The Italian Champions' Trophy: history and trivia on the Scudetto

MILAN - The Champions of Italy’s Cup now stands at the centre of the Trophy Room at Inter HQ. The Scudetto trophy, raised on Sunday at San Siro by Samir Handanovic, was placed by President Steven Zhang and is now in the company of the previous cups won by Inter throughout its history (the roll of honour). This is the 19th Scudetto in Nerazzurri history. Alongside the 2020/21 cup, the Scudetti of the past highlight the scale of the club’s success: the history of the trophy is in fact waiting to be discovered.

HANDANOVIC: THIRD FOREIGN PLAYER TO LIFT THE ITALIAN CHAMPIONS’ TROPHY

As seen below, in the history of the tricolour trophy, the Italian Champions’ Trophy was introduced in 1960. Scrolling through the golden register of Serie A winners from that season on, we note how Samir Handanovic is only the third foreign captain to receive the Italian Champions’ trophy.

Before him, only Diego Armando Maradona (captain of Napoli, 2 Scudetti) and Javier Zanetti (5 tricolours with Inter) had the privilege of being captain in the year of their team winning the national title.

From 1960 onwards, the Nerazzurri captains who have raised the Scudetto were: Armando Picchi (1963, 1965, 1966); Sandro Mazzola (1971); Graziano Bini (1980); Giuseppe Baresi (1989); Javier Zanetti (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010); Samir Handanovic (2021).

THE SCUDETTO: THE HISTORY OF THE TRICOLOUR SYMBOL

We saw the tricolour on the San Siro pitch on Sunday, with 19 camped in the centre. And it is the tricolour that will be at the centre of the Nerazzurri jerseys next season. The Scudetto is the symbol of the Champions of Italy. As the Lega Serie A recalls, the emblem has a rather ancient origin and history attributable to the genius of Gabriele D’Annunzio, who wanted to put a tricolour shield on the uniform of a selection of the Italian military command during a friendly match.

The decision to put the emblem on the jersey of the Champions was taken in 1924: A shield with the colours of the Italian flag, representative of national unity at the footballing level.

THE CUP OF THE CHAMPIONS OF ITALY: THE WINNER’S TROPHY SINCE 1960

The Trophy of the Champions of Italy was conceived in 1960 by Ettore Calvelli, medallist and sculptor of consolidated international fame. It rests on a hard sodalite blue stone base and has a gold ring in the centre depicting an allegory of athletes. It recently underwent a makeover that brought its height to 58cm and its weight to 8kg.

The trophy also bears the names of all the teams that have won the championship since the 1960/61 season, engraved on the golden base. Since then, the original trophy has been duly delivered to the team crowned Champions of Italy for a sporting season. The award ceremony on the pitch was introduced in 2005.