Juventus Football Club S.p.A.

Juventus

Founded: 1897

Owners: Agnelli family (through EXOR N.V.)

Chairman: Andrea Agnelli

Captain: Giorgio Chiellini

Home Ground: Juventus Stadium

Country: Italy

League: Serie A

Rivals: Torino, AC Milan, Inter, Roma, Fiorentina, Napoli, Real Madrid

Nicknames: I Bianconeri (The Black and Whites), La Vecchia Signora (The Old Lady), La Fidanzata d’Italia (The Girlfriend of Italy), La Madama (Piedmontese: Madam), Le Zebre (The Zebras), La Signora Omicidi (The Killer Lady), La Gheuba (The Hunchback)

Juventus Football Club, colloquially known as Juventus and Juve, is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top flight of Italian football.

Founded in 1897 by a group of Torinese students, the club has worn a black and white striped home kit since 1903 and has played home matches in different grounds around its city, the latest being the 41,507-capacity Juventus Stadium.

Nicknamed Vecchia Signora (“the Old Lady”), the club has won 36 official league titles, 14 Coppa Italia titles and nine Supercoppa Italiana titles, being the record holder for all these competitions; two Intercontinental Cups, two European Cups / UEFA Champions Leagues, one European Cup Winners’ Cup, a joint national record of three UEFA Cups, two UEFA Super Cups and a joint national record of one UEFA Intertoto Cup.

Consequently, on the international stage, Juventus occupies the sixth position in Europe and the twelfth in the world for most confederation titles won with eleven trophies, as well as fourth in the all-time Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) competitions ranking.

Founded with the name of Sport-Club Juventus, initially as an athletics club, it is the second oldest of its kind still active in the country after Genoa’s football section (1893) and has competed uninterruptedly in the top flight league (reformulated as Serie A from 1929) since its debut in 1900 after changing its name to Foot-Ball Club Juventus, with the exception of the 2006–07 season, being managed by the industrial Agnelli family almost continuously since 1923.

The relationship between the club and that dynasty is the oldest and longest in national sports, making Juventus one of the first professional sporting clubs ante litteram in the country, having established itself as a major force on the national stage since the 1930s and at the confederation level since the mid-1970s and becoming one of the first ten wealthiest in world football in terms of value, revenue and profit since the mid-1990s, being listed on the Borsa Italiana since 2001.

Under the management of Giovanni Trapattoni, the club won 13 trophies in the ten years before 1986, including six league titles and five international titles, and became the first to win all three seasonal competitions organised by the Union of European Football Associations: the 1976–77 UEFA Cup (first Southern European side to do so), the 1983–84 Cup Winners’ Cup and the 1984–85 European Champions’ Cup.

With successive triumphs in the 1984 European Super Cup and 1985 Intercontinental Cup, it became the first and thus far only in the world to complete a clean sweep of all confederation trophies; an achievement that they revalidated with the title won in the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup after another successful era led by Marcello Lippi, becoming, in addition, the only professional Italian club to have won every ongoing honour available to the first team and organised by a national or international football association.

In December 2000, Juventus was ranked seventh in the FIFA’s historic ranking of the best clubs in the world and nine years later was ranked second-best club in Europe during the 20th Century based on a statistical study series by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), the highest for an Italian club in both.

The club’s fan base is the largest at the national level and one of the largest worldwide.

Unlike most European sporting supporters’ groups, which are often concentrated around their own club’s city of origin, it is widespread throughout the whole country and the Italian diaspora, making Juventus a symbol of anticampanilismo (“anti-parochialism”) and italianità (“Italianness”).

Juventus players have won eight Ballon d’Or awards, four of these in consecutive years (1982–1985, an overall record), among these the first player representing Serie A, Omar Sívori, as well as Michel Platini and three of the five recipients with Italian nationality as the former member of the youth sector Paolo Rossi.

They have also won four FIFA World Player of the Year awards, with winners as Roberto Baggio and Zinedine Zidane, a national record and third and joint second highest overall, respectively, in the cited prizes.

Additionally, players representing the club have won 12 Serie A Footballer of the Year awards including the only goalkeeper to win it, Gianluigi Buffon, and 17 different players were inducted in the Serie A Team of the Year, being both also a record.

Finally, the club has also provided the most players to the Italy national team – mostly in official competitions in an almost uninterrupted way since 1924 – who often formed the group that led the Azzurri squad to international success, most importantly in 1934, 1982 and 2006 FIFA World Cups.

History

Early years (1897–1918)

Juventus were founded as Sport-Club Juventus in late 1897 by pupils from the Massimo d’Azeglio Lyceum school in Turin, among them the brothers Eugenio and Enrico Canfari, but were renamed as Foot-Ball Club Juventus two years later.

The club joined the Italian Football Championship in 1900. In 1904, the businessman Ajmone-Marsan revived the finances of the football club Juventus, making it also possible to transfer the training field from piazza d’armi to the more appropriate Velodrome Umberto I.

During this period, the team wore a pink and black kit. Juventus first won the league championship in 1905 while playing at their Velodrome Umberto I ground. By this time the club colours had changed to black and white stripes, inspired by English side Notts County.

There was a split at the club in 1906, after some of the staff considered moving Juve out of Turin.

President Alfred Dick was unhappy with this and left with some prominent players to found FBC Torino which in turn spawned the Derby della Mole. Juventus spent much of this period steadily rebuilding after the split, surviving the First World War.

League dominance (1923-1980)

FIAT vice president Edoardo Agnelli was elected club’s president in 1923 and a new stadium was inaugurated one year before.

This helped the club to its second league championship in the 1925–26 season, after beating Alba Roma with an aggregate score of 12–1.

The club established itself as a major force in Italian football since the 1930s, becoming the country’s first professional club and the first with a decentralised fan base, which led it to win a record of five consecutive Italian championships and form the core of the Italy national team during the Vittorio Pozzo era, including the 1934 world champion squad, with star players such as Raimundo Orsi, Luigi Bertolini, Giovanni Ferrari and Luis Monti, among 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. After the Second World War, Gianni Agnelli was appointed president.

The club added two more league championships to its name in the 1949–50 and 1951–52 seasons, the first of which was under the management of Englishman Jesse Carver. Two new strikers were signed during 1957–58: Welshman John Charles and Italian Argentine Omar Sívori, playing alongside longtime member Giampiero Boniperti.

In the 1959–60 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 that stood for 45 years.

During the rest of the decade, the club won the league just once more in 1966–67. 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, with players such as Roberto Bettega, Franco Causio and José Altafini breaking through.

During the rest of the decade, they won the league thrice more, with defender Gaetano Scirea contributing significantly.

The latter two success in Serie A was under Giovanni Trapattoni, who also led the club to their first-ever major European title (the UEFA Cup) in 1977 and helped the club’s domination continue on into the early part of the 1980s.

European stage (1980–1993)

The Trapattoni era was highly successful in the 1980s and the club started the decade off well, winning the league title three more times by 1984.

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.

Around this time, the club’s players were attracting considerable attention and Paolo Rossi was named European Footballer of the Year following his contribution to Italy’s victory in the 1982 World Cup, where he was named Player of the Tournament.

Frenchman Michel Platini was also awarded the European Footballer of the Year title for three years in a row in 1983, 1984 and 1985, which is a record.

Juventus are the first and one of the only two clubs to have players from their club winning the award in four consecutive years. It was Platini who scored the winning goal in the 1985 European Cup Final against Liverpool, but this was marred by a tragedy that changed European football.

That year, Juventus became the first club in the history of European football to have won all three major UEFA competitions and, after their triumph in the Intercontinental Cup, the club also became the first, and thus far, the only in association football history, to have won all possible confederation competitions, an achievement that it revalidated with the title won in the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup.

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.

However, Juventus did win a Coppa Italia-UEFA Cup double in 1990 under the guidance of former club legend Dino Zoff.

In 1990, Juventus also moved into their new home, the Stadio delle Alpi, which was built for the 1990 World Cup.

Despite the arrival of Italian star Roberto Baggio later that year for a world record transfer fee, the early 1990s under Luigi Maifredi and subsequently Trapattoni once again also saw little success for Juventus, as they only managed to win the UEFA Cup in 1993.

Renewed international success (1994–2004)

Marcello Lippi took over as Juventus manager at the start of the 1994–95 campaign.

His first season at the helm of the club was a successful one, as Juventus recorded their first Serie A championship title since the mid-1980s, as well as the Coppa Italia.

The crop of players during this period featured Ciro Ferrara, Roberto Baggio, Gianluca Vialli and a young Alessandro Del Piero. Lippi led Juventus to their first Supercoppa Italiana and the Champions League the following season, beating Ajax on penalties after a 1–1 draw in which Fabrizio Ravanelli scored for Juventus.

The club did not rest long after winning the European Cup: more highly regarded players were brought into the fold in the form of Zinedine Zidane, Filippo Inzaghi and Edgar Davids.

At home, Juventus won the 1996–97 and 1997–98 Serie A titles, as well as the 1996 UEFA Super Cup and the 1996 Intercontinental Cup. Juventus reached the 1997 and 1998 Champions League finals during this period but lost out to Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid respectively.

After a two-and-a-half-season absence, Lippi returned to the club in 2001, following his replacement Carlo Ancelotti’s dismissal, signing big-name players such as Gianluigi Buffon, David Trezeguet, Pavel Nedvěd and Lilian Thuram, helping the team to two more scudetto titles during the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons.

Juventus were also part of an all Italian Champions League final in 2003 but lost out to Milan on penalties after the game ended in a 0–0 draw.

At the conclusion of the following season, Lippi was appointed as the Italy national team’s head coach, bringing an end to one of the most fruitful managerial spells in Juventus’ history.

Calciopoli scandal (2004–2007)

Fabio Capello was appointed as Juventus’ coach in 2004 and led the club to two more consecutive Serie A first places.

In May 2006, Juventus became one of the five clubs linked to the Calciopoli scandal. In July, Juventus was placed at the bottom of the league table and relegated to Serie B for the first time in its history.

The club was also stripped of the 2005 title won under Capello, while the 2006 title, after a period of sub judice, was assigned to Inter Milan.

Many key players left following their relegation to Serie B, including Lillian Thuram, star striker Zlatan Ibrahimović and defensive stalwart Fabio Cannavaro.

However, other big-name players such as Alessandro Del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon, David Trezeguet and Pavel Nedvěd remained to help the club return to Serie A, while youngsters from the Primavera (youth team), such as Sebastian Giovinco and Claudio Marchisio, were integrated into the first team.

Juventus won the Cadetti (Serie B championship) despite starting with a points deduction and gained promotion straight back up to the top division as league winners after the 2006–07 season, as captain Del Piero claimed the top scorer award with 21 goals.

As early as 2010, Juventus considered challenging the stripping of their scudetto from 2006 and the non-assignment of the 2005 title, dependent on the results of trials connected to the 2006 scandal.

When former general manager Luciano Moggi’s conviction in criminal court in connection with the scandal was partially written off by the Supreme Court on 23 March 2015, the club sued the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) for €443 million for damages caused by their 2006 relegation.

FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio offered to discuss reinstatement of the lost Scudetti in exchange for Juventus dropping the lawsuit.

On 9 September 2015, the Supreme Court released a 150-page document that explained its final ruling of the case: despite that Moggi’s remaining charges were cancelled without a new trial, due to statute of limitations, the court confirmed that Moggi was actively involved in the sporting fraud which was intended to favour Juventus and increase his own personal benefits.

Eventually, in 2016 the TAR tribunal rejected the request for compensation promoted by Juventus. On 15 March 2017, Moggi’s lifetime ban was definitively confirmed on final appeal.

Return to Serie A (2007–2011)

After returning to Serie A in the 2007–08 season, Juventus appointed Claudio Ranieri as manager.

They finished in third place in their first season back in the top flight and qualified for the Champions League third qualifying round in the preliminary stages.

Juventus reached the group stages, where they beat Real Madrid in both home and away legs, before losing in the knockout round to Chelsea.

Ranieri was sacked following a string of unsuccessful results and Ciro Ferrara was appointed as manager on a temporary basis for the last two games of the 2008–09 season, before being subsequently appointed as the manager for the 2009–10 season.

Ferrara’s stint as Juventus manager, however, proved to be unsuccessful, with Juventus knocked out of Champions League and Coppa Italia, as well as just lying in sixth place in the league table at the end of January 2010, leading to the dismissal of Ferrara and the naming of Alberto Zaccheroni as caretaker manager.

Zaccheroni could not help the side improve, as Juventus finished the season in seventh place in Serie A. For the 2010–11 season, Jean-Claude Blanc was replaced by Andrea Agnelli as the club’s president.

Agnelli’s first action was to replace Zaccheroni and director of sport Alessio Secco with Sampdoria manager Luigi Delneri and director of sport Giuseppe Marotta. However, Delneri failed to improve their fortunes and was dismissed.

Former player and fan favourite Antonio Conte, fresh after winning promotion with Siena, was named Delneri’s replacement. In September 2011, Juventus relocated to the new Juventus Stadium.

Nine consecutive league titles (2011–2020)

With Conte as manager, Juventus went unbeaten for the entire 2011–12 Serie A season. Towards the second half of the season, the team was mostly competing with northern rivals Milan for first place in a tight contest.

Juventus won the title on the 37th matchday after beating Cagliari 2–0 and Milan losing to Internazionale 4–2. After a 3–1 win in the final matchday against Atalanta, Juventus became the first team to go the season unbeaten in the current 38-game format.

In 2013–14, Juventus won a third consecutive scudetto with a record 102 points and 33 wins. The title was the 30th official league championship in the club’s history.

They also achieved the semi-finals of the Europa League, where they were eliminated at home against ten-man Benfica’s catenaccio, missing the final at the Juventus Stadium.

In 2014–15, Massimiliano Allegri was appointed as manager, with whom Juventus won their 31st official title, making it a fourth-straight, as well as achieving a record tenth Coppa Italia for the double.

The club also beat Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League 3–2 on aggregate to face Barcelona in the final in Berlin for the first time since the 2002–03 Champions League. Juventus lost the final against Barcelona 3–1.

On 21 May 2016, the club then won the Coppa Italia for the 11th time and their second straight title, becoming the first team in Italy’s history to win Serie A and Coppa Italia doubles in back-to-back seasons.

On 17 May 2017, Juventus won their 12th Coppa Italia title in a 2–0 win over Lazio (the first team to win three consecutive championships). Four days later on 21 May, Juventus became the first team to win six consecutive Serie A titles.

On 3 June 2017, Juventus reached a second Champions League Final in three years but were defeated 1–4 by defending champions Real Madrid—a stampede in Turin happened ten minutes before the end of the match.

On 9 May 2018, Juventus won their 13th Coppa Italia title, and fourth in a row, in a 4–0 win over Milan, extending the all-time record of successive Coppa Italia titles. Four days later on 13 May, Juventus secured their seventh consecutive Serie A title, extending the all-time record of successive triumphs in the competition.

On 10 July 2018, Juventus broke the record for a fee paid for a player over 30 years old and the record for a fee paid by an Italian club by purchasing the 33-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid for €112 million, or £99.2 million.

On 16 January 2019, Juventus and Milan, who were tied for Supercoppa Italiana wins with seven each, played against each other: Juventus won their eight Supercoppa Italiana after beating Milan 1–0.

On 20 April 2019, Juventus secured their eighth consecutive Serie A title, further extending the all-time record of successive triumphs in the competition.

Following Allegri’s dismissal, Maurizio Sarri was appointed manager of the club ahead of the 2019–20 season. On 26 July 2020, Juventus were confirmed 2019–20 Serie A champions, reaching an unprecedented milestone of nine consecutive league titles.

Recent history (2020–present)

On 8 August 2020, Sarri was sacked by the club, one day after Juventus were eliminated from the Champions league by Lyon.

On the same day, former player Andrea Pirlo was announced as the new coach, signing a two-year contract.

On 20 January 2021, Juventus won their ninth Supercoppa Italiana title after a 2–0 victory against Napoli.

With Internazionale’s championship in 2021, Juventus’ run of nine consecutive titles came to an end. On 19 May 2021, Juventus won their 14th Coppa Italia and they secured a UEFA Champions League berth on the final day of the Serie A.

Andrea Pirlo was sacked from the head coaching role on 28th May 2021.

Club Records

Most Appearances: Alessandro Del Piero (705)

Most Goals: Alessandro Del Piero (290)

Serie A: 36

Coppa Italia: 14

Supercoppa Italiana: 9

UEFA Champions League: 2

European Cup Winners’ Cup: 1

UEFA Cup: 3

UEFA Super Cup: 2

UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1

Intercontinental Cup: 2