Podbit · The Rest Is History
Fiorentina, Roma and Napoli — clubs now considered the soul of Italian football — were created by Mussolini's regime through forced mergers of smaller clubs in the 1920s and 30s. It could have killed Italian football, as forced mergers killed Welsh rugby. Instead, it created a spectacle that drew in millions.
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At 21:58 · chapter starts 20:00
The story of Italian football's origins is the classic tale of British commercial and cultural diffusion — expats, sailors, textile merchants and their sons bringing the game wherever they went. Vittorio Pozzo himself fell in love with football while working in the north of England, befriending Manchester United players and management. But the explosive growth of the game in Italy came in the 1920s, driven by commercialisation, the building of grounds, civic pride in local teams, a dedicated sporting press, and a rail network that allowed supporters to travel. Mussolini's men then reorganised all of this from the top down: amalgamating clubs, establishing a national league and cup, promoting the national team, and permitting professionalism — while publicly maintaining the fiction of amateurism.
Iconic Italian clubs including Fiorentina, Roma and Napoli were essentially created top-down by Mussolini's regime through forced mergers of smaller clubs.
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