Napoli

Napoli has won Serie A twice, in 1986–87 and 1989–90. It has also won Coppa Italia in its home country three times, and on the European stage has 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 bankrupt but was refounded by film-producer Aurelio De Laurentiis as Napoli Soccer; he restored the name to Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli in early 2006 

HISTORY

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.[citation needed]

Early into its existence, the Italian Football Championship was limited to just Northern clubs, so Southern clubs competed against sailors or in cups such as Sir Thomas Lipton's Lipton Challenge Cup. In the cup competed between Naples and Palermo FBC, Naples won three finals.The foreign contingent at the club broke off in 1912 to form Internazionale Napoli, 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.[citation needed]

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 Paraguayan-born Attila Sallustro, 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 A-era under the management of William Garbutt. 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 Vojak, Arnaldo Sentimenti and Carlo Buscaglia. 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 B. They moved from Stadio Giorgio Ascarelli to Stadio Arturo Collana 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 Paolo 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 SPAL to lift the Coppa Italia in 1962, with goals from Corelli and Pierluigi Ronzon. Their fourth relegation cut celebrations short the following season.

Napoli on the rise: mid-'60s onwards

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 Alpi 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 Milan in second place. Some of the most popular players from this period were Dino Zoff, José Altafini, Omar Sívori, 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 1970–1971 and 1973–74. Under the coaching of former player Luís Vinício, this gained them entry into the early UEFA Cup competitions; in 1974–75 they reached the third round knocking out F.C. Porto 2–0 on the way. During the same season Napoli finished second in Serie A; just two points behind champions Juventus. Solid performances from locally born players such as Bruscolotti, Juliano and Esposito were relied upon during this period, coupled with goals from Giuseppe Savoldi.

After beating Southampton 4–1 on aggregate to lift the Anglo-Italian League Cup, Napoli were entered into the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup for 1976–77 where they reached the semi-finals. The club won their second Coppa Italia trophy in 1975–76, knocking out AC Milan and Fiorentina en route, before beating rivals Verona 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.

The Maradona era (1984-1991)

Napoli broke the world transfer record fee, turning to Diego Maradona with a $12 million deal from Barcelona on 30 June 1984. The squad was gradually re-built, with the likes of Ciro Ferrara, Salvatore Bagni and Fernando De Napoli 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 Atalanta 4–0 to lift the Coppa Italia.

Because a mainland Southern Italian team had never won the league before, this turned Diego Maradona 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 Cup 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. Juventus, Bayern Munich and PAOK were defeated on the way to the final, where Napoli beat VfB Stuttgart 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 AC 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 Bergamo an Atalanta fan threw a 100 lira coin at Alemão's head. A controversial set of events set off at the 1990 World Cup, when Maradona made comments pertaining to North-South inequality in the country and the risorgimento, asking Neapolitans to root for Argentina in the semi-finals against Italy in Naples.

“I don't like the fact that now everybody is asking Neapolitans to be Italian and to support their national team. Naples has always been marginalised by the rest of Italy. It is a city that suffers the most unfair racism. ”

Napoli ultras 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 anthem 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 cocaine; 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 Italiana 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 Zola, Daniel Fonseca 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 Vicenza. 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 1999–00 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 Laurentiis 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 a play-off 2–1 to local rivals Avellino.

Despite the fact that Napoli were playing in such a low division, they retained higher average attendances than most of the Serie A 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 Genoa. Napoli finished the season placed 8th in the Serie A , enough to secure a place in the Intertoto Cup third round. Napoli also defeated five major teams in the same year: Milan, Inter, Juventus, Fiorentina and Udinese.

The 2008–09 season saw Napoli qualifying to the UEFA Cup via Intertoto, but were 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 UEFA 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 head coach Edy Reja in March 2009, with Roberto Donadoni being appointed as his replacement.

After a 2-1 loss to Roma in October 2009 Donadoni was relieved of his duties and replaced by former Sampdoria manager, Walter Mazzarri.