Italy's first Serie A title in the post-Diego Maradona era comes as a result of the drastic changes Napoli under owner De Laurentiis and coach Luciano Spalletti have made over the past two years.
Winning Serie A was once considered an impossible mission for Napoli, in a context of limited finances and without a player "from another planet" like Diego Maradona - the inspiration that helped the team win two rare championships before in history (1987, 1990).
But that perception has changed this season. Visiting Naples recently felt like a festival. On the balcony of an apartment facing the Diego Armando Maradona stadium, a bold declaration had been hung for weeks: “Napoli – Serie A champions 2022-2023.” The entrance to a corner bar where the Carabinieri – Italy’s national police – sip coffee now has a heart-shaped display, lit by blue LEDs. A tricolor kit with the number 3 – representing Napoli’s three Serie A titles in its 96-year history – hangs permanently above the bar. They are everywhere, fluttering in the wind like white and blue silks scattered across every street in the town.
Instead of the fear of missing out, as they have done so many times over the past 30 years, Napoli have always had a strong belief in their ability to win Serie A. The gap between them and the chasing pack is often in the double digits. Even when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Salernitana in the round of 32, leading to the postponement of the title celebrations at the Diego Maradona Stadium, they were not too disappointed. As coach Luciano Spalletti himself said after that match, the draw allowed the team and the fans to enjoy the feeling of victory for longer. That was what kept them warm in Udinese on the evening of May 4, where key striker Victor Osimhen scored the decisive goal to officially crown Napoli the title.
The Origin of Revival
If there was a benefactor who helped Napoli reach their current glory, it could only be Aurelio de Laurentiis - Italian film producer and Napoli president. Growing up in Naples with a passion for Napoli passed down from his father who often took him to watch the team's matches, De Laurentiis dreamed of buying Napoli. In 1999, a year after the club was relegated from Serie A to Serie B, he tried but failed.
Five years later, Napoli was in even more trouble when it went bankrupt and was declared dissolved. De Laurentiis seemed shocked by the prospect. "What do you mean, dissolved?" he said when he heard the news. And this time, the Italian film producer did not miss the opportunity, even though he had to give up his burgeoning career in Hollywood, with the film "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" - starring Angelina Jolie, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow - in post-production and preparing for release, to fly back to Italy.
De Laurentiis even hid his wife and children from them to focus on his project of turning Napoli into a “fire phoenix”. He made a deal to buy the club that had just been declared bankrupt and received a stack of papers. All that was left of Napoli was the brand, the name, nothing more. The old training ground in the town’s Soccavo neighborhood, nicknamed Paradiso (Paradise), where Maradona trained, was abandoned.
It was the first week of September 2004, with the season about to start. "We bought jerseys from the corner store, put the team together quite late and trained at the Ariston stadium in Paestum," De Laurentiis recalls. "I knew nothing about football. I came from the film industry. I played basketball when I was at school."
When De Laurentiis bought Napoli, they were playing in Serie C1 - the third tier of the Italian football pyramid. And in the first season of that revival, they came from the ashes, only missing out on promotion to Serie B after losing the play-off to Avellino at the end of the season.
In the nearly two decades since De Laurentiis began, Napoli fans have seen their team return to Serie A, play in European competitions for the first time in 13 years, play in the Champions League for the first time and win the Coppa Italia three times under Rafa Benitez and Gennaro Gattuso. They have bought Pampa Sosa shirts, written songs about the trio of Marek Hamsik, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani, and idolised Jesus Datolo for helping Napoli beat Juventus in Turin for the first time since 1988. Napoli tifosi have also cursed Gonzalo Higuain for betraying them by joining Juventus in the summer he equalled the Serie A goalscoring record, and have made Dries 'Ciro' Mertens - who went on to become the club's all-time leading scorer - their new idol.
But none of the above-mentioned generations or stars could help Napoli win Serie A, including the team under Maurizio Sarri that Pep Guardiola and Arrigo Sacchi had to watch live. They came very close to the 2017-2018 title with 91 points, but could not overthrow Juventus, who had dominated for the past decade.
There was a view that if this Napoli team couldn’t win the title, no one else could. “In the history of football, there are teams that define an era,” Sarri consoled himself. “Everyone remembers the Netherlands team from the 1970s, not the World Cup winners. I believe people will remember this Napoli team in 20 years’ time.”
Napoli failed to play by the old mould of football from southern Italy, where clubs were often passionate, slick and innovative – especially under Luis Vinicio in 1975 – but lacked the ruthless, cold-blooded pragmatism of northern giants like Juventus, Inter or Milan. In that era, trophies and winning methods defined the culture war over the identity of Italian football. Accordingly, the school of thought that advocated defensive, counter-attacking football as a guide to winning trophies was more popular than the school of thought that defended the underdogs who played spectacularly like Napoli.
The turning point with Spaletti
Even with Spalletti’s appointment, Napoli were still doubtful of their title ambitions. History has shown that there was a basis for this, with Spalletti’s Roma holding an advantage of around an hour in the title race on the final day of the 2007-08 season, only to be crushed by a more pragmatic Inter in the pouring rain at Parma. In the 2016-17 season, during Spalletti’s second spell in charge, Roma finished with 87 points and key striker Edin Dzeko was top scorer with 29 goals. But they still couldn’t topple Juventus.
De Laurentiis visited Spalletti's apartment in Milan on January 20, 2021. At the time, Gattuso was Napoli's coach and under immense pressure after winning just three of his seven games, while Spalletti was still being paid by Inter but not seen on the sidelines. Inter had previously spent nearly $30 million to fire Spalletti and his assistants just months after they had renewed their contract because they had helped the club return to the Champions League. Inter's board did not believe Spalletti could win the scudetto, and new CEO Beppe Marotta personally chose Antonio Conte.
Having been released from his contract following the death of his brother Marcello, Spalletti retreated to his family farm in Tuscany, where he brewed wine, rode horses and raised ducks, before being offered a return to work. "When I first met De Laurentiis, he invited me to Napoli for a transition period," the 64-year-old coach says. "The finances needed to be balanced, the squad needed to be rejuvenated, and I had to get the team back into the Champions League after two years. To get back on track, we had to play good football to motivate the players, because for the past two years, no one cared about them for results."
De Laurentiis, by his own admission, was caught up in the Covid-19 pandemic. The Napoli president paid a record $80 million fee for Victor Osimhen – a deal still under investigation by judges in Naples – without anticipating multiple lockdowns, fan bans, new variants of Covid-19 and another failure to finish in the top four and qualify for the Champions League.
Gattuso's final game ended with Napoli missing out on Champions League qualification after a draw at home to a disheartened Verona in Serie A's final round. Napoli had their destiny in their hands, but they let it slip away, and the mood of the fans dropped with it. Spalletti's first goal was to make the fans "love" Napoli again. At his inaugural press conference, the Italian coach spoke of Napoli reflecting the city through their style of play, "sfacciata" and "scugnizzo", funny, cheeky and clever, like 11 fugitives from art. On the back of the training shirts, Spalletti asked the staff to print the opening lyrics of his favourite Maradona song: "I'll be there for you. Don't give up. We have a dream in our hearts. That Napoli will be champions again."
In Spalletti's first season, Napoli made their fans dream again with eight wins from eight games. They didn't lose until a trip to Giuseppe Meazza against defending champions Inter. Piotr Zielinski put Napoli ahead, but things fell apart after that.
Osimhen suffered a serious eye socket injury in a collision with Milan Skriniar and is out for several months. Three successive home defeats in Serie A have dampened enthusiasm. The African Cup of Nations has cost Napoli key players Kalidou Koulibaly and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa for much of January, prompting a furious De Laurentiis to declare he will not sign African players unless they promise not to leave the club mid-season.
Expiring contracts are another distraction. Lorenzo Insigne was photographed signing a contract with Toronto FC at a Rome hotel two days before the Juventus game. Dries Mertens, a fan favourite, admitted it was "strange" that the board did not want to renew his contract, despite him being willing to take a pay cut to stay at the club.
In early March, Napoli's title hopes were ended by a 1-0 home defeat to Milan. "If we had won that game, I believe everything would have changed," Mertens recalled. A strange atmosphere had been created. Napoli were not dreaming of winning the title, but of qualifying for the Champions League, and they quickly achieved that goal by finishing in the top four and 15 points clear of the chasing pack.
But there was a palpable sense of disappointment and missed opportunity. Spalletti's beloved Fiat Panda was stolen, and a banner was hung outside the stadium telling him he would only get it back if he left the club. "It all depends on the condition of the car," Spalletti joked, but he wasn't about to give up. "How many miles have they done on it and what state are the tyres in? If my Pino Daniele CDs are missing, I won't get the car back."
In the penultimate home game of the season, a 6-1 win over Sassuolo, the boos were directed at De Laurentiis. Despite the President’s role in saving Napoli and his record-breaking transfers of Higuain ($43 million), Hirving Lozano ($50 million), Osimhen ($80 million), the ultras always felt that De Laurentiis had not given enough money to the club.
Protests over ticket prices continued that season. Making a profit in 10 of the 16 Serie A seasons did not make De Laurentiis look good. It did create the perception that football was primarily a business, especially when football, not movies, accounted for 92% of revenue for De Laurentiis's Filmauro studio.
Summer Revolution 2022
As always, fans equated cost-cutting – Napoli’s wage bill was reduced by 15% – with a reduction in ambition. Napoli’s sell-off of key players angered fans, and when Spalletti showed up at the club’s annual summer training camp in the Dolomites, many fans booed him.
“Wake up!” they shouted.
“Shut up,” Spalletti replied. “Call security and shut these people up, okay?”
Spalletti was listing the players who had left at the time, including first-choice goalkeeper David Ospina, highly rated left-back Faouzi Ghoulam, elegant and long-range midfielder Fabian Ruiz and club legends Kalidou Koulibaly, Lorenzo Insigne and Mertens.
"Nobody believed us," De Laurentiis says. "Maybe a few did, but not enough to go against the tide of public opinion that was unhappy with Napoli's transfer window. Hardly anyone knew any of the new signings." They were Kim Min-jae, a centre-back from Fenerbahce, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, a little-known winger from Dinamo Batumi - the latter of whom has become a sensation in European football this season. "A Georgian and a Korean. It sounded like the start of a joke," De Laurentiis says, laughing.
But it was these "unfamiliar" names that lifted Napoli to the top and broke the post-Maradona title curse. Opponents could only keep an eye on Napoli until October 2022, before Spalletti's team opened up an eight-point gap before the break to make way for the 2022 World Cup. This gap widened to double digits halfway through.
Any concerns from a 1-0 defeat to Inter in their first game after the 2022 World Cup were quickly dispelled by their biggest win over Juventus since 1990, a memorable 5-1 demolition. Napoli dominated the tournament and closed in on Torino records set in the late 1940s for margin of victory and number of rounds won early, by the time they were officially crowned champions.
When Napoli flourished, their rivals also inexplicably regressed . Defending champions Milan could not maintain their form and quickly fell behind in the scudetto race. Inter lost the championship in the final round of last season and received great confidence with the return of Romelu Lukaku, but did not meet expectations. Storms continuously hit Juventus. Even when they were given back 15 points, coach Max Allegri's army was not considered a counterweight to Napoli.
For a city that has often faced hardship, Napoli have enjoyed a season that has been surprisingly easy. They didn’t need a leader to stand up for them against the discrimination Napoli faced, or a magical Maradona in his prime. Spalletti’s team simply played well and won the title.
By parting ways with Koulibaly, Insigne and Mertens, Napoli seemed to have shed the emotional baggage of missing out on the title. The team had freshness, courage and the element of surprise. They continued to have the best defense in the league, but they went in a different direction. In goal, Alex Meret rarely carried the ball forward like Ospina. The back four moved higher and took on more responsibility for the ball progression. Mario Rui, who looked like a supporting actor in the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean", was even considered a number 10 at left-back.
"Have you seen Kim?" Spalletti asked legendary defender Giorgio Chiellini during a chat. "He's a monster. When he sees danger, he can accelerate everything he does. He always gives his all. At the Castel Volturno training ground, I had to stop him from playing with the reserves." According to the Napoli head coach, Kim is currently the best defender in the world .
The midfielders complement each other perfectly. Napoli are the only Italian club to average more than 60% possession and more than 600 passes per game. Giving the ball to diminutive Slovakian Stanislav Lobotka is like putting it in a safe. "Lobotka gives us the chance to attack the spaces," Spalletti said of his player. "He's like Iniesta. Lobotka looks vulnerable, but then he escapes and accelerates."
Napoli’s attacking style has also changed this season . Last season, players like Insigne and Ruiz tended to score from distance. Only Man City (15 goals) scored more from outside the box than Napoli (13). This season, Napoli’s long-range shots have fallen by 20% and only Kvaratskhelia has scored once.
The explanation? First of all, Kvaratskhelia dribbles differently than Insigne. The Georgian is good with both feet and so, instead of just cutting across goal and finishing with his right foot, he can accelerate, get into the box, draw a foul or pass the ball to a teammate with his left foot.
Second, Napoli have Osimhen – a powerful striker with the ability to run and the height – qualities Mertens lacks – to position himself and take on the ball in the air. As a result, Napoli have increased their crosses by 30% compared to last season and scored 17 goals from headers by the time they were crowned champions.
Against such a style of play, opponents have to choose between two approaches. But if they sit deep, Napoli will get the ball to Kvaratskhelia, who will unsettle the defence, through balls or crosses for Osimhen. If they push forward, Napoli will hit long balls for the Nigerian striker to exploit the space. Napoli’s versatility is also reflected in the 22 goals scored from set pieces.
Even without Osimhen - the first African to win Serie A's Golden Boot - Napoli have had no problems. The strikers who replaced Osimhen have scored 15 goals when given the chance, some of them crucial ones.
When Osimhen was withdrawn in the 4-1 Champions League group stage defeat, Giovanni Simone came on and scored immediately. The Argentine also scored the winner against defending champions Milan at San Siro. Giacomo Raspadori led the attack in a 6-1 demolition of Ajax in Amsterdam, and more importantly, an injury-time goal in Turin on April 23 to help Napoli beat Juventus in both Serie A legs for the first time since the 2009-2010 season.
The reception Napoli received back at Capodichino in the early hours of the following morning offered a glimpse of the extravaganza that awaited once they were crowned champions. A convoy of motorbikes followed the team bus like a swarm of wasps in the wake of their queen. A mock funeral was held for all the other Serie A teams, with Milan, Inter and Juventus scarves placed on the coffin.
The achievement was made sweeter by the fact that it angered Milan's technical director Paolo Maldini and Juventus coach Max Allegri. "Well done," Allegri shouted after Napoli's victory. "You've won a scudetto." But a scudetto in Napoli is worth 10 times more than in Turin and the southern Italian city will be partying all summer.
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