SSC Napoli

"Napoli has given me back my joy. [...] a city that has always been synonymous with football. I had never seen the passion I am experiencing here before, and then Maradona wore this blue shirt."

"Having played for Napoli stays with you for the rest of your life."

"I have experienced Champions League matches. The city has always been behind the Azzurri team; in fact, it seemed as if the whole city was on the pitch alongside the team. Napoli has a special and extraordinary fan base. Napoli is the spirit of the city."

"[Napoli represents] a piece of my life, football. My passion. I lived in symbiosis with the blue shirt, joys and sorrows. It was a great love."

"Today, it is not just “Napoli” playing. Today, a city is playing, rallying around the team once again. Because here, there is a desire to live a dream, a fairy tale. Dreams, good feelings, fairy tales, support, fairness: what everyone needs."

"Napoli football has a history all of its own, which is inextricably linked to that of the city of Naples: its warmth, its folklore in following football. [...] The true Napoli fan, the generous, friendly one, whose choices are driven by the heart, has something unique and original. It is reminiscent of Italian families in the south. Sentimentally “exaggerated” (!) but precisely for this reason capable of giving you their soul, if necessary."

"Dear Inler, there may be room for us at Napoli, but Napoli is a faith. The player wants a release clause with a value that suggests we are a stepping stone to other shores, and that is not good. Inler must show that he wants to embrace the project."

"Napoli can prove that sport and football can be played with clean hands without the need to fix matches, as Moggi did with Juventus and as, unfortunately, seems to be happening again [referring to the 2011 football betting scandal]. A pact of loyalty could be made between Naples and De Laurentiis, even in sport. Football plays a fundamental role in the city's revival."

"I love Naples and I am a big Napoli fan, but that shirt would have been too much for me: I was afraid of not doing what I did. I was almost always absent, even when playing against them: scoring against them was like scoring against my brother, and that's why it was better to avoid it."

"I dedicated 33 years of my life to Napoli, which is a large part of my existence, and I have thousands of special memories. But memories must be put away: life always begins tomorrow morning. One big regret is Gianluca Vialli: I had practically signed him, but the press found out and published the news. There were rumours in Genoa and the Sampdoria president at the time withdrew and didn't sell him to me. What does it mean to have had Maradona on the team? Diego represented a huge success for Napoli, the club and all the Neapolitan fans in terms of football. We had got used to seeing him play with us and didn't realise how great he was. Every game he played became legendary. These are truly unique memories."

"(About his arrival in Naples) As soon as I arrived, I went to the supermarket and everyone recognised me. I had to pose with everyone for souvenir photos and in the end I even lost my three-year-old son. Since then, however, when I go shopping with my wife, I wear a cap. Another time, in the Arab quarter, it took me an hour to leave a butcher's shop. Another evening at the cinema, I couldn't even watch the whole film because I had to sign autographs for the fans."

"Before the match against Porto, I went to buy a pair of shoes, and an hour later my photo was already circulating on Twitter. It's really impressive; I no longer have a normal private life."

"As a footballer, no one makes you feel like the Napoli fans do. I didn't know much about the history of Napoli, I understood it when I arrived, there was protest and I realised that they live for football. The stadium isn't modern, but as soon as I faced them in Serie B, I saw that there were 60,000 people who cared deeply."

"When I started looking for my first home in the city, I realised that everyone I met knew my name and my story. I was incredulous. The affection I had felt in Brescia was nothing compared to the passion of the Neapolitan fans. In Brescia, I was a young lad whom no one knew, while in Naples, I couldn't stop for a coffee without meeting fans."

"When we won the Coppa Italia in 2012, I understood what Naples was really like. The city hadn't won a trophy in 25 years, and after our victory in Rome, I saw a new Naples. It was like the city had gone mad. I think I can describe it as beautiful madness, the best kind of madness. When we returned from Rome, crowds poured out of their flats onto the streets, flags waving from every window: it was magical. When you win in Naples, it's the best victory in the world because it's not just the players who win, but the city and its people."

"In Naples, it's all about emotion."

"In Naples, you can die or be beaten up for trivial reasons. Then you go to the stadium and the same person, who was ready to fight over a simple argument, suddenly enters into a festive atmosphere. I believe there is also an atmosphere of respect: an involuntary agreement among organised crime to leave the football team alone. At the match, you meet people with multiple convictions who behave impeccably at the stadium and are uniquely kind."

"I'm here because I feel a bit Neapolitan, I'm as passionate as my new fans. Napoli deserved for me to wait for them, given my character; I wouldn't have behaved the same way elsewhere. I wanted to experience different feelings that I haven't felt elsewhere. :*Cristiano Lucarelli, quoted in Mimmo Malfitano, «Lucarelli, un premio se segni più di Toni», La Gazzetta dello Sport, 24 August 2010."

"Everyone says: this was the best of Barcelona, this was the best of Real Madrid, this was the best of Chelsea, this was the best... I am proud to have been the best in Naples."

"Are there any players I dislike? Not any particular faces, but a team, especially after the rough Italian Cup and Super Cup finals: Napoli. When I face them, something clicks."

"All footballers should experience what it means to play for Napoli."

"In the morning we went to warm up at the San Paolo, Carlos told me about this stadium, but I, who had played for Barça, said to myself, what's the big deal? Yet when I set foot on that pitch, I felt something magical, something different. In the evening, when the Champions League anthem was played, seeing eighty thousand people booing us, I realised what trouble we were in... I've played a few important matches in my career, but when I heard that roar, it was the first time my legs trembled. Well, that's when I realised that this isn't just a team for them, it's a visceral love, like that between a mother and her child. It was the only time I stayed on the pitch after losing to enjoy the spectacle."

"In Naples, the phenomenon of football is not exclusively sporting. It excites the imagination, reawakens dormant pride and encourages a type of participation that is not only complementary to the spectacle but very often becomes its protagonist. (p. 134)"

"The “bond” between Neapolitan fans and their football team does not end on Sunday when the match is played. Napoli is a topic of discussion throughout the week and, indeed, throughout the year. The relationship is one of visceral passion because Neapolitan fans have always imbued the match and the team with extreme significance and value. In a city that has long been subjugated, misunderstood and mistreated, the football team, capable of challenging the “teams” of more advanced and established cities, and perhaps even beating them, has been the only means of visibility and affirmation. It has ended up interpreting the dreams, ambitions, revenge and success that Naples lacked in too many other areas. Perceived as the only visible and competitive representation of the city, when it failed, the reaction was all the more angry. For a long time, Napoli Calcio was the “outlet” for Neapolitans condemned, in their everyday lives, to suffer, wait, wear themselves out and be disappointed. (p. 134)"

"Napoli Calcio was the “real fairy tale” of the Neapolitans, their wildest dream, a passion shared by all social classes, which saw profuse dedication and financial sacrifice in support of the team, especially among the less well-off, a commitment that many would have liked to see directed and realised in civil life. (p. 133)"

"The events surrounding the football team go beyond sporting results. They are occasions, protests, a showcase for the creative ability of the Neapolitan people. Exaltation, disappointment, indignation and protest have their roots in the renowned Neapolitan inventiveness, with its irony, cynicism, passion, capacity for surprise and accompanying poetic and singing talent. (p. 134)"

"It is no exaggeration to say that the football team in Naples is the “flag” that brings together and expresses, at least among the more working-class and less educated sections of society, but not only among them, the feelings and resentments of the city's long and complex history. (p. 134)"