Naples has had a football since 1904 and the foundation of Naples FBC by a William Poths, a Cunard sailor. They were one of the teams that would eventually merge to form Napoli. The other Neapolitan side in existence in these early days was Internazionale Napoli, founded in 1912. Before World War One, Naples did not fail to send a representative to the southern Italian finals from the Campanio regional league. This statistic is misleading, however, since in the pre-war years, Naples and Inter Napoli were the only teams competing in the group. Between them, the two clubs never managed to win a single game in the southern finals before the war, Inter Napoli having to suffer the indignity of an eight-nil defeat at the hands of Lazio in the 1914 southern final group. Although the Campanio group was expanded at the resumption of the championship in peacetime, it was Inter Napoli and Naples who continued to dominate the proceedings until the two teams merged at the end of the 1922 season to form Internaples. The new club finished runners-up in the qualifying league, but when faced with the stiffer competition of the regional semi-finals, failed to win a single point. In their last season, 1926, Internaples had their best run yet, reaching the southern final only to be beaten seven-two over two legs by Alba Roma. Shortly afterwards, Inter Napoli was absorbed into the newly formed AC Napoli.
In their first season, things went disastrously wrong. Napoli failed to win a single one of their eighteen matches, lost seventeen, scored just seven goals and conceded sixty-one to finish bottom of the table with a solitary point. Things quickly improved, however, and 1928 and 1929 saw them rise unspectacularly into mid-table. In the inaugural season of Serie A, Napoli managed to finish in a respectable fifth place. This was soon to be improved upon as Napoli managed to finish third in 1933. They were, however, way off the pace set by champions Juventus and lost more games away from home than any of the other top five teams. Napoli placed third again in 1934, but were set to go into a decline in the years leading up to World War Two. They were regular finishers in mid-table, but the bottom half of the division was closely contested and Napoli flirted with relegation in 1937 and 1940 before finally going down in 1942, just four points separating them from the next six teams. In 1943 Napoli missed out on promotion from Serie B by two points, finishing in third place, and at the end of the season, left the Stadio Giorgio Ascarelli to the Campo Vomero. When the championship was contested on a regional basis for the 1946 season, Napoli proved themselves the best team in the Centro-Sud region losing just three matches en route to a narrow league victory, finishing level on points with Bari, but with a better goal difference. They only finished mid-table in the final group, but it was enough to ensure the Neapolitans a place in Serie A the following year.
Napoli only managed to survive one season in the newly formed Serie A before in 1948, they were relegated again. They went up as champions in 1950 and finished in the top six for the next four years, before a steady decline set in for the rest of the decade, culminating in Napoli's record defeat, eight-nil away to Roma in 1959. In 1960, Napoli finished just two points clear of the relegation play-offs before, in the following season they were relegated with just seven wins from thirty-four games. Bari and Roma were the other teams to go down, demonstrating the south's status in Italian football at this time. This was to herald a brief period of instability as Napoli appeared too good for Serie B but not quite good enough for top flight football in the first half of the 1960s, but in 1962, Napoli won, along with promotion, their first trophy. Their opponents in the Italian Cup final were Serie A strugglers, SPAL Ferrara and Napoli won the final two-one, aided by South American strikers Omar Sivori and Jos?Altafini. This was all possible thanks to the financial backing of Achille Lauro, a shipping magnate, and he was responsible for the construction of a new stadium, the Stadio San Paolo after crowd disturbances had forced the closure of the Campo Vomero. The new arena would however, be the venue for more Serie B football as Napoli were relegated at the end of their first season back in the top flight. Napoli were promoted in second place in 1965 and would not be relegated again.
Immediately, Lauro's money made a difference as Napoli finished third and fourth in Serie A in 1966 and 1967. 1968 saw their best league showing so far, as they finished in second place, although nine points behind champions Milan. The resulting Fairs Cup campaign saw them go out to Leeds United in the second round, drawing lots after the two-legged tie remained level at two-two. This form continued into the 1970s, Napoli finishing third in 1971 and 1974 and narrowly missing out on a first scudetto in 1975 when they finished second behind Juventus. In a championship decider, former Neapolitan idol Altafini scored the winner to hand Juve the title. There was further disappointment in the 1972 Italian Cup final, where Napoli lost two-nil to Milan. Although Napoli were back in mid-table again for the rest of the decade, they did reach two more cup finals. The first in 1976 was a success, Napoli trouncing Hellas-Verona four-nil for their second Coppa Italia. The next in 1978 ended in disappointment as Inter triumphed two-one. The 1980s started promisingly enough with top five finishes in 1981 and 1982, but Napoli were almost relegated in 1984 before the arrival of Argentinean Diego Maradona prompted the club's most successful period.
By now, Corrado Ferlaino was club president, and he masterminded Maradona's transfer from Barcelona. The deal was certainly not assured however, as Napoli were more than one million dollars short of the transfer fee. The club appealed for donations from fans and in twenty-four hours the cash was raised. Maradona made little impact in his first season, but the following year, fresh from World Cup triumph he was at his mercurial best, and partnered up front by the Brazilian Careca led Napoli to their first scudetto and their third Coppa Italia. Napoli went out in the first round of the European Cup but a runners-up spot in Serie A in 1988 meant qualification for the UEFA Cup. Juventus and Bayern Munich were among Napoli's victims en route to the final where Maradona and Careca scored a goal apiece late in the second half to beat VfB Stuttgart two-one in the first leg. In the second leg, played in Stuttgart, goals from Alemao, Ferrera and Careca put Napoli ahead just after the hour mark, effectively killing the match off. An own goal and a late goal from Schmaler were scant consolation for the Germans as Napoli won their first European trophy. Napoli also reached the final of the Italian Cup that year, only to be beaten by Sampdoria.
In 1990, Napoli were champions again, although in rather less auspicious circumstances than their previous Serie A title. They were awarded the crucial 2 points after the Brazilian Alemao was struck by a coin away at Atalanta's Stadio Comunale. If this was not bad enough, Napoli's physio was caught on TV cameras exhorting the player to stay on the ground. Worse was to come. Maradona made inflammatory remarks during the 1990 World Cup, appealing to Neapolitans to cheer on his Argentina team over the northern dominated Italy. These comments did not go down well, and when he departed after testing positive for cocaine less than a year later, the club was in financial crisis. One by one, players like Gianfranco Zola, Daniel Fonseca and Careca departed, and apart from being defeated in the 1997 Italian Cup final, Napoli have not come close to winning any trophies. |
发表于 2002-8-10 03:19:25
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