History of SSC Napoli
Naples English roots and Internapoli
from 1896 to 1926
Ascarelli era with Sallustro and Vojak
from 1926 to 1930
Two third places and the Europa Cup
from 1930 to 1939
The 40s, relegations and promotions across WWII
from 1940 to 1949
The goals of Jeppson, Pesaola and Vinício
from 1950 to 1959
The first Italian Cup with foreign-born Italians
from 1960 to 1968
Ferlaino era starts
from 1969 to 1972
Vinício and the total football
from 1973 to 1980
Krol and the end of foreign footballers ban
from 1981 to 1984
Maradona arrives and the first Serie A title
from 1985 to 1987
The Uefa Cup trophy and the second title
from 1988 to 1991
Last glories in the post-Maradona
from 1992 to 1995
To the catastrophic Serie B relegation
from 1996 to 1998
The last gasps with Novellino, bankruptcy comes
from 1999 to 2003
De Laurentiis era starts, with Reja from 3rd division to Europe
from 2004 to 2008
Mazzarri and the three tenors
from 2009 to 2012
Napoli becomes international with Benitez
from 2013 to 2015
Sarriball, joy and revolution
from 2016 to 2018
Ancelotti and Gattuso, the master and his pupil
from 2019 to 2021
33 years after, the third Serie A title is real
from 2022 to 2023
from 1896 to 1926
History
Football rose to the honor of the Neapolitan chronicles from 1896, the year in which the Campo di Marte, at the time the venue for horse racing in the Campania capital, was the scene of a match football between the team of Reale Club Canottieri Italia, a club of rowers and sailors, and a mixed formation of the other nautical clubs in the city. Furthermore, in 1901 the sports club Virtus Partenopea participated in the FGNI football tournaments. Finally, between April and May 1905 the newspapers Il Mattino e Il Giorno announced the founding of a city soccer team, the Football Club Partenopeo (or Napoli Foot-Ball Club, according to Il Giorno), in which i played brothers Antonio, Paolo and Michele Scarfoglio, sons of the founders of the Mattino Edoardo Scarfoglio and Matilde Serao; the team played at Vomero, at the Chiaia funicular, while the headquarters provisional was placed in the Scarfoglio house in via Monte di Dio 1. However, the club disappeared in a short time and some of its elements flowed into the future Napoli. A decisive contribution to the the spread of football in Naples was given by the crews of English ships landed in the city port: at the Mandracchio, a rudimentary field in correspondence with the port, many encounters took place between these Neapolitan crews and sportsmen.
The popular affirmation of football in Naples, however, dates back to November 1905, when the football section of the Reale Club Canottieri Italia, the first important football team, was founded town, which, in 1906, changed its name to Naples Foot-Ball Club. In March 1911 the Blucelestos played against the sailors-players of the ship Arabik, which a few days earlier they had beaten the renowned Genoa team in Genoa for 3-0. Napoli won 3-2 with goals from Mc Pherson, Michele Scarfoglio and Chaudoir. Between the end of 1907 and the first months of 1908 the Società Sportiva Napoli by the Matacena brothers; the aristocrat Open Air Sporting Club, established by the Marquis Michele Ruffo della Scaletta, by Alfonso Parise and Alfredo Vittorio Reichlin, as well as by the brothers Costa, Verusio, D'Andria and Panagia; the Sport Club Audace by Gustavo Romano, Pepèn Cangiullo and the De brothers Giuli, with green-and-white shirts; there Juventus Sporting Club. Finally, in 1909 the Ilva Bagnolese and the Associazione Calcio Vomero, and in January 1910 Matteo Giovinetti's Sport Club Elios was set up with Juventus checkered shirts. These associations, however, had a limited following compared to Naples.
In the early years, Napoli won some minor competitions including two Lipton Cup, won by beating the Palermo (in 1909 for 4-2 and in 1911 for 3-2), the Salsi Cup, won by defeating other teams from Campania, and the Noli da Costa Cup (Easter 1914). Starting from 1908, Napoli also played some official championships of the Federation of the Second and Third Category, winning two southern championships of Second Category (in 1909-1910 and 1910-1911) and as many regional Third Category championships (in 1908 and 1909).
In 1911 the foreign component of Napoli broke away from the Italian one giving life to the Naples International Sports Union. The following year the FIGC, following the approval of the Valvassori-Faroppa project at the Federal Summer Assembly, decided to admit for the first time to the First Category championship (then the top flight) the central-southern teams. The two Neapolitan teams faced each other in a heated derby in the center-south semifinal. Naples came out the winner thanks to two victories for 2-1 and 3-2. He then lost the central-south final against Lazio. In the following season the Internazionale took the revenge by eliminating Napoli always in the center-south semifinal, to then play the central-south final in which Lazio once again established itself.
In 1919, after the suspension due to the war, the championship resumed. Compared to the last tournament played, the number of teams in Campania increased considerably. The Campania teams participants in the championship went from the only two registered in 1914-15 (Napoli and the Internazionale) to six in 1919-20 (Puteolana, Bagnolese, Pro Napoli and Pro Caserta). In the years from 1919 to 1922, characterized by the domination of the Puteolana in the regional context (in 1921-22 the Puteolana team even reached the Final of the Southern League losing it against Fortitudo di Roma), Napoli and Internazionale did not shine particularly reaching the interregional semifinals to the maximum. In 1919-20 it was the International a qualify for the interregional phase, closing the three-man round with Lazio and Tuscan teams as the rear, while in 1920-21 it was Napoli who accomplished the feat of qualify for the Semifinals, taking advantage in this case of the disqualification of Puteolana first on the field but disqualified and removed from the standings to punish her for an invasion of the field in the last league match against Napoli.
In the meantime, Puteolana, finalist of the Southern League in the previous season, did not register in the First Division Championship 1922-23, but this was not enough for Internaples to regain the regional dominion, coming in those years the Campanian Championship and the central-southern one dominated by the Savoy of Torre Annunziata (who in 1924 even reached the very final against Genoa, being eliminated with honor 3-1 and 1-1). In the seasons 1922-23 and 1923-24 the Internaples were eliminated in the semi-finals of the League South, while in 1924-25 he was even eliminated in the Campania group from the usual Savoia and from surprise Cavese.
In the summer of 1925, however, Savoia failed to enroll in the First Division, and the Internaples, reinforced by the arrivals of the coach Carcano and a young Giovanni Ferrari from Alessandria, wanted by the new president Ascarelli, he managed to regain the regional primacy by graduating Campione di Campania, leaving the Bagnolese behind and thus accessing the Semifinals of the Southern League. Having also won the semifinal round, he faced Alba in Rome in the final of the Lega Sud, winner of the other semifinal round after a heated head-to-head with Bagnolese. The first leg, played in Rome, it was disastrous and the Internaples were overwhelmed 6-1; this, in fact, compromised the qualification for the final for the Scudetto, as it was in the season 1925-26 the FIGC had introduced the goal ratio, which is why Internaples would have had to win with at least six goals to bring the goal ratio in their favor and qualify against the Dawn; with a win with five goals, he would have forced Alba to bella on a neutral field, while, with any other result, he would have Alba qualified. On the return, the Internaples attacked in an attempt to score as many goals as possible but managed to take the lead by only one goal, but Alba managed to draw, closing the qualification speech and graduating champion of the South with 3 points against the single point of the Internaples. There was an invasion of the field by the Neapolitan fans al end of the match, which led to heavy penalties: the field of Internaples (Arenaccia) was disqualified for several months, so Napoli had to move to the field of Bagnolese, and the coach Carcano and the forward Ferrari, noting the agitated climate, decided to leave the team.
from 1926 to 1930
History
Before 1926 the most important companies of Campania football were linked to the Savoia of Torre Annunziata who had even touched upon the national title, giving up in front of the Genoa in the final of 1924.
Giorgio Ascarelli, young Neapolitan industrialist and president of the Internaples inherited from Emilio Reale, he had realized that football was now becoming a phenomenon that would have thrilled crowds like nothing else until then. On 25 August 1926 the meeting of the members of the Internaples, gathered at the headquarters in Piazza della Carità, she decided to change the name of the company by setting up the Associazione Calcio Napoli.
He was the first president in the history of the club. What prompted Ascarelli to change the name of the company was probably the fact that the name Internaples was unwelcome to the fascist regime at time in power, as the term recalled the Communist International, the political enemy of fascism, while the regime opposed foreign terms.
In the meantime, with the approval of the Carta di Viareggio, Napoli obtained admission to the new championship of unified top division between North and South, the National Division, officially by virtue of the first place won from the Internaples in the Campionato Campano, but also for the achievement of the Final of the Southern League. Together with Napoli, they obtained admission to the National Division managed by Directorate Superiori Divisions, the forerunner of today's Lega Calcio, even the capitoline associations Alba Rome and Fortitudo Pro Roma (first and second classified in the Lazio Championship). of 20 teams participating in the National Division 1926-27, only 3 came from the South compared to 17 from the North.
In the new team stood out Paulo Innocenti first captain in history, will collect 213 attendance, including the first match played by the newly formed team, the home defeat of 3 October 1926 against Inter for 3-0 and also scored his first goal in history, on 17 October 1926, in Genoa-Napoli 4-1. And soon the young man, coming from the Internaples youth academy, Attila Sallustro, nicknamed "the Veltro". Sallustro came from a wealthy family and his father- when he learned that he was going to play soccer in Italy - he imposed the obligation on him not to earn anything from sporting activity. Sallustro kept his promise as long as it was possible; Napoli gratified him giving him a luxurious car, a Fiat 508 Balilla, which at the time (1931- 32) aroused a huge a stir.
Italy's first season in the National Division was extremely meager: only one point collected throughout the season, but Ascarelli managed to convince the national managers not to give up on the heritage that Napoli and Napoli represented for Italian football and Neapolitan society came fished out together with the other relegated. Meanwhile, supporters of the team decided - given the modest performance of the boys in the blue jersey - to remove the original prancing horse from the club's crest, replacing it with a modest donkey: since then "or ciucciariello "became the emblem of the Neapolitan team for Napoli and the world of football. In the CONI 1927 Cup, consolation tournament for those excluded from the final round of 6 teams for the assignment of the Scudetto, Napoli finally obtained its first victory by overcoming the Alba, losing at the same time the Austrian coach Kreutzer, who had sworn that the first victory it would returned to Vienna directly on foot.
Ascarelli, in view of the next season, reinforced the team in order to avoid relegation in the lower category. The field, however, proved him wrong again: at the end of the first round Napoli was in the area relegation and, despite a more discreet second round, the Azzurri failed to save themselves, finishing third last. Nevertheless, the FIGC wanted to repay the signs of improvement in Neapolitan society, granting them on March 18, just two weeks after the end of the two elimination rounds (and even before the start of the CONI Cup and the final round of 8 teams for the award of the championship), a second repechage in the top flight (canceling all relegations).
The championship was expanded to 16 teams per group, for a total of 32 teams, in order to make the National Division 1928-29 a qualifying tournament for the two Serie A single group in which the National Division would be divided: the best eight of each group would participate in the National Division Serie A, those classified between the ninth and the fourteenth position would have been downgraded in the National Division Serie B, while the last two classified of each group would have had to drop even in third series, replaced by the winners of the four First Division groups. Aiming to enter the list of 16 elected who would participate in the first single-group Serie A championship, Napoli strengthened and, dragged by the 22 goals of bomber Sallustro, classified eighth at the end of the season on an equal footing with Lazio; a play-off between the two teams was therefore necessary to win the last place up for grabs for the Serie A which ended in a draw for two by two.
The play-off should have been repeated, but it was not played as Ascarelli managed to convince the then President of the FIGC, Leandro Arpinati, to expand the Serie A championship. eighteen teams so that even the ninth classified could access it. On the eve of the first single-group Serie A championship, Napoli strengthened by signing Vojak (winner of a Scudetto with Juventus in 1925-26) and the "mister" William Garbutt, classic English coach who had won two championships with Genoa in 1922-23 and in 1923-24.
Finally, a real stadium was built, the "Vesuvius", able to accommodate the thousands of supporters of the team; the first game in the new facility, Napoli - Triestina 4-1, was played on February 16, 1930. Less than a month later, on March 12, in the middle of the first season of Serie A, at the age of 35, Giorgio Ascarelli died without being able to achieve the ambitious goals he had set for himself. The stadium was named after him by popular fury but the racial laws also took away that "posthumous satisfaction". mentioned signings, the team for the first time did not risk relegation by closing the tournament in fifth place.
from 1930 to 1939
History
In the 1930-31 season, Napoli finished the first round in second place behind Juventus; then in the second round, thanks to the call to arms of Sallustro, failed and finished the championship in sixth place. In that season, Napoli had strengthened by hiring the player for an incredible 250,000 lire Enrico Colombari, since then nicknamed "Banco is Napule " by Neapolitan fans.
The following season the team only finished ninth, but on the other hand Sallustro was called up for the second and last time in the national team, together with his teammates. Vojak and Colombari; the company rewarded Sallustro for his performance by giving him a Balilla car.
The 1932-33 championship, on the other hand, was the first in which the Azzurri touched the Scudetto. The attacking couple was formidable: Sallustro scored nineteen goals and Vojak twenty-two; Napoli he finished third on a par with the Bologna. In the following season the Azzurri finished third again and qualifying for the first time in the European Cup, the top European competition of those times.
In the first round, Napoli met Admira Wien: the Azzurri managed to equalize 0-0 in the away match, but wasted the double initial advantage in the return match in Naples, letting their opponents reassemble (final result 2-2) and in the beautiful match they were overwhelmed 5-0. In the league, despite the arrival of Sentimenti II and of the 1930 World Champion Stable, the team disappointed by finishing only seventh and at the end of the season Garbutt left the team.
On March 15, 1936 the company was taken over by the owner Lauro who, to restore the budget, he was forced to to sell the most important players: important players such as Colombari left, Ferraris_II, Vojak, Vincenzi, Gravisi and Cavanna, while Sallustro scored fewer and fewer goals from a couple of leagues, and many found the cause of his sudden lack of achievement in seeing her with Lucy D'Albert, famous soubrette dell epoch, which then she became his wife. At the end of the 1936-37 championship, Sallustro was also sold to Salernitana.
In view of the 1938-39 season Lauro bought the forward Italo Romagnoli, the defender Achille Piccini and the mezzala Gramaglia; the Azzurri played a good championship, ending in fifth place in the standings. In following season the Neapolitan team coached by Baloncieri played a tournament in which the relegation to Serie B was only avoided thanks to a better goal ratio than in Liguria. Lauro, at the end of the season, resigned, leaving in compensation the budget of the company in balance, and Gaetano Del Pezzo became president of the Company .
from 1940 to 1949
History
In the 1940-41 season, Napoli ranked seventh on a par with Turin. Season Napoli closed in 15th place afterwards and relegated to Serie B for the first time in its history. In the 1942-43 season, Napoli finished third in Serie B, but it was not enough to return to Serie A. In the meantime the Stadio Arturo Necklace of Vomero became the new "home" of the Neapolitans.
Due to the difficulties encountered during the war, the company was forced to cease operations in 1943. The year following its dissolution, in 1944, two different companies: the Società Sportiva Napoli, promoted by the journalist Arturo Necklace, and the Società Polisportiva Napoli, founded by dr. Gigino Scuotto, from whose merger in January 1945 the Associazione Polisportiva Napoli was set up, with president Pasquale Russo. The company finally took back the name of A.C. Naples in 1947.
In 1945, following the considerable logistical difficulties resulting from the war that had just ended, the top flight championship was divided into two groups: the first was attended by the teams of Serie A of the North and in the second the Serie A and B teams of the Center-South. Napoli, despite being a Serie B team, managed to win their group on an equal footing with Bari, qualifying for the final eight-team round. In the National Group he finished fifth behind Turin, Juventus, Milan and Inter.
In that Naples the Albanian striker Lushta played, who had a period of fogging during which you he spread the saying in the city: "When Lushta scores if you care 'o stadium" (When Lushta scores, the stadium will fall). It is said that when Lushta broke his fast a part of the grandstand had a failure, fortunately without serious consequences.
In the 1946-47 season the Serie A championship returned to the single group and Napoli were admitted together with Bari in Serie A as the two teams, despite being Serie B, had managed to qualify for the final round. Dante Di Benedetti, ex Roma player who, following an injury occurred to him in view of the call-up to the national team, was transferred to Bari, and various second-rate players such as Jone Spartano, Medlar and Ferruccio Santamaria. Napoli got a good eighth place.
In the following season 1947-48, despite the purchases of Naim Krieziu, Albanian winger champion of Italy with Roma in 1942 and paid a good 16 million, and Roberto La Paz, the first black player to play in Serie A, the team played a disastrous championship, ending in fourth from last place and relegation to B. To further aggravate the situation was the discovery by the federation of an attempt to combine in the match won against Bologna, which cost Napoli the downgrade to the last place in the 1947-48 championship standings and the confirmation of the relegation (already achieved on the field) to Serie B.
It took two years to regain the category: after a ninth place in 1948-49, the Azzurri won the 1949-50 tournament with Eraldo Monzeglio on the bench, thus returning to the top flight.
from 1950 to 1959
History
Back in Serie A, in view of the 1950-51season, Napoli strengthened by withdrawing from Rome Amedeo Amadei, who played in the blue jersey for six seasons, scoring in total forty-seven goals. In the two successive seasons, Napoli consecutively finished sixth in the standings. President Lauro, for the 1952-53season, bought the Swedish center forward from Atalanta Hasse Jeppson.
Jeppson had shown himself up at the 1950 World Cup, held in Brazil. He seemed to have to go to Inter, but for the then stratospheric figure of one hundred and five million lire he was hired by Naples, in which he played four championships. The huge amount paid for the purchase of him led the Neapolitan fans to coin for him the nickname of "'o Banco' e Napule" .
The team was further strengthened with the signings of Giancarlo Vitali from Fiorentina and of the "petisso" Bruno Pesaola from Novara. However, the beginning was not the best and after the three defeats against Lazio, Inter and Fiorentina, Lauro tried to place all responsibility on the coach Monzeglio, accusing him of having wanted to buy Jeppson; Monzeglio, furious, resigned, forcing Lauro to refuse them and to apologize publicly; the team recovered and, dragged by Jeppson's 14 goals, won a good fourth place (1952-53 ), behind Inter, Juventus and Milan. Jeppson further improved his record for goals scored in a season, reaching 20, but despite this the team only finished fifth (1953-54 ), while in the following season he finished sixth (1954-55 ). At this point Inter returned to the office trying to convince Lauro to sell Jeppson to them and, in the face of the will of the players to move to the neroazzurra company, Lauro first gave him the green light for the transfer, but since he was a bomber he could not give up, he sent his chauffeur to the airport to stop the departure of the ace and made him return to the fleet, where he convinced him to stay at Napoli, "punishing him" however for having had the idea of leaving the team by reducing his salary. Jeppson stayed for another two seasons at Napoli, scoring a total of 52 goals in 112 matches played in blue.
In 1955 he arrived from Brazil, via Lazio, Luis Vinicio (immediately renamed from the fans 'or Lionefor the determination that characterized him) who paired with Jeppson gave life to the couple "H-V"which was deployed for the first time in the match against Pro Patria (fifth day), won 8-1 by the Azzurri with a hat-trick from Vinício and a brace from Jeppson. The two, despite the fame, did not give Napoli the hoped-for results, also because few were the occasions in which they were lined up together in formation. After a series of negative results, including a defeat against Inter, Monzeglio was sacked and replaced by Amadei, who a few times deployed the two together in formation, and only in the last few days. Napoli in that season disappointed arriving only fourteenth in the standings, despite Vinicio's sixteen goals and Jeppson's 8 goals.
The 1956-57season saw the definitive end of the Jeppson-Vinício tandem, with the sale of the first Turin. In the championship, the improvements compared to the previous season yielded only an eleventh place. Between few "feats" of Napoli in those years there were the two victories against Juventus in the season 1957-58 : on the way to Turin finished 3-1 for Napoli thanks to the phenomenal saves of Bugatti, took the field with thirty-eight degrees of fever. Charles after the game said " Had there been another goalkeeper in place of Bugatti, between the goalposts of Napoli, we would have won 7-3 ". On the return, Napoli made another feat by winning 4-3. In that season the Azzurri finished fourth in the league behind Juventus, Fiorentina and Padua. For the 1958-59season he was hired to partner with Vinício the Brazilian Emanuele Del Vecchio. This couple, like the Jeppson-Vinício one, didn't work either. Of the Old Man scored thirteen goals, Vinício seven: Napoli came in ninth place.
In the following season, Napoli left the now narrow stadium of Vomero and on 6 December 1959 inaugurated the new San Paolo Stadium di Fuorigrotta in the match that opposed the blues to Juventus, which ended with the 2-1 victory of Napoli. However, this was the only event of notable importance that year, as the rest of the season of the Neapolitan team was little more than anonymous and the final result was only a fourteenth place. In June, Vinício and Pesaola left the team.
from 1960 to 1968
History
In 1960, when Vinicio seemed at the end of his career and now in decline, Napoli sold the Brazilian to Bologna; to deny that "decadence" Vinício himself thought, winning the scorer ranking, six years later, with the Vicenza shirt . In the 1960-61 season after a good start - (8 points in 5 games) - Napoli collapsed and relegated back to Serie B, finishing the championship in the penultimate place. Lauro's attempts to revive the team were useless by even hiring a psychoanalyst or exonerating the coach Amadei and the technical director Cesarini after a sensational 4-0 defeat against Juventus; not even the hiring as coach of the director of the San Paolo Stadium and former Napoli champion Attila Sallustro was enough to revive a compromised situation and avoid relegation.
To return to Serie A, Lauro claimed to build a formation capable of competing with the best: "a great Naples for a great Naples" was his slogan, but the field initially gave him injustice; the team did not seem to be able to reach the goal of the promotion, and at the end of the first round was floundering in the last places, risking the C. On January 29 Lauro, for revive the team, he then tried to change coach and chose as new Bruno Pesaola, then coach of Scafatese in the third series; the latter had already been a Napoli player at the time of Jeppson and Vinicio and as a "Mister" he was also famous for his inevitable camel coat and for his tactical sagacity. With him on the bench, Napoli went up the slope until they reached promotion.
The season ended triumphantly with the conquest of the Coppa Italia, obtained by beating the Spal. Napoli immediately took the lead with Gianni Corelli at 12 '; SPAL equalized three minutes later with Micheli, but Pierluigi Ronzon at 79 'signed the definitive Neapolitan advantage, thus giving the blues the first trophy of their history. It was a statement that went down in the annals, since on the occasion the Neapolitans equaled the Vado as the only two clubs capable, up to now, of lifting the Italian Cup while not militating at all division.
In 1962-63 the Napoli of the Italian Cup was confirmed almost as a block, with the only addition of Faustinho Cané, taken from the Olaria di Rio de Janeiro, and of Humberto Rosa from Juventus (on annual loan); from the youth they were also integrated into the first youth team Antonio Juliano, Vincenzo Montefusco and goalkeeper Pomarici. In the championship the team did not get into gear but in Cup Winners' Cup eliminated both the Welsh of the Bangor-City that the Újpesti TE ( Hungary) thus qualifying for the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, after the San Siro match against Milan, four Azzurri players (Pontel, Molino, Rivellino and Tomeazzi) were disqualified for a month due to doping. In the Coppa alla bellaagainst OFK-Belgrade Juliano made his debut, a young midfielder who for the next eighteen years was the undisputed flag of Napoli, but nothing prevented the 3-1 and the elimination. In the championship things did not go better: al end of the match lost 0-2 at home against Modena Naples was relegated again .
In the following season, Napoli, under the leadership of Lerici, did not obtain greatest hits. It didn't help the replacement of the technician with his secondMolino: in the end he was only eighth. On 25 June 1964 the Associazione Calcio Napoli, overburdened by debts, was taken over and replaced by Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli with Roberto Fiore effective chairman e Achille Lauro honorary president with 40% of the shares. The corporate transformation process actually resulted in a sort of name change.
For the 1964-65 championship, Pesaola, the coach of the Italian Cup, returned to the bench. The season was at least strange: at home Napoli did not pay, while away it was rampant, Cané became a goalscorer and the Azzurri returned to A.
For the unscrupulous shipowner Achille Lauro, Napoli was a flagship to show off with pride, especially in the electoral period; to build a good team for the A 1965-66 took Omar Sivori of the Juventus (90 million) e José Altafini from Milan (280 million); Juliano, who he had, began to stand out beside them debuted when the team was still in Serie B.
The results were flattering: in the league Napoli finished third just five points from Inter champion (50 points against 45 for the Azzurri), with Altafini leading the team with fourteen goals, while in the summer the team won the Coppa delle Alpi. In 1966-67 Napoli repeated the excellent results of the past year, winning 44 points and finishing fourth with Altafini again star player, this time with sixteen goals. In the same year the Neapolitan team participated in its first Cup of Fairs: it came eliminated in the second round of the Burnley.
On the eve of the 1967-68 championship, the Mantova arrived from goalkeeper Dino Zoff, immediately nicknamed the blue angel. Despite the company going through a period of economic crisis, in the league the Neapolitans came close to the Scudetto, finishing in second place with nine points behind the champion Milan.
However, the toy broke down in the following season (1968-69): Pesaola left the team for Fiorentina and was replaced as coach by Bebbe Chiappella; to worsen the situation there was also a brawl during Napoli-Juventus 2-1 del 1 December 1968, following which Sívori, for insulting the Juventus coach Heriberto Herrera, was disqualified for six days; following the disqualification, Sívori made the decision to retire from football. The team then finished in the middle of the table.
from 1969 to 1972
History
The period of power of the Lauro family was now at an end: in 1969, with great skill and little expense Corrado Ferlaino assumed the presidency of the reduced company but on the verge of collapse financial. In his first years of leadership, despite showing character and stubbornness out of the ordinary, Ferlaino could not guarantee Napoli the possibility of fighting for great goals while paying attention to the first years of presidency during the transfer market to the sale of valuable pieces such as Zoff, Altafini and Claudio Sala (sold without having been able to fully demonstrate its value, to just a year after his purchase), and the purchase of first choice players but on the avenue of the sunset as Nielsen, Hamrin, Sormani and Clerici. The public, however, repaid the company by guaranteeing it large collections and this factor was decisive for reversing the course.
In 1970-71 the Brazilian arrived in Naples Angelo Benedicto Sormani nicknamed il Pelé white. Chiappella remained on the bench of the Neapolitan team, arrived two years earlier. Sormani formed a solid attack with Altafini thanks to which Napoli came to play for the Scudetto with Inter and Milan, but at the end of the season the spoils were only a third place. It was decisive direct clash at San Siro against Inter at the end of the Champion a few days from the end: Napoli closed the first half with a 1-0 lead, virtually bypassing the neroazzurri, but in the interval the Inter players went to the referee threatening to beat him if they lost; mindful of the threats, in the second half the referee granted a penalty non-existent (as the slow motion later revealed) at Inter, allowing them to equalize, and then whistled a series of one-way penalties that allowed the neroazzurri to overturn the score by imposing for 2-1.
The following season (1971-72) saw a small Naples crisis, due to some club problems. The Neapolitan team only came in eighth place. Ferlaino decided then to rejuvenate the team (also thinking about the budget), with the sale of players of the caliber of Zoff and Altafini to Juventus.
from 1973 to 1980
History
The purchase that positively revolutionized the blue environment, however, was linked to Luís Vinício, which returned to Napoli as a coach. When the new technician arrived, the company began to invest by purchasing, among others, the forwards Clerici and Braglia), keeping players like Juliano and then enhancing some young talents ( Giuseppe Bruscolotti , Giovanni Vavassori, Antonio La Palma and Salvatore Esposito). Vinício, first in Italy, wanted to experience a team capable of playing the so-called total football proposed by the Dutch at 1974 World Cup. The team was revolutionized and the results were not long in coming: the season 1973-74 finished third behind Lazio of Chinaglia and Juventus, even if the slow pace of the free Zurlinidid not allow Vinicio to apply the so-called "defense by zone ".
In 1974-75, Napoli, also led by Vinício, came close to the Scudetto. Tarcisio Burgnich from Inter, deployed by Vinicio as free, allowed the Brazilian coach of finally apply his favorite zone defense, and the results were not long in coming: in the first ten days the team was still unbeaten and in the running for the Scudetto. Eliminated from UEFA Cup from Banik Ostrava a few days before the direct clash at the San Paolo against the Juventus, the team, still tired from the trip to Czechoslovakia, she was incredibly overwhelmed by the bianconeri who conquered San Paolo 6-2. Following the sensational debacle, Vinicius decided to deploy the Napoli with a more prudent attitude, thanks to which the Neapolitan team was able to return to the race for the Scudetto. On matchday 25, the day of the return match in Turin, only two points separated the Bianconeri from the Azzurri: Juventus took the lead with Causio, Juliano equalized and then it was done parry the possible goal of the advantage from Zoff; when the game seemed destined to end in a draw, two minutes from the end the former José Altafini, since then nicknamed by the Neapolitans Core 'ngrato, took his Juventus ahead, condemning Napoli to defeat and allowing Juventus to move to +4 from the Neapolitans five days from the end. At the end of the championship just two points separated the blues from Juventus, which came first. Decisive were the two defeats in the direct clashes and the inability to win away (out of San Paolo only one victory conquered on the last day).
The market coup that magnified the hopes of glory of the Azzurri fans came in the summer of 1975 when, for the then stratospheric figure of two billion lire, Bologna was signed on. center forward Bebbe Savoldi, called BeppeGoal or also mister two billion. The team, back from the bitter place of honor, he did no better in the following season (1975-76 ), arriving only in fifth place. But he managed to win his second Coppa Italia overcoming Verona at Olympic in Rome; then, beating the Southampton, Napoli closed the year by also winning the Italian-English League Cup, for what remains the first success of the Neapolitans in the international arena .
In the following season (1976-77) the goal of reaching the final of Cup Winners' Cup (manager Pesaola) failed after a 2-0 defeat in the second leg against the Anderlecht, with the direction of the referee Matthewson heavily contested by the Azzurri. The first leg ended 1-0 for Napoli thanks to a goal by Bruscolotti. In the league the Azzurri they reached a modest seventh place and also suffered the penalty of a point in the standings for accumulation of field disqualifications.
After a double sixth place in the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons, Savoldi left Napoli which fell to eleventh place in 1979-80; there replacement of the rediscovered Vinício with Sormani could not stop the crisis.
from 1981 to 1984
History
The beginning of the 1980s was marked by the reopening of borders to foreign players. Napoli, traditionally, had had excellent non-Italian players in its ranks (Sallustro, Jeppson, Sívori, Altafini, Hamrin, Cané, Clerici); to keep the tradition alive he was hired by Vancouver the free Ruud Krol, former champion of Europe with the Ajax and defensive pillar of Holland of the early 1970s.
In the 1980-81 season, in a vintage made dramatic by the earthquake that November 23, 1980 shook the city, the team, led by Rino Marchesi, touched the title by taking third place the final. After an unpromising start, also due to the poor performance of the defense who collected several goals in the first few days, the coach Marchesi took the appropriate countermeasures, moving Luciano Marangon in the median and adding in defense Raimondo Marino, thus allowing Krol to express all his class . The turning point of season was the match against Roma at the San Paolo on October 19th that Napoli even won 4-0. Undefeated from the 11th to the 25th day, after the victory over Torino at the Comunale, five days from the end, Napoli took the top of the table together with the Juventus and with the prospect of enjoying a favorable calendar. Unexpectedly, however, in the turn next the Perugia - last in the standings - passed to San Paolo for 1-0 with an own goal by Ferrario in the first few minutes. For the rest of the match, the Azzurri threw themselves generously attack, but poles, crossbars and the remarkable performance of the Umbrian goalkeeper Malizia blocked any possibility of at least reach a balance. Despite everything, the team faced the decisive match with Juventus with two points of disadvantage and with the theoretical possibility of taking advantage of the home round to grab the summit one day from the end. Once again an own goal (Guidetti) condemned the Azzurri to defeat and to the definitive farewell to the tricolor ambitions.
In the following season (1981-82) the attempt to aim for the Scudetto by further strengthening the team was compromised by the contrasts between Ferlaino and the general manager and former football player Juliano: Ferlaino's purchase of 76% of the company's shares aroused, in fact, the resentment of Juliano, who at first hesitated on the renewal of Marchesi's contracts and Corso and then, faced with the President's reaction, he submitted his resignation, which was accepted by Ferlaino. The struggles within the club therefore compromised the Napoli championship, together to inadequate team strengthening (newcomers, such as Palanca and Criscimanni, did not prove to be up to par), to performance not always exhilarating by Krol, et al gossip circulating about the team, but, despite everything, Napoli finished the championship in fourth place. The Scudetto stayed away from Naples despite Krol and Claudio Pellegrini, Napoli's top scorer in both seasons with the same number of goals (11).
Despite the arrival of other valuable foreigners such as Diaz before and Dirceu then, in the next two championships (1982-83 and 1983-84) relegation in Serie B it was avoided at the last minute. In the following season he arrived from Fiorentina Daniel Bertoni, Argentine and world champion who took one of the two places reserved for foreigners and vacated by Krol and Dirceu, sold respectively to Cannes and Ascoli.
from 1985 to 1987
History
The president Ferlaino, determined to lead the company towards great goals, on 30 June 1984 defined the purchase of the Argentine champion Diego Armando Maradona from Barcelona for the record amount of 15 billion lire. The champion of Lanús, still considered one of the most great footballers of all time, was presented on the following 5 July in a San Paolo stadium packed in every order of seats. There first season of Napoli di Maradona (1984-85), after a mediocre first round, it ended with one position in the center of the table only in the last days of the championship.
The team was gradually rebuilt: Bruno Giordano were hired, Salvatore Bagni, Claudio Garella and Alessandro Renica. On the bench Rino Marchesi left the baton to Ottavio Bianchi, who as a player played for five seasons in the blue jersey. Changes also involved the management, with the farewell of Juliano and the entry into the company of Italo Allodi, former manager of Inter, Juventus and Fiorentina. Young talents emerged from the nursery, one above all Ciro Ferrara, who made his debut in the first team in the 1984-85. Season 1985-86 ended up with Napoli in third place, behind Juventus and Roma.
The season of the first championship was that of 1986-87. The full-back was hired Giuseppe Volpecina, the director Francesco Romano and the forward Andrea Carnevale, while Maradona had just returned from the triumphal Mexican World. As he had done for Argentina, Maradona led Napoli to victory in the championship.
The championship kicked off on 14 September, with Napoli winning Brescia ( 0-1) with a goal from Maradona. Initially the Neapolitans limited themselves to chasing Juventus, who tried to escape. On November 9, in the direct match played in Turin with the two teams paired in the lead, the Azzurri won 3-1 with goals from Ferrario, Giordano and Volpecina. Napoli thus jumped to the top of the standings and maintained first place until the end of the first round, also resisting the blitz Inter, who hooked the Neapolitans at the fourteenth (with Napoli who suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of Fiorentina), and then wasted everything by losing in Verona on 11 January.
Napoli started the second round with a brisk pace, winning four games in a row and breaking away from the large group of pursuers, which now also included Roma and Milan. At the beginning of April i Neapolitans had a slight decline - draw in Empoli and defeat in Verona - which allowed Inter to get closer: the points of distance between Neapolitans and Milan remained two until the last days. The 3 May, in the third to last of the championship, the Milanese Nerazzurri fell in Ascoli while the Azzurri impacted 1-1 in Como. At this point, a draw was enough to win the Scudetto: on 10 May 1987, on the penultimate day, Napoli mathematically won their first national title thanks to a 1-1 draw at San Paolo against Fiorentina (Carnival and Roberto Baggio), which allowed the Azzurri to keep the advantage of four points over Inter and Juventus to a day from term, a gap that could no longer be bridged. Fans celebrated the historic triumph by pouring into the streets of the city. A banner displayed in Curve B read: History wanted a date, May 10, 1987.
The team also won its third Coppa Italia, won by winning all the matches, including the two finals played against Atalanta. The double scudetto / cup was an enterprise that had been successful up to that time in Italy only at Grande Turin and Juventus.
from 1988 to 1991
History
After the debut in Champions Cup with the elimination in the first round against the Real Madrid, 2-0 for the merengues in Spain and 1-1 in the return to San Paolo, the championship 1987-88 , also thanks to the addition of the Brazilian striker Careca purchased from São Paulo, started with five wins in the first five races. At the end of the first round the Neapolitans they were first in the standings with a score of eleven wins, three draws and one defeat; Napoli subsequently obtained another seven consecutive victories. Then, in the last five days, Napoli won only one point, losing four games in a row, including the direct clash with Milan (2-3 at San Paolo) who scored the Rossoneri overtaking the Azzurri and the Rossoneri's conquest of the first Scudetto of the era- Berlusconi.
The "Ma.Gi.Ca." was Napoli's attacking trident at the end of the 1987-88 season, consisting of Diego Armando Maradona, Antonio Careca, and Bruno Giordano. This nickname was born thanks to journalist Francesco Rasulo after the match Ascoli -Napoli of 31 January 1988, finished 3-1 for the Neapolitans ; in that match scored, in order, Maradona (on penalty), Giordano and Careca. In that season, the trident he collected a total of 97 appearances (Maradona 37, Careca 33, Giordano 27) and scored 47 goals (Maradona 21, Careca 18, Giordano 8).
The championship final of the Azzurri provoked heated controversy within the club, with the Napoli dressing room that split and thus passed from criticism to "purges": Garella, sold to Udinese, Ferrario, sold to Rome, Bagni, sold to Avellino, and Bruno Giordano, yielded to Ascoli, were put at the door; remained the only ones to pay for the scudetto lost to the Rossoneri's advantage Arrigo Sacchi.
When the season ended in a stormy way, the team changed radically for the next one: to replace the removed players, Napoli resorted to several signings, including that of Giuliano Giuliani, of Luca Fusi and the strong Brazilian midfielder Alemao dell'Atlético Madrid, former partner of Careca in the Seleção. They became part of the Azzurri management Luciano Moggi and Giorgio Perinetti.
The 1988-89 championship gave Napoli great satisfaction, such as the 5-3 outside Juventus (which remained the last Azzurri victory at Juventus until 31 October 2009), the 4-1 to Milan and the sensational 8-2 to Pescara. The Scudetto of that year, however, went to the "record-breaking" Inter of Giovanni Trapattoni, one of the best teams in black and blue history. From the very first days, the championship it was monopolized by the Nerazzurri and the other top teams seemed to aim more decisively at European competitions.
In UEFA Cup, the Azzurri got off to a good start, eliminating the Greeks del Paok Thessaloniki (1-0 and 1-1), i East Germans del Lokomotive Leipzig (2-0 and 1-1) ei French del Bordeaux (0-0 and 0-1). The challenges more interesting, however, began from the quarter-finals, with Napoli facing Juventus: after the 0-2 suffered in the first leg in Turin, a sharp 3-0 in the return overturned the result in favor of Napoli, who passed thanks to a goal scored by Renica at the end of extra time. The semifinal opposed the Germans of the Bayern Munich. At the San Paolo, which was sold out, Napoli won 2-0, with goals of Careca and Carnevale and mortgaged the final. On the return, a brace from Careca (2-2 the final) paved the way for the final against another German, the Stuttgart di Jürgen Klinsmann.
In the first leg, the Germans froze San Paolo with the network of Maurizio Gaudino (ironically of fate, son of Neapolitans who emigrated to Germany), but the goals of Maradona first and then of Careca (at the end) fixed the score at 2-1. The return to Stuttgart, with over 30,000 Azzurri fans in tow, was a triumph: Alemão scored, Klinsmann drew, then Ciro Ferrara and Careca closed the game. The two German goals that set the final result at 3-3 are irrelevant, with Napoli thus winning the 1989 UEFA Cup, his first confederal trophy.
The 1989-90 season opened immediately with sensational news: Ottavio Bianchi left the blue bench, replaced by Albertino Bigon. Maradona extended his stay in Argentina and did not return in time for playing the first league games, due to problems with the club to which he was said to have requested the sale: rumors immediately denied but never completely convincing; the Argentine returned in field only on September 17, 1989, in the fifth league match against Fiorentina at the San Paolo. Meanwhile, the team was buying new players, such as the midfielder Massimo Mauro and the young playmaker Gianfranco Zola.
In the league the Neapolitans got off to a good start: sixteen consecutive useful results in the first sixteen matches, still the best streak in the club's history. The first defeat he arrived only in the last leg, a heavy 0-3 at Lazio, which nevertheless did not cause concern. A small drop in performance brought Inter and Milan closer, but the team managed to manage the advantage of two points up to the direct match: in San Siro the Rossoneri won however 3-0 and Napoli paired up at the top of the standings; two weeks later, the Azzurri lost again in Milan, this time against Inter (3-1), and found themselves two points off the top.
Many began to fear the return of the 1988 "ghosts", but Napoli did not give up. At first he recovered a point (Milan defeated in Turin by Juventus, and the Azzurri who drew in Lecce), while the setback with Sampdoria (2-1 of the Ligurians at the end) was mitigated by the fall of the Rossoneri in the derby against the Nerazzurri cousins. A few days from the end, when the games seemed to be done by now, the famous "case of the coin" of Bergamo took place: on the score of 0-0 between Atalanta and Napoli, one coin thrown by the Nerazzurri fans hit the Neapolitan midfielder Alemão in the head, forcing him to leave the pitch; the sports judge assigned the 2-0 at the table to Napoli while the Milan, blocked 0-0 by Bologna, was thus joined by the Azzurri with three rounds to go. On the penultimate day, the definitive overtaking: Rossoneri defeated in Verona 2-1 and Napoli victorious 4-2 on the field of Bologna. On the last day, at the San Paolo against Lazio, a draw was enough to become champions: a goal by Marco Baroni after just seven minutes he quickly closed the game and gave the Napoli on second championship .
The 1990-91 season began with the victory in the Italian Super Cup , obtained by beating Juventus Maifredi for 5-1. The championship, on the other hand, started badly with only one point obtained in the first three games. The beginning in Champions Cup seemed in favor of Napoli, who scored a convincing double win over the Hungarians of the Újpesti Dózsa, a team he had already met in the Cup Winners' Cup 1963, when it was called Újpesti YOU. In the second round, however, the Azzurri were eliminated by Spartak Moscow on penalties, after a double 0-0. There crisis continued throughout the year, and Napoli closed the season with a modest seventh place.
Thus ended the first important cycle of Napoli, coinciding with the decline of Maradona following the personal events that forced him to leave Naples and Italy in a bitter way. From the 1991, after the Argentine champion left Napoli, the team started towards a slow but steady decline.
from 1992 to 1995
History
The Neapolitan team, with the new coach Claudio Ranieri and thanks to contribution of players of the caliber of Zola, Ferrara, Careca and the newcomer Laurent Blanc, got a decent fourth place in the 1991 season -92.
Ranieri was therefore confirmed and the transfer campaign brought players such as Daniel Fonseca and Roberto Policano. In UEFA Cup Napoli passed the first round thanks to a 5-1 winger against Valencia, with Fonseca author of all five goals of the Neapolitans, but in the following round the PSG however eliminated the Azzurri thanks to a brace from George Weah in the first leg in Naples. In the league the team went into crisis and, after an internal 1-5 against Milan at the ninth day, Ranieri was sacked. In his place, Ottavio Bianchi returned, who could not help but lead the team to a peaceful salvation. In June 1993 Ferlaino, involved in legal matters, he left the presidency of the club to Ellenio Gallo, while retaining the package of majority of the company.
Ferlaino left the team in Gallo with various financial negligence, which marked the beginning of a slow and inexorable crisis. The team was then updated and underwent many changes: Bianchi he became general manager and chose Marcello Lippi as coach. Pillars of the team like Careca e Zola left Naples, while many promising youngsters, such as Fabio Cannavaro and Fabio Pecchia, became protagonists. After an initial period of crisis, Lippi decided to focus on fresh forces and the 1993-94 season ended with a good sixth place and the satisfaction of having defeated Milan, close to being crowned champions of Italy and Europe, thanks to a goal by Paolo Di Canio, who also scored the goal that all last day was worth the qualification of Neapolitans at the UEFA Cup.
At the end of the season Lippi left Napoli to marry Juventus, and with him also Ciro Ferrara, flag and captain of Napoli, due to the ever more incessant rumors of failure financial. In place of the viareggino coach came Guerini and Napoli on the field yes entrusted to André Cruz, Alain Boghossian, al Colombiano Freddy Rincon and the former number ten of Turin Benito Carbone, arrived via Rome with Grossi and a good 18 billion, in the deal that led to Capitoline land Daniel Fonseca. The season (1994-95) started badly: Guerini was sacked after a 5-1 suffered against Lazio and he arrived in his place Vujadin Boskov, who brought the Neapolitans to seventh place, touching the qualification to the UEFA Cup with André Cruz and Alain Boghossian among the surprises of the championship.
In the meantime, the president Gallo, to ensure the survival of the club, tried to involve other entrepreneurs, including Mario Moxedano and the entrepreneur from Veneto Ettore Setten. Moxedano, fearing Ferlaino's return, withdrew from the operation, and in 1994 the board of club administration approved the assignment of two equal shares, each of 46.5%, to Ellenio Gallo (together with his son Luis) and Setten, while the remaining 7% was assigned to members minority, including Ferlaino. An order of the civil court annulled the resolution of the Board and in 1995 Ferlaino again acquired control of the club.
from 1996 to 1998
History
Since 1995, players such as Benny Carbone (to Inter) and Fabio Cannavaro (to Parma), and the decline began. In 1995-96 the relegation was touched: Napoli was saved only at third to last day, winning against Sampdoria 1-0, thanks to a penalty kick turned into the net, in the final minutes of the match, by Arturo Di Napoli. Boškov left the team due to disappointing results.
In the 1996-97 season the Azzurri team coached by Gigi Simoni was the revelation of the first part of the championship: at the Christmas break he was in second place tied with the Vicenza and behind to Juventus; in the second round, however, the team collapsed (3 wins in 17 games) and, after the dismissal of Simoni replaced by Montefusco, Primavera coach, did not go beyond the twelfth place. Remarkable was, however, the I walk in Coppa Italia. Eliminated Monza, Pescara (both for 0-1), the Lazio (1-0 and 1-1) in the quarters and the Inter (double 1-1 and victory on penalties) in the semifinals, Napoli reached the final against Vicenza. In the first leg at the San Paolo the Azzurri won 1-0 with a goal by Fabio Pecchia, but the return match at Menti finished 1-0 for the Venetians after 90 minutes of regulation and, in extra time, thanks to the 'expulsion of Nicola Caccia, the red and white scored two more goals in the last three minutes, networks that earned the trophy and access to the Cup Winners' Cup 1997-1998.
Also sold the last flag of Napoli, Fabio Pecchia, despite the purchase of players like Bellucci and Protti (top scorer of 1995-96 ), in the 1997-98 season the crisis of previous years came to a head. During the year, four coaches succeeded each other on the Napoli bench (in order: Mutti, Mazzone, Galeone and again Montefusco) and three technical directors (in order : Bianchi, Juliano and Bagni), and in field of forty players (including the now elderly Giuseppe Giannini, Pedros, Asanovic, Prunier, Calderon and Max Allegri), but none of them managed to avoid the débâcle blue: with a booty of only fourteen points - worst performance ever in Serie A of the team - Napoli, last in the standings, receded in Serie B after thirty-three consecutive years of stay in the top flight.
from 1999 to 2003
History
The first year in cadeteria (1998-99) was mediocre: the team, coached by Renzo Ulivieri, counted in the staff "noble" players but on the avenue of the sunset like Shalimov and Murgita and never managed to enter the fight for promotion. In January the striker arrived Stefan Schwoch, but the season was now compromised and Napoli closed the mid-table tournament.
The return to Serie A took place only the following year, at the end of the 1999-00 season, thanks to the shrewd management of the new coach Novellino and the excellent performances of Schwoch, who with 22 goals achieved equaled the record of goals scored in a single season with the Azzurri shirt, held until then by Vojak. That year Napoli had elements for sure in their staff future, such as Oddo, Matuzalem, Stellone and Galletti. On 7 July 2000 the entrepreneur from Romagna joined the company Giorgio Corbelli, who joined Ferlaino at the helm of the club holding the position of president.
Despite the merits and the affection of the fans, the two protagonists of the return to the top flight (the coach Novellino and the striker Schwoch) did not obtain reconfirmation: the coach moved to Piacenza, while the attacker was sold to Turin to pay the now known and overwhelming debts. Napoli yes he therefore entrusted the Bohemian coach Zdenek Zeman, sacked after six games and replaced with Emiliano Mondonico. Despite some significant victories (6-2 against Reggina, 2-1 at the home of the reigning Italian champions Lazio and 1-0 at Inter) and the presence in the team of players such as Edmundo, Amauri (both arrived in the January market), Jankulovski, Amoruso and Bellucci, Napoli are not managed to avoid the immediate return to the cadet series, sanctioned on the last day by the defeat against Fiorentina.
For the next Serie B championship (2001-02) the role of coach was entrusted to Luigi De Canio. The team, competitive and among the favorites for promotion, fought to the last day to return to Serie A, managing to climb from the slums of the standings to the top positions thanks to a long series of consecutive useful results. Nonetheless, in the match decisive, at home against Reggina, obtained only a draw (1-1) and closed in fifth place, with the top flight only touched.
On 22 June 2002 Corbelli, to avoid a now more than probable bankruptcy, sold his company shares to the hotel industrialist Salvatore Naldi, who entrusted the team to the coach Franco Colomba (2002-03) . The mediocre performance of the team, which also found itself at penultimate place in the standings, led to the exoneration of the coach and the hiring of Franco Scoglio, which he left the position of CT of Libya. The team timidly climbed the rankings, but then went into crisis again and Colomba was recalled to the bench, who succeeded in saving the team from a sensational relegation in C1 only on the last day with a draw in Messina.
In the 2003-04 season the financial difficulties prevented the adequate strengthening of the team: the coach Andrea Agostinelli was exonerated during construction to make room for the returnee Luigi Simoni, but the result was a mediocre fourteenth place.
from 2004 to 2008
History
To the crisis of results was added the now compromised financial situation, which in the summer of 2004 led to the bankruptcy of the club and the consequent loss of the sporting title. After the last months of life spent between controlled administrations and recapitalizations, many are the entrepreneurs who, without success, try to bring football back to Naples. in August it is though the film entrepreneur Aurelio De Laurentiis to take over the sporting title by curatorship bankruptcy of the court of Naples and register the team, with the name Napoli Soccer, in the championship of Series C1. In the role of General Manager of the newly formed company he was chosen Pierpaolo Marino, former Italian manager in the second half of the 1980s .
The company took part in the C1 Series 2004-05. In that season the team - also forced to a transfer campaign carried out in a short time - finished the first round a two points from the play-off zone. With the performances of good players such as Emanuele Calaiò, Piá and el Pampa Sosa and following the exemption of the coach Gianpiero Ventura (who takes over Edy Reja), Napoli finished third at the end of the championship, but lost the play-off final against Avellino, drawing 0-0 at home and losing 2-1 in Avellino. The whole summer was lived with the hope, which turned out to be vain, of a repechage in cadeteria.
In the 2005-06 season, Napoli had a remarkable start both in the league and in Coppa Italia, competition in which he was eliminated only in the round of 16 by Roma (previously he had eliminated Pescara, Reggina and Piacenza). The blues they were promoted to the cadet series with four days before the end of the regular season, with Calaiò who stood out by scoring eighteen goals.
Al termine della stagione, il 23 maggio 2006, il presidente De Laurentiis, mantenendo la promessa fatta all'atto della sua acquisizione del titolo sportivo dalle mani del tribunale, restituì al club la denominazione originaria di Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, volutamente non utilizzata nei due campionati di terza serie. L'ultimo atto dell'annata fu la finale di Supercoppa di Serie C1 persa contro lo Spezia: nella doppia finale prevalse la squadra ligure grazie allo 0-0 interno nella gara d'andata e all'1-1 al "San Paolo".
At the end of the season, on 23 May 2006, the president De Laurentiis, keeping the promise made to act of his acquisition of the sporting title from the hands of the court, he returned to the club the original name of Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, deliberately not used in two third series championships. The last act of the year was the final of Supercoppa di Serie C1 lost against the Spezia: in the double final the team Ligurian prevailed thanks to the 0-0 inside in the first leg and at 1-1 al "St. Paul".
For the championship 2006-07 the team bought Paolo Cannavaro, Samuele Dalla Bona, Maurizio Domizzi, Christian Bucchi (top scorer in Serie B 2005-2006), the young Austrian defender Garics and the attacking midfielder De Zerbi. In the championship, the team consistently maintained the top three positions; finally, recorded the promotion of Juventus, Napoli reached the direct confrontation of the last day, at the home of Genoa, second in the standings and with a point of advantage over the Ligurians. The goalless draw of Marassi and the concurrent draw of Piacenza (the only team that was still in the game for any play-off), fu sufficient to guarantee both Napoli and Genoa direct promotion, celebrated together by the two supporters (twinned since 1982) far from the top football stage for too long national.
For the return to Serie A (2007-08), Napoli slightly modified its management policy, aiming even more, than in the past, on young talents who allowed with low expenses to have good immediate and future returns - first of all the Argentine striker Ezequiel Lavezzi, the Slovakian midfielder Marek Hamsik and the Uruguayan midfielder Walter Gargano - alongside experienced players such as Blasi, Zalayeta and Contini; Reja was confirmed on the bench and became one of the longest-serving coaches in the club's history. In the January market, Mannini were bought and Santacroce from Brescia, Patience from Fiorentina and Navarro from Argentinos Juniors. In the league, Napoli overtook important teams such as Inter, Milan and Juventus and closed in eighth place with 50 points, hitting the qualification for the Intertoto after almost fourteen years from the last participation in a European competition. In the Italian Cup the Azzurri were eliminated by Lazio in the round of 16 (3-2 in total: 2-1 in Rome and 1-1 in Naples). The top scorer in the Italian league was the twenty-year-old midfielder Marek Hamšík with 9 goals.
In view of the following season (2008-09), Marino made five signings: Rinaudo from Palermo, Christian Maggio from Sampdoria, German Denis from Independiente, Aronica from Reggina e confirmed for the fourth year in a row Reja as a coach. In the January market the purchase of Datolo from Boca Juniors.
Passed the Greeks of the Panionios in Intertoto (now in its latest edition) and the Albanians of the Vllaznia in the preliminaries of UEFA, Napoli qualified for the main draw, where they were eliminated from Benfica in the first round. In Coppa Italia the team went out on penalties against Juventus in the quarterfinals of final. In the league the Azzurri left with considerable momentum (20 points in the first 9 days) and closed the first round in fifth place, but a sensational collapse brought the team to three and a half months without a win; the coach Reja paid the price, exonerated after more than four years of militancy on the blue bench and replaced from the former CT of Roberto Donadoni. Napoli collected just 13 points in the second round, closing the championship in 12th place with 46 points. Marek Hamsik confirmed himself as the Neapolitan top scorer with 9 goals.
from 2009 to 2012
History
In the 2009-10 season the Neapolitan company decided to turn the page and intervened decisively on the market: Fabio Quagliarella from Udinese, Luca Cigarini from Atalanta, Hugo Campagnaro from Sampdoria, Juan Camilo Zuniga from Siena and Morgan De Sanctis from Seville. On the departures front, the most significant sales were those of Mannini (co-owned by Sampdoria as part of the Campagnaro operation), Blasi and Zalayeta, sold in loan to Palermo and Bologna respectively.
The start of the championship, however, seemed to follow the mediocre performance of the previous season, and so the company structure was revolutionized: on September 28, 2009 it was interrupted by consensus, after 5 years, with DG Pierpaolo Marino, the one who had supported De Laurentiis from the first and difficult days of the new company, despite the contract renewed only a few months before. The same fate fell to Roberto Donadoni, relieved of office on 6 October after having collected 7 points in 7 games, and replaced with Walter Mazzarri. At the same time, from the Reggina the Sporting Director arrived Riccardo Bigon, son of Albertino, coach of the second Italian championship . Under the guidance of the Tuscan coach Napoli struck a series of 15 consecutive useful results, including the home wins of Fiorentina and Juventus, which allowed the Neapolitans to close the first round in third place, an event that had not occurred since the 1991-92 season. Despite a slight decline in the second round, Napoli closed the tournament in 6th place with 59 points, best result since the 1993-94 season and record of points in the top flight with 3 points per victory, thus guaranteeing direct access to the Europa League. For the third consecutive championship, Marek Hamšík was the team's top scorer (12 goals).
In the following season 2009-10, Mazzarri confirmed as technical guide, Napoli focused on confirming the backbone of the team to which the Uruguayan striker was added Edinson Cavani, from Palermo, with the consequent sale of Quagliarella to Juve, with consequent controversy of the fans both towards the company and towards the player, guilty of having accepted the court of a historical enemy. Cavani, however, became the protagonist of a season from remarkable performance, characterized by 26 goals in the league (beat the previous record of Vojak) and 33 overall in the season, which helped to keep the blue team constantly at top of the ranking; Napoli is commonly designated as Milan's main opponent in the Scudetto fight, and the pursuit lasts until the championship final, which the team finishes in third place (70 points, new record with 3 points per victory) and the consequent direct participation in UEFA Champions League, a competition from which the Neapolitans had been missing for 21 years.
In the 2011-12 season - in view of which the Azzurri buy, among others, the Swiss midfielder Inler, coming from Udinese - Napoli closes the championship in fifth place, missing the qualification in Champions League due to a defeat against Bologna on the penultimate matchday. The performance offered in the cups is remarkable, with the Azzurri entering the round of 16 of the Champions League after eliminating the Manchester City in the group stage, giving up only in front of the future champions of the Chelsea; the season is characterized above all by the victory of the Coppa Italia, the fourth in the history of Napoli, twenty-two years after the last trophy and first laurel of the presidency De Laurentiis and absolutely after Maradona: the Neapolitan club wins it by overcoming the still unbeaten Juventus champion of Italy by 2 to 0, with goals from Cavani from the spot and Hamsik, in the only final played on 20 May 2012 at Olympic Stadium in Rome.
In the following championship 2012-13 after the sale of Lavezzi to PSG and the return of Lorenzo Insigne from the loan of Pescara, the Neapolitans fight for the Scudetto for a long time against Juventus and conquer the second final place with 78 points, qualifying in Champions League after one year of absence; the Azzurri also closed the tournament with the best attack (73 goals achieved), while Cavani is the top scorer with 29 goals. In Coppa Italia, despite being the keeper, Napoli he was eliminated in the second round losing 2-1 at home to Bologna. Finally, in UEFA Europa League, the Neapolitans are surprisingly eliminated in the round of 32 at the hands of the Czechs of Viktoria Plzen. At the end of the tournament ends after four seasons the relationship with the coach Walter Mazzarri, who ends his contract and marries to Inter.
from 2013 to 2015
History
The blue club replaced Mazzarri with the Spaniard Rafa Benitez (2013-14). Naples sold Cavani to PSG and bought three players from Real Madrid: the forwards Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Maria Callejon and the defender Raul Albiol. The goalkeeper De Sanctis left Napoli for Rome and his place was taken by Jose Manuel Reina. A noteworthy purchase was also that of the Belgian Dries Mertens, who would have been decisive in the continuation of his first year with the Neapolitans. Paolo Cannavaro, placed on the edge of the squad, was sold during the winter transfer market session; Marek Hamšík succeeded him as the new captain. In UEFA Champions League Napoli were eliminated in the first group stage, despite a haul of 12 points, placing behind the English of Arsenal and the Germans of Borussia Dortmund for a mere question of worse goal difference in the standings detached; had access to the knockout phase of Europa League, overtook the Welsh of the Swansea City, but went out in the round of 16 against the Portuguese of Porto. In the league, despite the good initial progress of the team, he made a few too many missteps the Azzurri slip into third position, behind Roma and Juventus. At the end of the season the team managed, in any case, to take home a trophy, the fifth Coppa Italia of its history, winning 3-1 against the Fiorentina the final on May 3 at the Olimpico in Rome with a brace from Insigne.
The following season (2014-15) with the addition of Kalidou Koulibaly e Jorginho in January, began with the play-offs of UEFA Champions League against Athletic-Bilbao, from which the Neapolitan team was eliminated (draw in the first leg at home and defeat away), still accessing the Europa League. On December 22nd at Doha, in Qatar, Napoli won for the second once the Italian Super Cup, defeating Juventus on penalties, 6-5, after the game ended with the result of 2-2 to the extra (double for the bianconeri of Tévez, and for the Neapolitans of Higuain). Eliminated in the UEFA Champions League preliminaries in August by the Spaniards of Athletic Bilbao, Napoli relegated in Europa League, where they reached the semifinals, a goal that the Azzurri had been missing in the continental field for twenty-six years; here the team was ousted by the Ukrainians of Dnipro. At the end of the season, the relationship with the coach was interrupted after only two seasons Benítez, whose contract has expired. Sporting director Bigon also left the team after about six years of militancy. The season ended with a disappointing fifth place: the 2-4 defeat against Lazio on the last day did not allow the Neapolitans to qualify for the UEFA Champions League preliminaries, an objective that was achieved from the Biancocelesti opponents. At the end of the calendar year, Napoli would have been awarded as the third best club in the world of 2015 by IFFHS.
from 2016 to 2018
History
After the two-year period Benítez, in the summer of 2015 (2015-16) the Neapolitan company entrusted the bench to Maurizio Sarri and the management at Cristiano Giuntoli, who marked the team on an offensive game , fast and ball a land. On November 30th, thanks to a 2-1 victory over Inter, the new coach brought Napoli back to the solitary first place in the top flight, more than a quarter of a century after the last time; Furthermore in January 2016 the Azzurri won the symbolic title of winter champion, finish line which was not reached by the Azzurri since the 1989-90 season, that of the second Neapolitan championship. However, following the defeat in the 25th matchday direct match against Juventus, Napoli lost the lead in the standings to the advantage of the bianconeri, who then won the championship with nine points behind the Campania region, which were not enough the 36 goals of the top scorer Higuain, capable after 66 years of beating the previous record of goals in a single season of the Italian championship, established by Gunnar Nordahl. Napoli closed in second place with 82 points, exceeding 80 points in the standings for the first time.
Despite the loss of the aforementioned Higuaín, sold in the following summer for a record-breaking figure to Juventus, Napoli, driven by the performance of the young signings of Zielinski, Rog and Diawara and the goals of Mertens, now consecrated as a very effective offensive terminal with the ability to make up for the long absence of the injured party Milik, remained at the top of Italian football, finishing the championship 2016-17 al third place with 86 points, behind the Bianconeri and Roma. Good was also the path in the cups: the elimination from Coppa Italia only reached the semifinal against Juventus, while in UEFA Champions League, after closing the group in first place, the Neapolitans came out in the round of 16 final against Real Madrid.
For the 2017-18 season, the team focused heavily on the championship, once again relying on the consolidated group of veterans from past seasons. Thanks to a 3-in-a-row initial of eight consecutive victories, Napoli jumped to the top solitary on the seventh day, maintaining the lead in the standings until the fourteenth, when the internal defeat against Juventus (0-1, goal by the former Higuain) cost the overtaking of Inter. However, taking advantage of a subsequent decline in the Nerazzurri, Sarri's men did they graduated winter champions with 48 points. The Azzurri also won the first seven games of the second round, but the home defeat against Roma (2-4) and the draw on the twenty-eighth matchday with Inter Milan cost the Juventus overtaking. Napoli, nevertheless, going to win the direct match in Turin (0-1, goal of Koulibaly at the 90 ') in April, he shortened the gap to -1 with four days to go, reopening the fate of the championship. However, two subsequent and unforeseeable steps to empty (external defeat with the Fiorentina and home peer with Turin) gave the green light to Juventus towards the title; a loot of 91 points obtained was not enough for Napoli, a record for the second team classified, but insufficient in front of the 95 of the scudetted bianconeri.
from 2019 to 2021
History
At the end of the season Sarri left the club to marry Chelsea and was replaced by Carlo Ancelotti, who took the team to second place in the season 2018-19, qualifying it for the next edition of the UEFA Champions League. The season, marked by the departure, in February, of the 32-year-old flag Hamsik, who moved to Chinese league and replaced by the Spanish talent Fabian Ruiz, saw the Neapolitans sailing in second place without particular worries, without ever undermining, however, the primacy of Juventus. If the path in Coppa Italia ended in the quarter-finals against Milan, the path in UEFA Champions League was thickness: the team, inserted in a complicated group with Liverpool, PSG and Stella Rossa, failed to qualify for the round of 16 only on the last day of grouping, losing on the Reds field; relegated to Europa League, coming out in the quarter-finals against the Arsenal.
The 2019-20 vintage proves to be more complicated for Ancelotti's team, which suffers a dramatic decline in the championship, failing to win for two months. Parallel to the crisis of results, conflicts emerge between the president, the coach and the players, resulting in a mutiny of the team; this situation leads to the exoneration of the coach in December Emiliano, replaced by Gennaro Gattuso. The Calabrian coach brings the blues to redemption in Coppa Italia, where they eliminate first the Perugia and then the holder Lazio; after suspension of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team eliminates Inter in the semifinals - with Dries Mertens author on the occasion of the goal that makes it the best scorer in Neapolitan history and overtook Juventus in the final on penalties, putting the sixth national cup in the club's history on the board, six years after previous success in the event.
Gattuso starts his second seasons with Victor Osimhen from Lille, the team doesn't perform well the first part of the season, leading to a 6th place at Christmas, far away from Champions League position. Gattuso suffered numerous injuries and as a result he went out from Europa League against Granada, from Italian Cup against Atalanta and Italian Supercup in Reggio Emilia versus Juventus.
Napoli finished the Serie A at 5th place with drawing last match against Verona, missing so the minimum target of the Champions League qualification.