juventus

Juventus

Juventus Football Club (BIT: JUVE) (from Latin iuventus: youth, pronounced [juˈvɛntus]), commonly referred to as Juventus and colloquially as Juve (pronounced [ˈjuːve]),are a professional Italian association football club based in Turin, Piedmont. The club is the third oldest of its kind in the country and has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 2006–07 season, in the top flight First Division (known as Serie A since 1929).

Founded in 1897 as Sport Club Juventus by a group of young Torinese students and linked to the industrial Agnelli family since 1923, the club has become a symbol of Italian culture and italianità (Italianity), due to its tradition of success, the ideological politics and socio-economic origin of the club's sympathisers and their massive presence all over the country and abroad, mainly in countries with a significant presence of Italian immigrants. This is reflected, among other things, in the club's contribution to the national team, uninterrupted since the second half of 1920s and recognised as one of the most influential in international football.Juventus' fan base is larger than any other Italian club and is one of the largest world-wide.

Juventus are historically the most successful team in Italian football and one of the most successful and recognised in the world. According to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics, an organization recognised by FIFA, Juventus were Italy's best club of the 20th century and the second most successful European club in the same period. The club currently ranks fourth in Europe and seventh in the world with the most international titles won officially recognised by their respective association football confederation and FIFA. In 1985, Juventus became the first club in the history of European football to have won all three major UEFA competitions: the European Champion Clubs' Cup, the (now-defunct) UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Cup (the first Italian and Southern European side to win the competition). After their triumph in the Intercontinental Cup the same year, Juventus also became the first football team ever—and remain the only one at present—to have won all possible confederation competitions and the club world title.

• Italiano:
  Una formazione della Juventus nel 1903, prima stagione con la maglia a strisce bianconere
• Français :
  La Juventus FC en 1903, premiére saison avec les maillots à rayures blanches et noires
• English:
  Juventus FC's squad in 1903 wearing their first black and white jersey ever
• Español:
  Formación de la Juventus FC en 1903: el primer año con la camiseta bianconera.

European stage
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. 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; 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.

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.Juventus are the only club to have players from their club winning the award in four consecutive years. 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", 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. In 1990, Juventus moved into their new home, the Stadio delle Alpi, which was built for the 1990 World Cup.