History Of Juventus

1897: THE KICK-OFF
1897 : A bench in Re Umberto Avenue finds a group of young students from Liceo D'Azeglio in Turin in need of something to do. They decide to start a sports club with the aim of playing football, a sport started in Great Britain, but developing fast in Europe. So the story goes - Juventus F.C. was born in this way - just for fun. 

This club, run by the first president Enrico Canfari, played against more experienced and organised teams in the city. However in 1905 Juventus won its first Italian title after a fascinating competition with two other teams - Genoa and Milan. Juventus F.C. chose their first home at D'Armi Square, which is still used today. For some years Juventus founders wore pink shirts - the same ones they wore when they started in1900. The change to the black and white colours was made in 1903 after a wrong shipment was sent from England where the new strip was to be made. Despite growing achievements, Juventus were in the shadow of stronger teams like Provercelli and Casale until the outbreak of the First World War. After the war they continued to rise, with goalkeeper Giacone and the full backs Novo and Bruno the first to play in the national team. The President was the poet and man of letters Corrado Corradini, who wrote the club anthem which remained until the sixties.

THE BIRTH OF THE GREAT JUVENTUS

In 1923 Giampiero Combi, one of the greatest goalkeepers in the world, made his debut. Edoardo Agnelli, son of the FIAT founder, was elected the new president of the club and due to the growing number of fans, Juventus took possession of a bigger stadium in Marsiglia Road. Jeno Karoly, the first real trainer, arrived at Juventus with the inside left Hirzer, both from Hungary, to supplement the talents of Combi, Rosetta, Munerati, Bigatto and Grabbi. In 1925-26, after a fascinating run-in, Juventus won their second championship. 

THE FIRST SUCCESSES
In this glorious period Juventus won five consecutive championships. 

Trainer Carlo Carcano was able to call upon great stars such as Orsi, Caligaris, Monti, Cesarini, Varglien, Bertolini, Ferrari and Borel. Not only did Juve triumph in five championships from 1930 to 1935, the Italian national side also won the World Cup in 1934. 

During this period Juventus had their first experience in world football, participating in the Europe Cup (today's Champions League) where they reached the semi-final stage four times. In 1933 Juventus also changed its home: the town stadium was built for the World University Games and the team played there until 1900. 

THE LEGENDARY PERIOD
In 1947 Giovanni Agnelli became the president of the Juventus F.C. The most notable players from this period were Carlo Parolo, plus the two Danes John Hansen and Proest. The hero of the team however, and the holder of the record for both appearances (664) and goals (177), was Giampiero Boniperti. Juventus won 2 championships in 1950 and 1952. By 1955 Umberto Agnelli had taken over the Presidency from his older brother Giovanni. Having added the services of Omar Sivori and John Charles, Juventus won championships in 1958,1960 and 1961. For the first time an Italian Club became entitled to wear the star after winning 10 national championships.

FIFTEEN YEARS OF SUCCESSES

1967 was another successful Championship year for Juve under the Presidency of Vittore Catella. A long successful period started with Giampiero Boniperti as president in 1971. During the fifteen years from 1972 to 1986 Juventus won nine championships and all European and intercontinental Cups. Wycpalek, Parola and Giampiero Boniperti were the trainers, while on the pitch Juventus featured such greats as Zoff, Scirea, Tardelli, Cabrini, Causio, Rosa, Gentile, Furino, Anastasi and Roberto Bettega -todays vice-president. The Italians were complemented by superb foreigners like Michel Platini, who won 2 championships, 2 European Cups, one intercontinental Cup, 3 awards as the top goal-scorer and 3 Golden Balls in five years. In 1990 Juventus won the Uefa Cup and the Italian Cup (with today's president Vittorio Chiusano and Dino Zoff as trainer) and the Uefa Cup again in 1993.

THE MOST RECENT TRIUMPHS

In 1994 a new managerial group of A.Giraudo, Luciano Moggi and Roberto Bettega (nicknamed "the triad") took over at the head of Juventus FC. They employed trainer Marcello Lippi, who immediately guided the team to their first Championship in nine years. In 1994-95 the team won the Italian Cup but lost in the final of the Uefa Cup. 

Juventus had won the Champions Cup only once before - on the tragic night at Heysel against Liverpool. The final match of the season in Rome saw Juventus take on Ajax for the title of European Champions. An exciting match ended in a 1-1 draw after extra time. The successful penalty kicks from Peruzzi, Ferrara, Pessotto, Padovano and Jugovic sent all Juventus supporters into ecstasy. In the following year Juventus won the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo (Del Piero), the European Supercup against Paris Saint Germain and their 24th Scudetto. Sadly the Final of the Champions League was lost to Borussia Dortmund, but Lippi bounced back as the club won the Supercup and their 25th Championship.

As taken from the Juventus Official Site (www.juventus.com)

Soccer History

Have you ever wonder how soccer / football games get into our life? When and where is the origin of this game from? Why is it so many peoples in the world crazy about this game? Almost every culture has reference to the history of soccer.

  The origin of football / soccer can be found in every corner of geography and history. The Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Ancient Greek, Persian, Viking, and many more played a ball game long before our era. The Chinese played "football" games date as far back as 3000 years ago. The Ancient Greeks and the Roman used football games to sharpen warriors for battle. In south and Central America a game called "Tlatchi" once flourished. 

  But it was in England that soccer / football really begin to take shape. It all started in 1863 in England, when two football association (association football and rugby football) split off on their different course. Therefore, the first Football Association was founded in England. 

On October 1963, eleven London clubs and schools sent their representatives to the Freemason's Tavern. These representatives were intent on clarifying the muddle by establishing a set of fundamental rules, acceptable to all parties, to govern the matches played amongst them. This meeting marked the birth of The Football Association. The eternal dispute concerning shin-kicking, tripping and carrying the ball was discussed thoroughly at this and consecutive meetings until eventually on 8 December the die-hard exponents of the Rugby style took their final leave. They were in the minority anyway. They wanted no part in a game that forbade tripping, shin-kicking and carrying the ball. A stage had been reached where the ideals were no longer compatible. On 8 December 1863, football and rugby finally split. Their separation became totally irreconcilable six years hence when a provision was included in the football rules forbidding any handling of the ball (not only carrying it). 

  Only eight years after its foundation, The Football Association already had 50 member clubs. The first football competition in the world was started in the same year - the FA Cup, which preceded the League Championship by 17 years. 

  International matches were being staged in Great Britain before football had hardly been heard of in Europe. The first was played in 1872 and was contested by England and Scotland. This sudden boom of organized football accompanied by staggering crowds of spectators brought with it certain problems with which other countries were not confronted until much later on. Professionalism was one of them. The first moves in this direction came in 1879, when Darwin, a small Lancashire club, twice managed to draw against the supposedly invincible Old Etonians in the FA Cup, before the famous team of London amateurs finally scraped through to win at the third attempt. Two Darwin players, the Scots John Love and Fergus Suter, are reported as being the first players ever to receive remuneration for their football talent. This practice grew rapidly and the Football Association found itself obliged to legalise professionalism as early as 1885. This development predated the formation of any national association outside of Great Britain (namely, in the Netherlands and Denmark) by exactly four years. 

After the English Football Association, the next oldest are the Scottish FA (1873), the FA of Wales (1875) and the Irish FA (1880). Strictly speaking, at the time of the first international match, England had no other partner association against which to play. When Scotland played England in Glasgow on 30 November 1872, the Scottish FA did not even exist - it was not founded for another three months. The team England played that day was actually the oldest Scottish club team, Queen's Park. 

The spread of football outside of England, mainly due to the British influence abroad, started slow, but it soon gathered momentum and spread rapidly to all parts of the world. The next countries to form football associations after the Netherlands and Denmark in 1889 were New Zealand (1891), Argentina (1893), Chile (1895), Switzerland, Belgium (1895), Italy (1898), Germany, Uruguay (both in 1900), Hungary (1901) and Finland (1907). When FIFA was founded in Paris in May 1904 it had seven founder members: France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain (represented by the Madrid FC), Sweden and Switzerland. The German Football Federation cabled its intention to join on the same day. 


This international football community grew steadily, although it sometimes met with obstacles and setbacks. In 1912, 21 national associations were already affiliated to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). By 1925, the number had increased to 36, in 1930 - the year of the first World Cup - it was 41, in 1938, 51 and in 1950, after the interval caused by the Second World War, the number had reached 73. At present, after the 2000 Ordinary FIFA Congress, FIFA has 204 members in every part of the world.