The ''scudetto'' ( Italian for: "little shield") is a decoration having the colors of the

flag of Italy The national flag of Italy ( it, Bandiera d'Italia, ), often referred to in Italian as ''il Tricolore'' ( en, the Tricolour, ) is a tricolour featuring three equally sized vertical pales of green, white and red, national colours of Italy, wit ...

which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in the previous season. The ''scudetto'' was created in the 1920s to honour the winner of the national association football league (in 1929 rebranded as

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

) and the first team to wear it was Genoa C.F.C. in 1924. Later, it was adopted by the teams of other sports. The word ''scudetto'' is also used to indicate the Serie A trophy; "winning the scudetto" is a synonym of "winning Serie A."

Origin

Gianluigi Buffon (31784615942) (cropped)

Sources generally agree that the inventor of the ''scudetto'' was the Italian poet and playwright Gabriele D'Annunzio. In his youth, D'Annunzio was a keen follower of football and in 1887 he bought in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

a leather ball from the same manufacturer that supplied the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

and would play football with his friends on the beach of his native Pescara. In 1920, the former Austro-Hungarian city of

Fiume Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Prim ...

(now the

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Prim ...

) was annexed to Italy, D'Annunzio proposed that the local football team acknowledge supporting the Italian sovereignty over the city with a tricolored shield of

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

and red on their jerseys. In 1924, the

Italian Football Federation The Italian Football Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio; FIGC), known colloquially as ''Federcalcio'', is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It ...

approved the decision to honour the defending champions allowing them to wear the ''scudetto'' on their jerseys. The Italian rugby union championship which started in 1928 became the second league which adopted the ''scudetto'' on a team's jersey to indicate a title holding team. Since then, the ''scudetto'' has become the symbol of the defending champions of every sports league in Italy. Other countries including Portugal and Turkey also have their reigning champions wear a national symbol on their chests.

References

{{National symbols of Italy National championships in Italy Sport in Italy Sports symbols Sports terminology Gabriele D'Annunzio National symbols of Italy

Origin

See also

References