Sunday 29th July sees Italian giants Juventus travel to St. James’ Park for a pre-season friendly with Newcastle United. At the request of Newcastle-Online here is a little background on the Italian opposition.

The Birth
Juventus are one of Italy’s oldest professional clubs which has earned them the nickname of La Vecchia Signora – The Grand Old Lady. Founded in 1897 by students, the club originally played in pink shirts, but after the strips became faded and discoloured new strips that would prove more durable were required. An English player at the club had a friend from Nottingham send over a batch of his beloved Notts County strips and the Bianconeri (white and blacks) were born.

Success came fairly quickly as the game of football started to bloom in the peninsula, Juventus’ first championship win came in 1905, but just a year later an argument at boardroom level ripped the team apart and several important players followed staff to form Torino Football Club.

The Agnelli family took the club over in the early twenties and the club has been linked with the family and its other major company – FIAT ever since. This take-over provided the stability that was required after the war and the team being ripped apart and Juventus went on to become one of Italy’s leading clubs eventually netting five consecutive league wins in the early thirties.

Juventus have become Italy’s most successful club, amassing 29 League wins (2 were rescinded due to the calciopoli scandal), a feat that sees them the only club in Italy to wear 2 stars on their shirt – a team can wear one star for every ten league wins. In fact Juventus’ league record dwarfs those of the other Italian giants, AC Milan have 17 league wins and Inernazionale have 15 (one awarded after calciopoli).

Their 9 Coppa Italia (league cup) wins is also a record achievement, they’ve also won the Super Coppa Italia (league curtain raiser) 4 times and just recently added their first Serie B title.

Although Juventus’ record in European and International competition is fantastic, their haul of 2 European Cup wins is a little on the sparse side when compared to other prestigious clubs, most notably their domestic rivals AC Milan.

The first cup win in Europe’s flagship tournament came in 1985 against Liverpool. The win was completely overshadowed by the terrible events at the Heysel stadium which resulted in the death of 39 fans, 32 of which were Italian Juventus fans. The darkest hour in the club’s history.

The second cup win was against Ajax of Amsterdam in 1996 after a 1-1 draw saw the match go to penalties, Vladimir Jugovic netted the eventual winner in a 4-2 victory for the Italians.

The club’s success has spread to the other senior competitions, 3 UEFA Cup wins, 1 Cup Winner’s Cup win, 2 European Super Cup wins and 2 Intercontinental Cup wins.

Juve are credited as Italy’s most supported club with a recorded third of the country (14 million) following the Turin giants and a further 44 million across Europe.

The huge percentage of fans in Italy is said to be thanks in part to the close connection with the FIAT car company, the company pulled in workers from all over the country to work in its Turin factory in the early days, especially from the south of the country where unemployment was high and life was economically grimmer than the industrial north. The workers followed ‘FIAT’s team’ and this has passed down the generations. FIAT was also always viewed as Italy’s company, a symbol of the country’s prosperity and strength, with Juventus tied so closely this earned them fans from across the nation.

The club has provided home to some of the world’s greatest players.

Giampiero Boniperti - Spent 15 years at the club and made 444 appearances before his retirement, he went on to become President of the club.

Gaetano Scirea - Was one of the finest defenders to play the game, one of many players who were Synonymous with the club during the halcyon times of the eighties. An elegant, classy sweeper who tragically died in a car crash in 1989 while on scouting duty for the club.

Dino Zoff – A professional career that spanned an incredible 32 years saw Zoff captain the World Cup winning side in 1982 at the grand old age of 40. Arguably the greatest ‘keeper in history.

Marco Tardelli – An incredibly dominant presence in the heart of the Juventus midfield for a decade, famous for his goal iconic celebration against West Germany in the 1982 World Cup Final.

Michel Platini – Regarded by many as the greatest in the club’s history, the Frenchman was the epitome of the continental number ten. A player whose sublime ability saw him crowned European Player of the Year 3 consecutive years in a row as well as World player of the Year two consecutive years in a row.

Roberto Baggio – Bought for a then World record £8m from bitter rivals Fiorentina, his sale to Juventus led to riots in the streets of Florence such was the Fiorentina fans rage at losing their idol to a hated rival.

Zinedine Zidane – A young classy playmaker from Bordeaux moved to the Turin giants for £3m, 5 successful years later he became the most expensive player in the history of the game moving to Real Madrid for £47m.

The club were rocked when a scandal of epic proportions surfaced in the summer of 2006. Transcripts of telephone conversations between Juve General Manager Luciano Moggi and refereeing officials were made public and revealed a network of relationships between certain club’s officials and refereeing organisations.

Five clubs were found guilty of varying degrees of sporting fraud.

AC Milan were deducted 8 points (after appeal).

Fiorentina were deducted 15 points (after appeal) and withdrawn from the Champions League.

Lazio were deducted 3 points (after appeal) and withdrawn from the UEFA Cup.

Reggina were deducted 11 points (after appeal).

Juventus were seen as the main instigators due to the heavy involvement of Moggi, their punishment was in turn far harsher than the other clubs. Many people (mostly Juventus faithful) feel Juve were made an example of and treated too harshly considering the punishments of the other clubs.

Juventus were relegated to Serie B and deducted 9 points (after appeal), they were withdrawn from the Champions League and stripped of their last two league championships, with one being awarded to Inter.

Inevitably the relegation hit the club hard with the club losing millions in sponsorship money, television money and European competition rewards. The club faced a player exodus, losing some big name players in the wake of the scandal.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira moved to rivals Inter Milan.

Fabio Cannavaro and Emerson followed manager Fabio Capello to Real Madrid.

Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram moved to Barcelona.

The big name players who stayed with the club despite the relegation were heralded as heroes by the fans. Club idol Alessandro Del Piero was joined by Pavel Nedved, Gianluigi Buffon, David Trezeguet and Mauro Camoranesi in proving their intention to stick with the club and her fans.

The club’s first season in second tier football proved to be a sole one after winning the Serie B title and gaining promotion back to the senior league of Italian football. Ex-player Didier Deschamps was brought in to mastermind the new look Juve, with many players departing in the wake of the scandal, some of the youth team were promoted to the senior team to work alongside new imports Cristiano Zanetti, Marco Marchionni, Valeri Bojinov and the one and only Jean-Alain Boumsong.

After the final match, Deschamps resigned from his post as manager after a falling out with the club’s board, it’s understood that the Frenchman was unhappy with the board’s involvement in the transfer market.

Ex-Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri was eventually unveiled as the new manger for the forthcoming assault on Serie A. With the help of the board and some much needed income from the Agnelli family, Ranieri has set about rebuilding the team bringing in such names as Portuguese midfielder Tiago formerly of Chelsea and fellow countryman Jorge Andrade.

Incoming Transfers:

Hasan Salihamidžić – Bayern Munich – freedom of contract
Zdeněk Grygera – Ajax Amsterdam – freedom of contract
Vincenzo Iaquinta – Udinese - £7.5m
Tiago Mendes – Olympique Lyonnais - £8.7m
Sergio Almiron – Empoli - £6m
Domenico Criscito – Genoa – resolve of co-ownership £3.5m plus player
Antonio Nocerino – Piacenza – resolve of co-ownership £2.8m
Cristian Molinaro – Siena – resolve of co-ownership £1.7m
Jorge Andrade – Deportivo La Coruna - £6.7m

Gianluigi Buffon – The talented ‘keeper came to the world’s attention when Juventus paid the record amount for a goalkeeper - £32m to bring him from Parma. The fee raised more than a few eyebrows, but the ‘keeper has more than proved his worth and gone on to become the man many consider the greatest ‘keeper in the world.

Pavel Nedved – The ex-Czech Republic captain has become a fans favourite since his £25m move from Lazio in 2001. The majestic attacking midfielder is often used on the left of a 4 man midfield, his finest season was 2002/03 when he was crowned Ballon d’Or winner after playing a major part in helping Juventus reach the Champions League Final. An unnecessary yellow card in the Semi-Final against Real Madrid saw Nedved suspended from the final.

Sergio Almiron – Probably unknown to most of you, the Argentine midfielder has spent his Italian career at Udinese and most recently Empoli. His form saw him courted by both Juve and Inter. Originally a target for Juve two seasons ago, the scandal put paid to any move, but the player finally moved this summer. Watch out for his surging runs and long range shots at goal.

Raffael Palladino – The former youth team product is seen as a major star of the future and potential heir to Del Piero’s throne. Like many youth products before him, Palladino spent most of his early career on loan at smaller clubs. After catching the eye at Salernitana and Livorno he was called back to aid Juve’s promotion back to Serie A.

David Trezeguet – An old fashioned and very underrated goal poacher. Trezeguet wrote himself into the club’s history books by becoming the club’s top goal scoring foreign player. You won’t find him skinning multiple defenders and sticking it in the top corner from 30 yards, but the guy is as prolific as they come.

Alessandro Del Piero – Little known teenager brought in from Padova in 1993 and made an astonishing impact scoring a hattrick on his first start against Parma. Del Piero’s incredible rise to prominence led to the seemingly unthinkable – the transfer of Roberto Baggio.

A succession of serious knee injuries led many to believe that Del Piero would never fulfil his entire potential. The last few seasons have been some of the players best since his emergence on the world stage, he finished the club’s top scorer in the championship winning team of 2005/06, then top scorer in Serie B last season.