Napoli crowned Serie A champions, ending 33-year wait

It is party time in Naples

After 33 long years, Napoli is back on top in Italy.

The Neapolitan club sealed their third-ever Serie A crown with a 1-1 draw at Udinese on Thursday.

The result pushed them up to 80 points, one more than anyone else in the league can manage despite there still being five rounds of matches to play.

With frenzied Napoli fans packing large swaths of the stands at Udinese’s Stadio Friuli, Victor Osimhen’s 52nd-minute equalizer gave them the draw they needed to go beyond the reach of second-place Lazio and clinch the club’s 10th top-tier trophy.

Despite being the away team on the day, the full-time whistle saw fans in light blue and white hop out of the stands to celebrate on the pitch with players and team staff.

The scenes were similar in Naples. Fans began spontaneously celebrating in the street, while across the city fireworks and flares were being lit up to start what figures to be a multi-day party.

Long road back to the top of Serie A

Napoli has had a long climb back up to the top in Italy. After winning Serie A twice during Diego Maradona’s years with the club, they fell on hard times, suffering relegation to Serie B in 1998. After a brief spell as a yo-yo club, they dropped all the way to Serie C1 in 2004 for two seasons before beginning a healthier trajectory in 2007.

Under Luciano Spalletti — who had never won the league despite winning more matches than anyone else in Serie A over the last 29 years — Napoli clinched a spot in the Champions League last season before this year’s march to the championship. Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia have sparked Serie A’s most prolific attack, while Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Kim Min-jae have bolstered a defense that has conceded fewer goals than any other team in the league.

Naturally it was Osimhen who scored the goal that finished the job, showing composure to fire a rebound home early in the second half after Udinese had taken a first-half lead.

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