Some Fact and Information about Serie A of Italian

Football as most of the world knows it, is a national passion in many countries, especially Italy. Italian soccer fans have good reason to be passionate: Their country's national team has won the World Cup championship four times and is consistently ranked among the best in the world. In addition, Italian league teams attract some of the top soccer talent in the world. There is some fact and information about Serie A.

History

Soccer was primarily a recreational pursuit with a scattering of club teams throughout the 1800s until the Italy's national soccer association, known as the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio, or FIGC, formed in 1898. It is a part nf the Union of European Football Associations, or UEFA. A true national championship would not develop for another 15 years. World War I interrupted soccer activities throughout much of Europe, but by the 1930s, Italian soccer was establishing itself as the best in Europe, winning the FIFA World Cup in 1934 and 1938. In 1936, the Italians took the gold medal in the Berlin Olympics. Italian soccer struggled for many years, finally re-establishing itself as a world power in the late 1960s and eventually winning the World Cup again in 1982. According to the website Worldfootball.net, the Italian national team's nickname is the "Squadra Azzurra" or "Blue Squad," a reference to the team's blue and white uniforms.

World Cup Success

The International Federation of Association Football, the governing body of world soccer, held the first World Cup tournament in 1930. Since then, the FIFA World Cup has become one of the most popular sporting events in the world. Italy has won the World Cup four times, more than any nation except five-time winner Brazil. Italy won back-to-back World Cup titles in 1934 and 1938. Italy won its third World Cup at the 1982 tournament in Spain and its fourth in Germany in 2006.

1982 World Cup

Italy won the 1982 FIFA World Cup Spain on June 11, by a score of 3 to 1 over West Germany. It was their third World Cup win. The 1982 Adidas Golden Ball and the Golden Shoe awards were given to Paolo Rossi of Italy after he scored a total of six goals in the tournament. Dino Zoff and Franco Baresi played on this World Cup winning team. On the way to the championship title they beat Argentina with a score of 2 to 1 in round two and Poland -- who finished third -- with a score of 2 to 0 in the semi-finals.

League Winners

Serie A is Italy's top professional soccer league, consisting of 20 of the country's top-ranked teams. Juventus of Turin has won the league title a record 27 times since the league's inception in the 1890s, World Football reports. International of Milan, better known as Inter, has won the Serie A title 18 times, including five consecutive times from 2006 to 2010. Another Milan club, AC Milan, has won the title 17 times.

Italian Cup

The Italian Cup is Italy's top national tournament, pitting soccer clubs from across the country. The first Italian Cup took place in 1922, with AC Vado winning. The tournament did not occur again until 1936, when Torino FC won. Two clubs, Juventus and AS Roma, hold the record for the most Italian Cup wins, with nine victories each, according to World Football. Inter and ACF Fiorentina have won the tournament six times each.

Champions League

In addition to their national competitions and the World Cup, Italian soccer teams also have made their mark on the UEFA Champions League, which pits Europe's top soccer clubs against each other. Since 1956, when the Champions League began, Italian teams have won the league 12 times, tying with Spain. Italian teams that regularly compete in the Champions League include Inter, Juventus and AC Milan.

Scandals

Italian teams have enjoyed massive success on soccer pitches around the world, but corruption scandals have erupted over the sport, even costing a team its national title. The British Broadcasting Corporation reported that a match-fixing scandal in 1980 resulted in two Serie A teams, Lazio and AC Milan, being demoted to Serie B, a lower league. In 2005, an investigation revealed that some referees had been pressured to fix matches by favoring certain clubs. As a result, Juventus was stripped of its league title. In addition, a team doctor was found guilty of giving performance-enhancing drugs to Juventus players during the 1990s.

Italian soccer teams are popular with world class players and known to have one of the most tactical and defensive strategies in the history of the game. The professional Italian soccer league Serie A produces some of the most powerful championship games in Europe. Italian soccer teams have won the Olympic gold medal and the World Cup. There are some player who become a legend after their retirement.

Franco Baresi

Franco Baresi was one of the best Italian defenders ever to play soccer and known as a tactical perfectionist. In 1978 at the age of 18, Baresi played the first professional game of his career with AC Milan against Verona. AC Milan went on to win the Serie A title that same year. Il Capitano, as fans called him, is known as the quintessential defensive Italian soccer player, earning a captain's band in 1982 at the age of 22. Baresi is known as the best AC Milan player of all time and his number "6" is retired. Before retiring at the age of 37, he and AC Milan had won six Serie A titles. He played alongside other famous Italian defensive soccer players including teammate Paolo Maldini.

Dino Zoff

Dino Zoff is one of the best known soccer goalkeepers in the world. Zoff spent most of his career with the Italian soccer teams Napoli and Juventus playing from 1968 to 1983, and in 1982 at the age of 40 became the oldest player to win the World Cup and collected the trophy as the team's captain. He defended the goal for 1,142 minutes consecutive minutes in international competition conceding no goals between September 1972 and June 1974. His clean sheet streak was broken in the 1974 World Cup in Italy's game against Haiti. He played for the national team 112 times, a league record. After retiring as a professional player he managed Lazio a team from Rome from 1990 to 1994, 1997 and 2001. He coached the Italian national team from 1998 to 2000.