Juventus FC

History

Historic first ever Juventus club shot, 1898

Juventus were founded as Sport Club Juventus in late 1897 by pupils from the Massimo D'Azeglio Lyceum school in Turin,^[23] but were renamed as Foot-Ball Club Juventus two years later.^[3] The club joined the Italian Football Championship during 1900. During this period the team wore a pink and black kit. Juventus first won the league championship in 1905 while playing at their Velodromo Umberto I ground. By this time the club colours had changed to black and white stripes, inspired by English side Notts County.^[24]

There was a split at the club in 1906, after some of the staff considered moving Juve out of Turin.^[3] President Alfredo Dick was unhappy with this and left with some prominent players to found FBC Torino which in turn spawned the Derby della Mole.^[25] Juventus spent much of this period steadily rebuilding after the split, surviving the First World War.^[24]

Fiat owner Edoardo Agnelli gained control of the club in 1923, and built a new stadium.^[3] This helped the club to its second scudetto (league championship) in the 1925–26 season beating Alba Roma with an aggregate score of 12–1, Antonio Vojak's goals were essential that season.^[24] The 1930s proved to be even more fruitful, the club won five consecutive league titles from 1930 through to 1935, most were under coach Carlo Carcano^[24] with star players such as Raimundo Orsi, Luigi Bertolini, Giovanni Ferrari and Luis Monti amongst others.

Juventus moved to the Stadio Comunale, but for the rest of the 1930s and the majority of the 1940s they were unable to recapture championship dominance.

Sivori, Charles and Boniperti

After the Second World War, Gianni Agnelli was appointed honorary president.^[3] The club added two more league championships to its name in the 1949–50 and 1951–52 seasons, the latter of which was under the management of Englishman Jesse Carver.

Two new strikers were signed during 1957–58; Welshman John Charles and Italo-Argentine Omar Sivori, playing alongside longtime member Giampiero Boniperti. That season saw Juventus awarded with the Golden Star for Sport Excellence to wear on their shirts after becoming the first Italian side to win ten league titles. In the same season, Omar Sivori became the first ever player at the club to win the European Footballer of the Year.^[26] The following season they beat Fiorentina to complete their first league and cup double, winning Serie A and Coppa Italia. Boniperti retired in 1961 as the all-time top scorer at the club, with 182 goals in all competitions, a club record which stood for 45 years.^[27]

During the rest of the decade the club won the league just once more in 1966–67,^[24] However, the 1970s saw Juventus further solidify their strong position in Italian football. Under former player Čestmír Vycpálek they won the scudetto in 1971–72 and 1972–73,^[24] with players such as Roberto Bettega, Franco Causio and José Altafini breaking through. During the rest of the decade they won the league twice more, with defender Gaetano Scirea contributing significantly. The later win was under Giovanni Trapattoni, who helped the club's domination continue on into the early part of the 1980s.^[28]

Michel Platini holding the Ballon d'Or in bianconeri colours

The Trapattoni-era was highly successful in the 1980s; the club started the decade off well, winning the league title three more times by 1984.^[24] This meant Juventus had won 20 Italian league titles and were allowed to add a second golden star to their shirt, thus becoming the only Italian club to achieve this.^[28] Around this time the club's players were attracting considerable attention; Paolo Rossi was named European Footballer of the Year following his contribution to Italy's victory in the 1982 FIFA World Cup, where he was named player of the tournament.^[29]

Frenchman Michel Platini was also awarded the European Footballer of the Year title for three years in a row; 1983, 1984 and 1985, which is a record.^[26] Juventus are the only club to have players from their club winning the award in four consecutive years.^[26] Indeed it was Platini who scored the winning goal in the 1985 European Cup final against Liverpool, however this was marred by a tragedy which changed European football. The Heysel Stadium disaster, in which 39 people (mostly Juventus fans) were killed when a stadium wall collapsed, has been called by UEFA Chief Executive Lars-Christer Olsson in 2004, "the darkest hour in the history of the UEFA competitions",^[30] and resulted in the banning of all English clubs from European competition.

With the exception of winning the closely contested Italian Championship of 1985–86, the rest of the 1980s were not very successful for the club. As well as having to contend with Diego Maradona's Napoli, both of the Milanese clubs, Milan and Internazionale, won Italian championships.^[24] In 1990, Juventus moved into their new home, the Stadio delle Alpi, which was built for the 1990 World Cup.^[31]