SSC Napoli

Societa Sportiva Calcio Napli, popularly known as Napoli, is an Italian football club based in the city of Naples in Campania. They currently feature in the Italian Serie A and have won the scudetto once during the Diego Maradona period.

Napoli were formed in 1904 as Naples Football & Cricket Club by English sailor William Poths and Hector M. Bayon. The club was renamed as Naples Football Club in 1906.

On August 23,1926 the club was rechristened as Associazione Calcio Napoli under president Giorgio Ascarelli. Napoli were soon playing in the Italian Serie A and competing well with the northern clubs (Napoli are a southern club in Italy) but were relegated before long.

On June 25,1964 the club again shifted their name to Societa Sportiva Calcio Napoli and gained promotion to the Italian Serie A in the 1964-1965 season and finished second to AC Milan in the 1967-1968 season. In the 1970s, Napoli impressed both in Italy and in Europe.

Naplo then signed Diego Armando Maradona from FC Barcelona in 1984 for a then world record transfer fee of 12 million liras and the Argentine legend inspired Napoli to the Serie A and Coppa Italia double in 1987, becoming a cult hero to take a Southern club to a scudetto triumph.

Napoli won the UEFA Cup in 1989 and won the scudetto in the 1989-1990 season. They also finished fourth in the Serie A in the 1991-1992 season.

Napoli then hit the downhill slide as they failed to reproduce their old class and quality with the departure of several top draw players, including Maradona. They were relegated from the Serie A in late 1990s an by August 2004 were declared brankrupt with an estimated debt of 70 million euros.

Italian film producer Aurelio De Laurentiis then came into the equation and revitalized the club as Napoli Soccer and had to start from scratch but the supporters stayed loyal to their beloved club and were reawarded with a Double Bill thriller by De Laurentiis.

Napoli Soccer became Societa Sportiva Calcio Napoli again in May 2006 after they gained promotion to the Italian Serie B and returned to the Serie A in the 2007-2008 season.

Napoli play their home matches at the Stadio San Paolo which can hold a crowd of 78,210. The clubs bears the nicknames Azzurri(blue) and Partenopei.

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