“The world’s big things only can be done by paying attention to their humble beginnings.” Laozi On 17 May 1992 at the San Siro, Italian midfielder Carlo Ancelotti left...
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Genoa CFC & the English roots of calcio
The sea has long shaped the port of Genoa’s destiny. From here, local navigator Christopher Columbus set out to seek sponsorship from the Spanish crown to find a new...
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Luther Blissett’s Italian adventure: AC Milan, anarchists and Rice Krispies
“Platini scored the most goals last year with 18? Milan, I will score more.” Unfortunately, Luther Blissett never quite lived up to this self-assured prophecy. Having swapped Watford for...
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The development of Zinedine Zidane at Juventus
Italian football is a place where players can come of age. When you think of players that have developed their game in Italy, and later gone on to become...
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The Ligurian Black Devils: How Virtus Entella went from bankruptcy to Serie B
“Chiavari è una bella cittadina della Riviera Ligure, ricca di storia e tradizione.” This is how the website of Virtus Entella S.r.l. describes its home of Chiavari; a...
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Restoring Italian glory by placing faith in youth
On 9 July 2006 inside Berlin’s Olympiastadion, 120 minutes of football were not enough to decide a victor between Italy and France. In the resultant penalty shoot-out, holding the...
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Luis del Sol: The Spanish ‘Postman’ who delivered at Juventus
In 1983, former professional footballer Luis del Sol took the decision to close his struggling furniture company and put some of his remaining cash towards studying for his coaching...
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The tragic death of Filippo Raciti: Italian football’s darkest hour
Memories; they are powerful things, they can haunt you and comfort you in equal measure. They can be so vivid as to feel like they are happening in the...
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Lilian Thuram and Lazio’s Irriducibili: A meeting that defined calcio
It was an episode that sent shockwaves across the footballing world as Lazio’s ultras took transfer matters into their own hands. On a warm June day back in 2001,...
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Andriy Shevchenko: A story of rationality and forgiveness
28 May 2003, Old Trafford, Manchester. At the ‘Theatre of Dreams’, the final of the Champions League is on-scene, the title contended between Milan and Juventus—an all-Italian European final...
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