Napoli Wins First Title Since Maradona Played for Club

Napoli won its first Italian soccer league title since the days when Diego Maradona played for the club, sealing the trophy with a 1-1 draw at Udinese on Thursday.

The "scudetto" (championship) set off wild scenes of celebrations throughout Naples, inside the stadium in Udine and beyond. Maradona led Napoli to its only previous Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990.

"I'm happy for all Napoli fans worldwide," said league scoring leader Victor Osimhen. "No one deserves the scudetto more than Neapolitans — more than us.

"I don't care who scored, I just wanted to get the scudetto," he added.

Besides the 11,000 Napoli fans inside and 5,000 more outside the stadium in Udine in northern Italy, a capacity crowd of more than 50,000 watched the match on jumbo screens at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples.

"Napoli, this is for you," coach Luciano Spalletti said. "There are people here who will be able to get through difficult moments in their lives because they remember this moment. These people deserve all the joy."

Spalletti said the impact of Maradona, who died 2½ years ago, was "felt in this success."

In Udine, celebrating fans invaded the field at the final whistle, while in Naples there were fireworks and delirium.

"You always told me, 'We want to win,' and now we've won. We've won all together," Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis told the crowd at the Naples stadium before he embraced Naples Mayor Gaetano Manfredi.

De Laurentiis took over the club in 2004 when Napoli was declared bankrupt, restarting in the third division.

"This is the coronation of a dream that's been going on for 33 years," De Laurentiis added. "It's been a long process."

It's the first time a club south of Italy's traditional soccer capitals of Milan and Turin has won the league since Roma claimed the title in 2001.

Napoli moved an insurmountable 16 points ahead of second-place Lazio with five matches still to play.

Napoli matched the record of clinching with five rounds to spare, shared with Torino (in 1947-48), Fiorentina (1955-56), Inter Milan (2006-07) and Juventus (2018-19).

In the 52nd minute, Osimhen slotted in a rebound off a shot from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia following a corner kick.

It was Osimhen's 22nd goal in the league this season and the 46th of his Serie A career, matching former AC Milan standout and current Liberia President George Weah as the top African scorers in Italy.

Afterward, Osimhen — who has acknowledged that he would like to play in the Premier League one day — would not commit to remaining with Napoli.

"I want to enjoy this moment for the rest of my life. Then after the season my other dreams can come," Osimhen said. "But for now, it's not a time to talk about my other dreams. I wanted to win this. ... For me this is just a moment."

Napoli has dominated all season and didn't lose in the league until a loss to Inter in January. A 5-1 victory over Juventus nine days later left no doubt that this was their year.

Napoli wasn't considered a title contender before the season because of the departures of former captain Lorenzo Insigne, club record scorer Dries Mertens and defensive stalwart Kalidou Koulibaly.

But Osimhen has developed into the most dangerous striker in the league, and dribbling wizard Kvaratskhelia has done far more than just replace Insigne on the left wing as one of the biggest revelations in Europe this season.

The title also gives Spalletti the one honor he has coveted most after previously managing Roma and Inter and winning two Russian league championships with Zenit St. Petersburg.

VOA