Naples ready for first championship celebration in 33 years: ‘A month-long celebration’

• Fiorella Opromolla

  editor Abroad

• Heleen D’Haens

  correspondent Italy

The southern Italian city of Naples has been turning more blue than usual for weeks. The reason? SSC Napoli’s impending championship. The city’s soccer club, which plays in blue, is heading for its first national title in 33 years. The Neapolitans were already hoping to celebrate last weekend, but that was postponed for a while due to the draw against Salernitana.

Chances are that the Scudetto in Serie A will still become a reality tonight or tomorrow. First, city and club are looking tense tonight at the match of number two Lazio against Sassuolo. Should Lazio fail to win, the party may break out in Naples. Should Lazio win, a draw by Napoli tomorrow against Udinese will be enough for the title.

“Actually we started celebrating last week, the difference with the other teams is so big,” said guide and travel agency owner Giuseppe Renzuto from Naples. “It won’t be a celebration that lasts one day. If Napoli becomes champions, there will be celebrations here for weeks. Expect a kind of King’s Day, but all blue and for a month.”

Renzuto, who lived in the Netherlands for 12 years, was there when Napoli last became champions in 1990. “That was a huge celebration. In the historic center of the city, where many people also live, we suddenly found ourselves in a stranger’s house celebrating together,” he says.

“Everyone was on the streets and dressed in blue. Everywhere in town, flags were hanging over balconies. Everything is blue: everyone comes together, including Neapolitans who no longer live here and come specially to Naples.”

In Naples, it is not only on the streets that the possible championship can be seen. Even in the tattoo shops they are already anticipating it, saw correspondent Heleen d’Haens:

For Napoli, the championship is more than just a sporting achievement. Renzuto: “It is a kind of redemption for Naples and southern Italy. The north is always richer, the economy runs better, everything works. As a result, you always feel that you have two kinds of Italy and that you are never at the top of anything if you come from the south. Then once you do, it’s a big party. Then we show that we can also be the best at something.”

The feeling Renzuto describes has reigned in Naples for decades. It is also one of the reasons why Diego Armando Maradona, who played at Napoli from 1984 to 1991, is sacred to the Neapolitans. The Argentine soccer legend gave the club its first two national titles, breaking the hegemony of the successful clubs from the north, such as Juventus, Internazionale and AC Milan.

When Maradona died in November 2020, the city was in deep mourning. His effigy can still be seen everywhere on the streets. “He made Napoli champion for the first time. We never had that celebration we had then,” Renzuto says, laughing. “Maradona felt the difference between north and south. He turned down an offer from Juventus to stay at Napoli. He chose with his heart and not for the money. He is and remains a hero for the city. You see and feel him, his presence is everywhere.”

That presence can be felt even more these days. The Maradona flags are flying, the blue of Napoli is already everywhere. Or, as the most famous Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport wrote: “A Wednesday of dreams and excitement. At least the city has been ready for the biggest party in thirty years.

Signs saying “Napoli champion” have been hanging in many places for days: