Vatican City Championship
Founded1 May 1972[1]
CountryVatican City
Number of teams8
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toNone
Domestic cup(s)Coppa Sergio Valci
Supercoppa
Current championsRappresentativa OPBG (4th title)
(2023)
Most championshipsDirseco
(8 titles)
Websitehttp://www.sportinvaticano.com

The Vatican City Championship (Italian: Campionato della Città del Vaticano) is the top men's association football league of Vatican City. Founded in 1972 as the Coppa Amicizia, teams are composed of workers representing various state departments.[2] Teams are permitted to field an outside player from Italian amateur teams to play as goalkeeper.[3] combined to form the Vatican City national team for rare friendly matches.[4] The Vatican football association, Federazione Vaticanese Giuoco Calcio, is not a member of FIFA[5] and is overseen by its president Domenico Regards as of May 2014.[4] All matches are played at the Associazione Sportivo La Salle complex in Western Rome, although the larger Campo Cardinale Francis Joseph Spellman served as home until recently.[6] The league has amateur status with matches and training taking place outside of work hours. Matches take place on Mondays and Tuesdays.[7] Equipment and uniforms are occasionally donated by organizations and benefactors[8] with deficits being covered by the Vatican government.[9] The league takes place between October and May each year with a two-month break in December and January.

History

The first organized football took place in the Vatican in 1947 when a four-team league was staged. The final that year was contested between Pontifical Villas and Fabbrica di San Pietro.[10][11] The league was suspended shortly after creation because of fierce competitiveness. Only friendly matches were allowed for the next two decades until another league was reformed in 1966. Seven teams competed during the first season with employees of L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, claiming the first championship.[12] The current league was founded as the Coppa Amicizia, later renamed the Campionato della Citta Vaticano, by Sergio Valci who was former president of the FA and a Vatican healthcare employee until his death in 2012.[1]

A secondary cup known as the Coppa ACDV was created in 1985. It was renamed the Coppa Sergio Valci in 1994. The Vatican Supercoppa began in 2005 and sees the winner of the Campionato della Citta Vaticano face the Coppa ACDV winners.[2][12]

Teams in the 2019–20 season

Teams
DirTel Team
Fortitudo 2007
Pontificia Università Lateranense
Archivio Segreto
Dirseco
FC Guardia
Musei Vaticani
Rappresentativa OPBG

Champions

Season Champions
(number of titles)
Coppa Vaticano
1947 Final abandoned
Coppa Amicizia
1973 Osservatore Romano (1)
1974 Governatorato (1)
1975–1978 Not held
1979 Astor Osservatore Romano (2)
1980 Not held
Campionato della Citta Vaticano
1981 Malepeggio Edilizia (1)
1982 Hercules Biblioteca (1)
1983 SS Hermes[nb 1] (1)
1984 Virtus Vigilanza[nb 2] (1)
1985 Teleposte (1)
1986 Teleposte (2)
Season Champions
(number of titles)
1987 Tipografia Osservatore Romano (3)
1988 Servici Tecnici (1)
1989 Associazione S.S. Pietro e Paolo (1)
1990 Dirseco (1)
1991 Dirseco (2)
1992 Associazione S.S. Pietro e Paolo (2)
1993 Dirseco (3)
1994 Dirseco (4)
1995 Dirseco (5)
1996–2000 Not held
2001 Associazione S.S. Pietro e Paolo (3)
2002–2004 Not held
2005 Galacticos Musei Vaticani (2)
2006 AS Cirioni (1)
2007 AS Cirioni (2)
Season Champions
(number of titles)
2008 Associazione S.S. Pietro e Paolo (4)
2009 Gendarmeria (2)
2010 Dirseco (6)
2011 Dirseco (7)
2012 Dirseco (8)
2013 San Pietro Team (1)
2014 San Pietro Team (2)
2015 Musei Vaticani (3)
2016 Musei Vaticani (4)
2017 Santos (1)
2018 Rappresentativa OPBG (1)
2019 Rappresentativa OPBG (2)
2020–2021 Not held
2022 Rappresentativa OPBG (3)
2023 Rappresentativa OPBG (4)

Top scorers

Season Team Scorer Goals Ref.
1973–2006 Unknown
2007 Musei Vaticani Alessandro Quarta [13]
2008 Cirioni-Fortitudo Corrado Rossi [14]
2009–2010 Unknown
2011 Dirseco Armando Goxhaj 15 [15]
2012–2014 Unknown
2015 Musei Vaticani Alessandro Quarta 19 [16]
2016 Fortitudo 2007/Pantheon Flaviano Sperati 20 [17]
2017 DirTel Armando Goxhaj 22 [18]
2018 Fortitudo 2007 Flaviano Sperati 16 [19]
2019 Dirseco Santo Morabito 20 [20]

Notable former players and coaches

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Argano, Fabrizia. "Il Campionato in Vaticano: "Papa Francesco tifa per noi"" (in Italian). corrieredellosport.it. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Zinelli, L. "Vatican City - List of Champions". RSSSF. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  3. ^ Collodi, Luca. "Al via il Campionato di calcio in Vaticano" (in Italian). Radio Vaticano. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  4. ^ a b Montague, James. "A Friendly Games for a Beatific State". New York Times. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  5. ^ Baxter, Kevin. "Vatican soccer tournament is a competition of Biblical proportions". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  6. ^ McGuiness, Pat. "VATICAN CITY: A POTTED HISTORY". Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  7. ^ Nuti, Nicola. "Anche il Vaticano ha il suo campionato interno di calcio" (in Italian). News Cattoliche. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  8. ^ Nuti, Nicola. "Vaticano: 7 squadre per il campionato di calcio" (in Italian). News Cattoliche. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  9. ^ a b Mattei, Giampaolo. "Lo scudetto vaticano? Ai Gendarmi E per gli Svizzeri "zero tituli"" (in Italian). vatican.va. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  10. ^ a b "Chi Siamo" (in Italian). Sport in Vaticano. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  11. ^ "Santa Sede. Messa per l?Associazione Sportiva" (in Italian). avvenire.it. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  12. ^ a b Nolan, Kevin. "The unlikely marriage between football and Vatican City". These Football Times. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  13. ^ Schöggl, Hans. "Vatican City 2007". RSSSF. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  14. ^ Schöggl, Hans. "Vatican City 2008". RSSSF. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  15. ^ Schöggl, Hans. "Vatican City 2010/11". RSSSF. ((cite web)): Missing or empty |url= (help)
  16. ^ Schöggl, Hans. "Vatican 2015". RSSSF. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  17. ^ Schöggl, Hans. "Vatican 2016". RSSSF. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  18. ^ "2017 Classifica" (in Italian). Sport in Vaticano. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  19. ^ "Vatican City 2017/18". Sport in Vaticano. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  20. ^ "Copa Vaticana 2018-2019" (PDF) (in Italian). Sport in Vaticano. Retrieved 2 July 2019.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Later renamed Musei Vaticani
  2. ^ Later renamed Gendarmeria

External links

See also

Categories