Napoli’s Serie A title win on Thursday 4th May had been coming for weeks. Gli Azzurri were well out in front at the top of the league (16 points ahead of 2nd place Lazio when the title was confirmed) and it was a case of when not if Napoli would secure their third Scudetto and first in 33 years – Neapolitans even ditched their usual superstitions and decorated Naples blue and white in preparation for the greatest party of them all. If everyone knew it was coming, you’d maybe think making it a formality would be something of an anti-climax. You’d be wrong.
For reasons partially touched on in our article about Naples’ love for Diego Maradona, Neapolitans take their football very seriously – it’s almost like a religion and a way in which they can get one over the dominant north. So when Napoli were crowned champions for the first time since the days of Maradona, the celebrations throughout the city were truly spectacular.
Football Culture Club spoke exclusively to Mario De Sena, a lifelong Napoli fan at the heart of the celebrations, about what winning a third Scudetto means to Neapolitans.
“Joy. That’s the first word that comes to mind. Football is certainly the national sport in Italy, but I believe that everyone can see Napoli fans celebrate in a particular way – with more intensity, emotion, passion and for longer. Until today we were still celebrating the 1989/90 Scudetto.
“The fact that we don't have a winning tradition helps to make our enthusiasm soar when we do win. But that's not even the point. In Naples, football is evidently felt as a means of social redemption, of visibility. This was certainly true in the ‘80s and is still true today even if, it seems to me, to a lesser extent because fortunately some things have changed for the better.
“There is still a lot of poverty – many people just ‘get by’ and live in a condition of economic and social hardship. Cheering for the victories of your football team becomes a bit like cheering for a personal victory where perhaps everyday life is hard.”
Fireworks and airhorns could be heard in every corner of Naples as jubilant fans paraded the streets (Video - Mario De Sena)
Despite Napoli securing the title over 500 miles away in Udine, social media was awash with colourful videos of street parties and parades in every corner of Naples. Mario says: “It was to all intents and purposes a town parade – everyone poured into the street to start partying and parading. Many were shooting fireworks or lighting barrels, but personally I like blowing the airhorns and waving flags.”
The late Diego Maradona remains a god-like icon in Naples thanks to the success he brought Napoli and many fans, including Mario, took time to reflect upon how proud El Dios would be at seeing his club break their 33-year Scudetto drought.
“He would surely be so proud and happy for the city. He was sincerely tied to Naples and for this reason Naples is tied to him. Now that he is dead it has made him an icon like Totò [a Neapolitan actor] and San Gennaro [the patron saint of Naples].”
However, it’s current stars like Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen who delivered Neapolitans their first Scudetto since 1990, so attention now inevitably turns to whether Napoli will be able to hold on to them. There are rumours of bigger English Premier League clubs sniffing around and willing to offer substantial wage increases, but Mario remains optimistic they’ll stick around.
“I think they will stay. Winning helps to keep players and even if Napoli were to sell, they would sell at a high price. If you reinvest well, as this team has always shown it knows how to do, it's not a problem. The players pass, the shirt remains.”
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