Today marks the 120th anniversary of the founding of Serie A’s most successful club, Juventus.
The club was founded on November 1, 1897 by students from the Massimo D'Azeglio Lyceum school, and initially wore pink and black kits.
It was in 1903 that the famous Bianconeri kits were adopted, with then Juve player Tom Gordon Savage sourcing black and white kits from his hometown side, Notts County.
Savage had met his wife, Sarah, in Turin and had two children in the city, Ettore and Richard Savage.
Today marks the 120th anniversary of the founding of Serie A’s most successful club, Juventus.
The club was founded on November 1, 1897 by students from the Massimo D'Azeglio Lyceum school, and initially wore pink and black kits.
It was in 1903 that the famous Bianconeri kits were adopted, with then Juve player Tom Gordon Savage sourcing black and white kits from his hometown side, Notts County.
Savage had met his wife, Sarah, in Turin and had two children in the city, Ettore and Richard Savage.
The first Scudetto arrived in 1905, before a split in the club the following year led to President Alfred Dick forming a new side: Torino.
That league triumph wasn’t followed up by quick success, with the dominant Old Lady we know today only really coming into being after the club was bought by FIAT owner Edoardo Agnelli in 1923.
Agnelli financed the construction of a new stadium, and the club’s first ever professional Coach, the Hungarian Jenő Károly brought a second Scudetto in 1926.
The 1930s saw Juve really become a dominant force in Italy, winning five Scudetti in a row, a feat matched only be il Grande Torino, and beaten only by the current Bianconeri side.
However, following the last of those consecutive triumphs Juventus fell away, with Torino becoming Italy’s dominant side both before and after the Second World War.
The early 50s brought a further two Scudetti, but it was with the arrival of John Charles and Omar Sivori, joining Giampiero Boniperti up-front that once again took the Bianconeri up a level.
They became the first ever Italian side to win 10 league titles, winning the Scudetto in 1958, 1960 and 1961.
The 1970s and 80s brought further Scudetti, as well as European success in the form of the 1977 UEFA Cup, the 1984 Cup Winners’ Cup and the 1985 European Cup.
However, the latter was marred by tragedy as 39 Juve supporters were killed after Liverpool supporters broke through barriers at Heysel Stadium, causing a mass crush.
Aside from the 1986 Scudetto, there was a period of relative decline after Heysel, with Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan and a Napoli inspired by Diego Maradona ending the Turin club’s domestic dominance.
It was not until the arrival of Marcello Lippi for the 1994-95 season, with the cigar smoking Coach winning the Scudetto in his first campaign.
The following season Lippi led a side featuring Alessandro Del Piero, Antonio Conte and Gianluca Vialli to a Champions League triumph, though they would lose in the final in the two following seasons, having won Serie A.
Lippi left during the 1998-99 season, and his replacement Carlo Ancelotti could only finish second in the two subsequent campaigns, missing out on the Scudetto by one point and then two points to Lazio and Roma respectively.
That prompted the club to bring Lippi back, and he won another two Scudetti before losing the 2003 Champions League final to Milan.
Fabio Capello’s arrival in 2004 brought a further two Scudetti, but there was a dark cloud hanging over the club.
Wiretaps were unearthed of general manager Luciano Moggi attempting to influence the appointment of referees, and the club was demoted to Serie B, with the two previous titles stripped.
The 2004-05 Scudetto remains unassigned, with the following season’s title awarded to Inter as a result of the scandal.
Those titles remain a controversial issue, with Juventini and indeed the club continuing to count them, especially after prosecutor Stefano Palazzi accused the Nerazzurri of the same crimes in 2011.
However, the statute of limitations had expired and no charges were ever brought against Inter.
Though many of the team’s stars left rather than remaining with Juventus in Serie B, several stayed, including Del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon, David Trezeguet, Pavel Nedved and Mauro Camoranesi.
The Bianconeri won the second division, returning to Serie A at the first time of asking, but despite some qualified initial success they were unable to return to their pre-Calciopoli heights.
That all changed in the summer of 2011 when, after two seventh-place finishes in a row, Antonio Conte returned to the club as Coach.
Aided by a shrewd summer transfer campaign which saw Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Stephan Lichtsteiner arrive in Turin, the former midfielder led the Old Lady to the title unbeaten.
Juventus have won the Scudetto in every season since then, taking six on the bounce as well as the last three Coppe Italia.
Despite their domestic domination though, European success has continued to prove elusive, with Max Allegri’s side losing the Champions League final in 2015 and 2017.
Having won the Coppa Italia 12 times and Serie A on 33 – 35 if you’re a Juve fan – occasions, adding to those two European Cups is the final frontier a very Old Lady.