Juventus Football Club S.p.A. (from Latin iuventus: youth, IPA pronunciation for Italian language ), commonly referred to as Juventus and colloquially as Juve (pronounced ), 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 the majority of its 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, among them, who was their first president, Eugenio Canfari, and his brother Enrico, author of the company’s historical memory; they are managed by the industrial Agnelli family since 1923, which constitutes the oldest sporting partnership in Italy, thus making Juventus the first professional club in the country. Over time, the club has become a symbol of the nation’s italianità (“Italianness”), due to their tradition of success, some of which have had a significant impact in Italian society, especially in the 1930s and the first post-war decade;During the 1930s, period which Juventus won a record of five consecutive league championships, the club experienced a sharp increace in its number of supporters, thus becoming the first in Italy to have a fan base decentralised. Also, Juventus were identified by the people at the time as “the team that represented the entire population” or “the team of Italy”—an appellative that still identifies the club mainly outside Italy,— allowing they to perform the leading role in the formation of a national identity through sport, encouraging the phenomenon of nationalisation in the country; and a symbol against the fascist government oppression due to the policy adopted by the Agnelli family in the Torinese club and FIAT, the family-owned company. Subsequently, another increase of the club’s fan base as a result of the Southern migration to Turin, massive in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the team successes at the time, became Juventus the team-symbol of the Italian economic miracle and the postwar Italian society. Cf. and the ideological politics and socio-economic origin of the club’s sympathisers. This is reflected, among others, in the club’s contribution to the national team, uninterrupted since the second half of the 1920s and recognised as one of the most influential in international football, having performed a decisive role in the World Cup triumphs of 1934, 1982 and 2006. The club’s fan base is larger than any other Italian football club and is one of the largest worldwide. Support for Juventus is widespread throughout the country and abroad, mainly in countries with a significant presence of Italian immigrants. Juventus is historically the most successful club in Italian football and one of the most laureated and important globally. Overall, they have won fifty-six official titles on the national and international stage, more than any other Italian club: a record thirty league titles, a record nine Italian cups, a record six national super cups, and, with eleven titles in confederation and inter-confederation competitions (two Intercontinental Cups, two European Champion Clubs’ Cup/UEFA Champions Leagues, one European Cup Winners’ Cup, a record three UEFA Cups, one UEFA Intertoto Cup and two UEFA Super Cups) the club currently ranks fourth in Europe and eighth in the world with the most trophies won. In 1985, under the management of Giovanni Trapattoni, who led the Torinese team to thirteen official trophies in ten years until 1986, including six league titles and five international titles; Juventus became the first club in the history of European football to have won all three major competitions organised by the Union of European Football Associations: the European Champions’ Cup, the (now-defunct) Cup Winners’ Cup and the UEFA Cup (the first Italian and Southern European side to win the tournament). After their triumph in the Intercontinental Cup the same year, the club also became the first in football history—and remains the only one at present—to have won all possible official continental competitions and the world title.In addition, Juventus F.C. were the first club in association football history to have won all possible confederation competitions (e.g. the international tournaments organised by UEFA) and remain the only in the world to achieve this, cf. According to the all-time ranking published in 2009 by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics, an organisation recognised by FIFA, based on clubs’ performance in international competitions, Juventus were Italy’s best club and second in Europe of the 20th century.
