129 years of Juventus: legacy that continues

ON November 1, 2026, Juventus will celebrate their 129th anniversary by facing Napoli, one of their fiercest rivals in Italian football.

MelBet, Juventus’s official regional partner in the MENA region and Africa, will join fans in marking this milestone.

Let’s take a look back at the Turin team’s greatest achievements and see what to expect from the upcoming match against Napoli.

129 years of illustrious history

Juventus was founded on November 1, 1897, by a group of young students from Turin’s Massimo d’Azeglio high school. The team’s name was chosen to reflect the founders’ age – in Latin, Juventus means “youth”.

Over 129 years, Juventus have become Italy’s most decorated club. Their honors include a record 36 league titles and 15 Coppa Italia trophies, as well as nine Supercoppa Italiana wins. They have won Europe’s premier club tournament twice, in 1985 and 1996, and the UEFA Cup three times. They also became the first club to win all three major European club competitions of the era.

Juventus won their first league title in 1905, less than eight years after their founding. The next significant chapter began in 1923, when Edoardo Agnelli, the son of FIAT co-founder Giovanni Agnelli, became the club’s president. Under his leadership, Juventus won their second title in 1926 and went on to set a record with five consecutive scudetti from 1931 to 1935.

A new golden generation emerged in the late 1950s, built around the attacking trio of Giampiero Boniperti, John Charles, and Omar Sívori. With them, Juventus won their tenth league title in 1958 and became the first club in Italy to earn the right to wear a star on their shirts. Two more scudetti followed in 1960 and 1961. The standout individual achievement was Sívori’s Ballon d’Or in 1961, the first won by a Juventus player.

Giovanni Trapattoni oversaw the next great era during his first spell in charge of the Bianconeri, from 1976 to 1986. The team won its first European trophy, the UEFA Cup, in 1977, followed by the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1984 and the European Cup in 1985. Michel Platini was instrumental in the 1980s successes and won the Ballon d’Or three years in a row, from 1983 to 1985.

In the 1990s, Juventus conquered Europe again, winning the Champions League under Marcello Lippi in 1996. Alessandro Del Piero became the symbol of that period; he went on to set club records for appearances and goals, scoring 290 times in 705 matches.

Juventus wrote another glorious chapter in the 2010s. From the 2011/12 season through 2019/20, the team won nine consecutive scudetti – an all-time Serie A record.

History of the Juventus vs Napoli rivalry

Juventus and Napoli first met on November 21, 1926, with the Turin side winning 3–0 away from home. Less than four months later, Juventus secured an even more convincing 8–0 victory. Those meetings marked the beginning of one of Italian football’s most intense rivalries – North against South.

Some of the most memorable encounters have helped decide the title race. A 1–0 away victory over Napoli on May 17, 1981, allowed Juventus to maintain their lead over Roma before going on to win their 19th scudetto.

Another pivotal meeting took place on February 13, 2016. Napoli arrived in Turin as Serie A leaders, two points ahead of Juve. The hosts won 1–0 to record their 15th consecutive league victory and move to the top of the standings. They went on to secure their fifth successive title that season.

On August 31, 2019, the teams treated fans to one of the most thrilling encounters in their rivalry’s history, ending in a 4–3 victory for Juventus.

November 1: another meeting with Napoli

The rivalry between Juventus and Napoli will continue on November 1, the Turin club’s 129th anniversary. For Luciano Spalletti, this will be his third match as Juve head coach against his former team, which he led to its first league title in 33 years in the 2022/23 season.

Spalletti’s first home meeting with Napoli in charge of the Bianconeri ended in a commanding 3–0 victory. Fans are hoping for a repeat of that result in the upcoming fixture. MelBet will help make watching the game even more exciting. The platform offers detailed match statistics, a wide range of betting options, and high odds.