Juventus FC: A tale of legacy, turmoil and triumph

Juventus FC is the most decorated club in Italian football. With 36 Scudetto titles, they have won more Serie A championships than any other club in history, alongside numerous other major honours. However, the Turin giants have seen a significant decline in recent years and are no longer competing at the same level as Inter Milan, who have emerged as a dominant force in Italian football. Juventus have now gone six years without winning the league and have not secured the UEFA Champions League title since the 1995/96 season.

The team that used to win league titles for fun has fallen behind in the pecking order with other teams dominating and different league leaders emerging in Italy. The Old Lady has been a constant presence in the Champions League but reached their last final a decade ago in 2016/17 season. 

Here we look at their history, legacy, the biggest scandal that rocked them, how they recovered from the setback and what lies ahead for them – 

The Rich Legacy

Juventus was formed in 1897 by a group of high school students in the city of Turin. The name Juventus was derived from ‘Youth’ in Italian. They won their first league title in 1905. A major management change ensued in 1923 when the owners of Fiat Company, the Agnelli’s took control of the club with Eduardo Agnelli becoming the President of the Club. Under the Agnelli leadership, Juventus went through a period of continued success and created a rich legacy in Italian football. 

Juventus won five consecutive league titles from 1930-1935. In 1958, they claimed their 10th League title. Between the period of 1950-1960, Juventus won a lot of silverware, winning eight titles in 10 years. They won another five league titles in the 1970’s. The period between 1980-2000 wasn’t as dominant for Juventus as AC Milan reigned supreme during that period. 

Their second most successful period appeared after the highly disputed Calciopoli scandal which led them to be relegated to Serie B. Following the setback, Juventus climbed right back into the league the next season and went on to win nine consecutive titles from 2012 to 2020, maintaining their claim as the most successful club in Italy. 

While domestic success kept on piling up, European success arrived in 1985 when they won their first European Trophy (UEFA Cup).  However, it was marred by a tragedy where 39 Juventus fans lost their lives in the Heysel stadium accident involving English club Liverpool’s fans in the final. Despite the massive tragedy, the match was restarted and it ended in a 1-0 win for the Old Lady and resulted in a six-year ban from the competition for Liverpool Football Club and five-year ban for all English clubs. Juve’s biggest European success arrived in 1995/96 when they defeated Dutch giants Ajax 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw AET. Juventus might not have won the Champions League since then but they reached multiple finals (seven) until the 2016/17 season. 

Since their inception, Juventus have won a total of 72 trophies which includes – 

• 36 Serie A titles
• 15 Coppa Italia titles
• 9 Super Copa Italia titles
• 1 Serie B title
• 2 Champions League/European Cup titles
• 3 Europa League/UEFA Cup titles
• 2 UEFA Super Cup titles
• 2 Intercontinental Cup titles
• 1 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup title
• 1 UEFA Intertoto Cup title

Top-performing players and managers in their history 

Juventus has seen many footballing superstars wear the Bianconeri jersey with pride. They have also been fortunate to work with many top managers who have helped them win multiple prestigious titles. 

The most popular and top-performing 10 players in Juventus’ history are – 

1. Alessandro Del Piero (290 goals and 174 assists in 705 appearances and 16 trophies)

2. Gianluigi Buffon (685 appearances, 314 clean sheets and 21 trophies)

3. Michel Platini (224 appearances, 104 goals, 70 assists, seven major trophies and three consecutive Ballon d’Or trophies in the 1980’s)

4. Giampiero Boniperti (Juve’s famed No. 10 from 1946-1961 with 465 appearances, 185 goals and 14 assists. He was also the club’s honorary President for 30 years post-retirement)

5. Gaetano Scirea ( 551 appearances with 32 goals, 10 assists and 14 titles, known for exceptional fair play, never received a single red card in his career)

6. Dino Zoff (Another top goalkeeper, 474 appearances, 225 clean sheets and nine trophies in 11 years)

7. Giorgio Chiellini (A defender par excellence, 561 appearances, 36 goals, 27 assists and 19 trophies with Juventus)

8. Pavel Nedved (Midfield genius, 327 appearances, 65 goals, 82 assists in nine seasons, won 4 trophies and a Ballon d’Or in 2003)

9. Gianluca Vialli (Another top forward, 145 appearances, 53 goals, 26 assists and won five major trophies in four seasons with Juventus)

10. Zinedine Zidane (One of the best midfielders of all time, 212 appearances, 31 goals and 54 assists, won six trophies with Juventus in six seasons, also winning the Ballon d’Or with them in 1998)

Five Top performing managers in Juventus’ history are – 

1. Giovanni Trapattoni – The most successful coach in Juve’s history, winning 14 major titles in two spells with the club, from 1976-1986 and then from 1991-1994 establishing Juventus as one of the most feared clubs in Europe.

2. Marcelo Lippi – Another great Italian manager who continued to keep Juventus at the top in Italian football. He was the coach from 1994-1999 and 2001-2004, won 13 trophies. He was the last Bianconeri coach who led them to Champions League glory.

3. Antonio Conte – Although Conte won only 5 titles with Juventus, he resurrected them from the mess of the Calciopoli scandal and established them back at the top with three consecutive Serie A titles. Conte worked with Juventus from 2011 to 2014 and paved the way for further success under Max Allegri.

4. Massimiliano Allegri – The Old Lady gained massive success in the two spells under Max Allegri. He won 12 titles with them with a historic feat of achieving five consecutive domestic doubles. Allegri worked with Juventus from 2014-2019 and 2021-2024).

5. Carlo Parola – Carlo Parola coached Juventus between 1950 and 1962 in various spells. He won three trophies with them, coaching the attacking trio of John Charles, Omar Sivori and Giampiero Boniperti leading them to three Serie A titles.

The Calciopoli Scandal and Financial difficulties

The Calciopoli Scandal that was exposed in the 2005/06 season was one of the darkest days in Italian football. Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina, Reggina and Lazio faced allegations of corruption. The corruption involved Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi as the prime accused as he grossly misused his power and influence. 

Phone transcripts involving Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi were provided as evidence. Moggi and Juventus Chairman Antonio Giraudo had also detained referee Gianluca Paparesta and his two assistants after Juve’s 2-1 loss at Reggina in November 2004 as according to them, the officials had not favoured Juve during the game. Moggi was also trying to put pressure on the vice-chairman of UEFA’s referees’ commission to have favourable referees feature in their games. 

As a consequence of this massive scandal, Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Franco Carraro and Vice-President Innocenzo Mazzini had to hand in their resignation and Luciano Moggi received a life ban from Italian football. 

Juventus were stripped of two league titles, relegated to Serie B with a 30-point deduction which was later reduced to a nine-point deduction while the other four clubs also received punishment for their involvement in the scandal. 

If this wasn’t enough, Juventus coach Fabio Capello left for Valdedebas in Madrid and took a couple of their players with him. A lot of their superstars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Viera, Fabio Cannavaro, Emerson, Lilian Thuram, Gainluca Zambrotta and Adrian Mutu all left Juventus in the aftermath of the embarrassing situation. 

Juventus also underwent financial difficulties after 2021. The club was in trouble again over issues with player trading between 2019 and 2021. Juventus reported a massive loss of €254 million in the 2021/22 season. Juventus denied allegations of incorrect accounting and transfer market manipulation. 

Club Chairman Andreas Agnelli and his board resigned and in 2023, Juventus agreed to pay a fine of €718,000 and took a 10-point deduction for the settlement with Serie A over player payments and club’s accounts. Juventus were also given a one-year ban from European competitions over UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. 

The Incredible Comeback 

Even though the Calciopoli scandal rocked the club, some of their key stars like Buffon, Nedved, David Trezeguet and Chiellini stayed loyal to the club and played in the Serie B, helping the club to promotion the very next season. Former Juventus player, Antonio Conte returned to the club as a head-coach in 2011 and turned the club around. He went on to win three consecutive Serie A titles with Juventus from 2011 to 2014. After Conte’s departure, Massimiliano Allegri took charge of the Old Lady and went on to follow in Conte’s footsteps, bringing even more glory to the Turin-based club. Juventus dominated the Serie A until 2019/20, winning a record nine league titles in a row. They also reached two Champions League finals in the 2014/15 and 2016/17 during that period. 

Being shunned into relegation and berated for corruption and wrongdoings, it would have been easy for them to stay down. However, there was a great show of defiance as they came back and gained serial success. That kind of effort takes a lot of courage, determination and class and the Juve players and the coaches did just that. They rescued the club from a messy situation and propelled it back to the pinnacle of Italian Serie A, creating and breaking records on the way. Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Juventus reclaimed their throne in Italian football.  

What Lies ahead?

As we have witnessed over the past few years, most clubs in the Italian Serie A have been struggling financially as the league hasn’t been able to reinvent as compared to the Premier League. The Serie A isn’t the most watched league anymore and that has affected most of their top clubs. It is also evident from their performances in Europe’s elite competition, the Champions League where only Inter Milan has reached two finals in the last few seasons. Apart from them, no other Italian team has competed well with the other European giants from England, German or Spain. 

Juventus hasn’t won a league title since the 2019/20 season and a European trophy since the 1995/96 season. They have been able to qualify for the Champions League regularly but haven’t really hit the standards demanded by their rich legacy of success. Financial troubles in recent years have limited their spending in the transfer market and considering their performances, it won’t be a surprise if their talent pool starts to move to other bigger clubs. 

The Bionconeri fans have endured a lot of troubles, turmoils but also seen a lot of success and glory and while Juve are no more a dominant force in Europe, they will forever remain one of storied clubs in Europe and we hope they can find their way out of the slumber and compete for titles yet again.