino Lauro |
1967–68 |
| Antonio Corcione |
1968–69 |
| Corrado Ferlaino |
1969–71 |
| Ettore Sacchi |
1971–72 |
| Corrado Ferlaino |
1972–83 |
| Marino Brancaccio |
1983 |
|width="30"|
|valign="top"|
| Name |
Years |
| Corrado Ferlaino |
1983–93 |
| Ellenio F. Gallo |
1993–95 |
Vincenzo Schiano di Colella
(honorary president) |
1995–96 |
Gian Marco Innocenti
(honorary president) |
1997–98 |
Federico Scalingi
(honorary president) |
1999–00 |
| Giorgio Corbelli |
2000 |
| Salvatore Naldi |
2002–04 |
| Aurelio De Laurentiis Aurelio De Laurentiis is a prominent Italian film producer, through his company, Filmauro. He is also the current chairman of his native Italian football club Napoli....
|
2004– |
|}
Napoli have had many managers and trainers, some seasons they have had co-managers running the team. Here is a chronological list of them from 1926 onwards: