A history of Roman football 1900-1927. Part three 1919-1926

In our third part in the series on the history of Roman football from 1900 to 1927 we look at the seasons that led the Italian Federation to move away from a regional organisation to a more non geographical based one.

• Part one 1900-12

• Part two 1912-18

Lazio 1922-23. Source Lazio Wiki

As mentioned in the previous part, the increase in the number of clubs participating in the 1919-20 season led to a change in the organisation of the National League. There were still two clear sections – Northern and Central-South – and, at least for the north, six groups of six teams, but there was a need for preliminary rounds. After that, the groups were divided as follows: Emilia (one group, top two through to semi-final), Liguria (one group, top two continued), Lombardy (three groups, top two), Piedmont (two groups, top three to the semi-final), Veneto (one group, top two).

After this, there were going to be three groups of six, with the top three to the final round robin where the winner would play for the national final.

In the Southern Division, there were the usual Lazio and Tuscany groups but for the first time there was one for Campania. Tuscany and Campania had both a six-team group but Lazio had increased to seven. The top two of each group would then be divided into two groups of three with the winners meeting for the Southern Division final to determine who would meet the Northern champion.

Scudetto 1919-20

Lazio for the first time did not qualify for the semi-finals. It was tough after the First World War with many of the old players no longer playing, no new ones and with a youth sector still a little bit behind. The club also still continued to be amateur, in the spirit of the Olympic Games, hence limited financial resources and appeal.

The group was won by Fortitudo fairly easily with a five-point lead over Audace Roma. After the war Fortitudo had become much more professional. They had lots of money and since they belonged to a network of Catholic sporting associations, they were able to have a constant supply of young players at a time when many pre-war teams had been devastated by casualties and military service. Audace Roma also came out of the war better prepared than the others.

Fortitudo played at the Campo Madonna del Riposo, near the Via Aurelia and Monte del Gallo inside the current Pineta Sacchetti, on the western outskirts of Rome in the early 20th century. At the time it consisted largely of open land, which made it suitable for football pitches and other sporting activities. The ground had no changing rooms or showers. After the matches, players washed themselves with cold water from standpipes. It remained in use until the construction of the Campo Testaccio.

In the Northern League Bologna and Modena (founded in 1912 as Audax Football club, with yellow and blue colours) qualified for the semi-final for the Emilia group, Genoa and Andrea Doria for Liguria, Inter, Brescia (founded in 1911, blue and white), Milan, Enotria Goliardo (born in 1908, red and blue), US Milanese (founded in 1902, black and white) and Legnano (founded in 1913 as Foot Ball Club Legnano, wearing lilac shirts) for Lombardy, Pro Vercelli, Juventus, Torino, Alessandria, Casale and Novara for Piedmont, Padova (founded as Associazione Calcio Padova in 1910, white and red) and Venezia (born in 1907, wearing orange, black and green) for Veneto. The winners of the semi-final groups were Genoa, Juventus and Inter with the former winning the Northern title.

For the Southern League the winners of the Campania group – Internazionale Napoli and Puteolana (from Pozzuoli, founded in 1902 as Puteoli Sport changing name to Unione Sportiva Puteolana in 1919) – joined the winners of the Tuscany – Pisa and Livorno – and Lazio groups in the semi-final round robins. Fortitudo and Livorno came out winners and the former won the final.

In the National Final Inter beat Livorno 3-2. It was the closest a non-Northern team had come to winning the title.

Inter 1919-20. Source Wikipedia

Scudetto 1920-21

Despite fact that the federation wanted to reduce the number of teams, more and more minor clubs wanted to participate. Football had started to be enormously popular and everybody wanted to play. A total of 88 participants were ready to battle it out for the 1920-21 scudetto. But the big teams were not happy. They had complained that there too many games and too many against smaller clubs. Tuscany asked to play in the Northern division but had to wait a year before the request was granted.

Compared to the previous season in the North 16 teams were admitted to the “quarter final” groups divided into four groups of four the winners of which would go to a semi-final and final, single game in neutral territory.

Modena, Bologna and Mantova (founded in 1907, the wore white with a red diagonal band) qualified for Emilia group, Padova and Bentegodi Verona (founded as a sports club in 1868, the football section was created early 1900s, they wore black with white horizontal band)) for Veneto, Inter, Legnano, Milan and US Milanese for Lombardy, Alessandria, Novara, Pro Vercelli, Torino and US Torinese for Piedmont, Andrea Doria and Genoa for Liguria.

In the groups to determine who would go to the semi-final, Bologna, Alessandria and Pro Vercelli qualified. In Group C there was need of a playoff to determine the fourth participant between Torino and Legnano. However, this went to extra time and after 158 minutes of play the teams called it a day. At that time there was no penalties after extra time, the teams went on until somebody finally scored, a type of precursor of the golden goal. Exhausted after such a gruelling contest, both teams subsequently withdrew from the championship.

That meant that Bologna went directly to the final where they met Pro Vercelli who had beaten Alessandria in the semis. The Piedmont team won after extra time.

The six clubs to qualify for the Southern semi-final groups were Naples and Bagnolese for Campania, Livorno and Pisa for Tuscany, Fortitudo and Lazio for the Rome-based group.

In the Lazio group the clubs competing were the Biancocelesti, Fortitudo, Juventus Audax, Pro Roma, Audace, US Romana, Roman and Vittoria (founded in 1908 by students, wore blue and white stripped shits). Fortitudo won all of their games except one, Lazio managed to arrive second with a five-point lead over Juventus Roma, third.

In the semi-final groups the Biancocelesti faced Livorno and Naples but they arrived third. The finalist was Livorno. The other group was won by Pisa who went on to win the Central Southern final.

The scudetto was won by Pro Vercelli 2-1. Once more another close tie. Perhaps the Southern clubs were catching up?

The Pozzo Reform

The number of clubs wanting to compete in football was getting out of hand. In the previous season there were 88 teams competing with 64 in the North. The number of games were increasing and the final for the title had to be played on July 24.

Vittorio Pozzo. Source Lazio Wiki

Vittorio Pozzo, future legendary head coach of the Italy squads that became World Champion in 1934 and 1938, designed a reform basically copying the formula used in England. The top tier was to have 24 teams (seven form Piedmont, five from Lombardy, three from Liguria, four from Emilia and 2 from Tuscany). These would be divided into two groups. There would also be a second tier made up of 48 clubs, a third and a fourth.

An interesting note is the lack of teams from Rome in this plan but there is a simple explanation: the last two losing clubs in the national final had come from Tuscany.

The top clubs embraced this reform. They were investing a lot of money, the trading of players had just begun and the bigger teams wanted great games which would attract loads of people, hence sell tickets. 24 of them had reached an agreement (the Milan Pact) to heavily promote the Pozzo reform.

But the smaller clubs disagreed fearing they would lose out on the sharing of the cake. Their counter proposal was a first tier made up of 72 teams divided into eight groups and no change to the current second tier.

So, on one side 24 of the bigger clubs (who had not really done so well in the previous season hence the owners did not make as much money as they thought they would) and on the other the minor teams.

The voting took place on July 23 1921 and the Pozzo Reform was not approved. The minor clubs, much greater in number, were not fundamentally against the reform, but were against the fact that the 24 big teams declared themselves to be the elite of Italian football. Perhaps this sounds familiar? The European Super League comes to mind!!!

The result was a schism in the Federation. The big clubs left and created one for themselves, the Confederazione Calcistica Italiana (Italian Football Confederation), the others stayed in the Federation.

The CCI organised their league as Pozzo had planned it, at least for the Northern Division. The name of the Italian championship was changed for First Category to First Division in honour of the English first division. The 24 clubs of the north were divided into two groups of 12, the winners of which would meet in the final to determine the Northern winner.

Pro Vercelli won in Group A with a four-point lead over Novara, Genoa won in Group B with a nine-point lead over Alessandria. Pro Vercelli won the final 2-1 on aggregate.

Everybody was happy. De facto the best two teams made it to the final. Pozzo’s plan had worked.

And what about the Centre South?

While the battle was raging in the north for power (and money) the clubs from Tuscany downwards had to decide what to do. All of the Rome and Naples based clubs decided to play in the newly formed league whereas as far as Tuscany was concerned there was a split: Pisa and Livorno played in the CCI Northern League, the others in the FIGC league.

The change in the League’s organisation in the North did not bring a similar change in the South where it was going to be still on a regional basis. But, instead of just Lazio and Campania (Tuscany was now in the Northern Division), the competition would, finally, be open to also the other regions. So, this time we had participants from Marche, Apulia and Sicily. The five regional winners would meet in a knock out phase.

Puteolana won in Campania (first out of seven), Anconitana in the Marche (six clubs participated, after a first round robin preliminary phase which eliminated two teams, the other four met in a final group), Audace Taranto in Apulia (seven clubs participated, a round robin preliminary group of four qualified Veloce Taranto to a second group with Audace, Pro Italia and Liberty) and Palermo in Sicily (group of six).

The Rome group was supposed to be made up of 11 clubs: Fortitudo, Alba, Juventus Audax, Lazio, US Romana, Roman, Audace Roma, Pro Roma, Tivoli, Tiberis and Vittoria, three more than the previous season – Alba, who had been promoted, Tivoli (founded in 1919, colours Amaranth and blue, they too just promoted) and Tiberis. There was a change in the beginning as the new federation decided that only the clubs with an owned pitch could participate. This meant that Tiberis and Vittoria were forcibly excluded.

Fortitudo won with a four-point lead over Alba. Lazio arrived a disappointing joint third place. The attack was not up to par and the defence was not too good either. But something did happen which would change the course of the following season. Coach Guido Baccani had an intuition. He moved Fulvio Bernardini, decent goalkeeper, into the attack. He realised that Fuffo, as he was nicknamed, was an exception football player. This move did not save the season but laid the foundations for the next one. Lazio had their own stadium, Campo Rondinella, which was behind the Stadio Nazionale.

Fortitudo went directly to the semis. In the first round Putelona beat Anconitana and qualified directly for the final. Audace Taranto beat Palermo but then lost in the semi-final to Fortitudo. The Romans won the Southern League beating Puteolana 2-0 in the final.

The national final between Pro Vercelli and Fortitudo was supposed to be played in a single match, but the Piedmontese, weary that the Romans were rather strong since they had drawn in a friendly with Genoa, asked for a home and away final. But there was a considerable difference between the two clubs and Pro Vercelli won 8-2 on aggregate.

FIGC league

The other league became a very minor tournament, won by Novese (from Novi Ligure) in the final against Sampierderanese. The two legs had ended goalless and there was a need for a repeat which Novese won in extra time.

The Italian federation realised that a compromise was needed and a number of meetings were held to try and bridge the issues between the two parties. Various solutions were suggested and all failed. In the end the smaller clubs accepted the Pozzo plan though starting from 1923-24. A halfway measure was adopted for the following season.

Scudetto 1922-23

The 1922-23 league was organised in three groups of 12 clubs for the northern league, the winners then meeting in a final round robin; a regional based organisation for the southern League.

Pro Vercelli won Group A of the Northen League with a four-point lead over Torino. Genoa won in Group B, seven points clear of Legnano. Padova won in Group C after a playoff with Alessandria. Genoa then won the final group winning all of their games except one.

In the Southern league, the following reached the semi-final interregional groups: Savoia and Internaples in Campnia (in a group with five clubs), Pro Italia and Ideale Bari in Apulia (group of five), Libertas Palermo in Sicily (an initial round of games had to be repeated due to irregularities).

The Rome-based group, made up of Alba, Fortitudo, US Romana, Juventus Audax, Roman and the Biancocelesti, was won by Lazio with a two-point lead over Alba. It was an exceptionally hard-fought competition, given both the fierce rivalry between the contenders and their considerable strength. As a result, numerous incidents occurred involving supporters, players and even several referees. These disturbances led to the annulment of a number of matches, which subsequently had to be replayed.

These teams proceeded to the next round to plus Anconinata (sole representative from the Marche), with two groups of four, the winners of which would meet in the final. In the first group Pro Italia was forced to withdraw from the championship due to a shortage of players, as five members of the squad were serving in the military. The Naval Command of Taranto prohibited the sailors from playing matches against teams composed entirely of civilian players, since the ground was under the Command's ownership. Savoia came first.

In Group B Lazio won all their matches and qualified for the final. In the first leg at Torre Annunziata they drew 3-3 but in the second the crushed their opponents 4-1.

The final saw Genoa prevail comfortably over Lazio. In the first leg the Genoese won 4-1 helped by two non-existent penalties. In the second in Rome, Genoa won 2-0.

All in all, a great season for Lazio who with Bernardini up front dominated. But there was still a difference between the north and the Roman teams.

Scudetto 1923-24

We have ben mentioning the name “scudetto” since the start of this series for simplicity, but de facto the scudetto, a decoration having the colours of the flag of Italy sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports club that won the league, was introduced for the 1923-24 season for the first time. Football was the first sport to adopt this but it later spread to all other Italian sports.

The Pozzo idea of two groups of 12 for the northern league was finally adopted.

In the north, Genoa won group A with a four-point lead over Padova. However this was the direct consequence of the Rosetta Case.

Rosetta Case

Virginio Rosetta in 1932. Source Wikipedia

The Rosetta Case was one of the first major scandals in Italian football. It took place during the 1923–24 Prima Divisione and centred on the controversial transfer of defender Virginio Rosetta from Pro Vercelli to Juventus. The dispute ultimately reshaped Italian football by accelerating the move towards professionalism and strengthening the authority of the Italian National Olympic Committee over the Italian Football Federation.

In July 1923, Edoardo Agnelli became president of Juventus and immediately sought to strengthen the team. One of his main targets was Virginio Rosetta, widely regarded as Italy's finest defender.

At the time, player transfers were tightly regulated. A player not only needed to resign from his current club but also had to prove residence in the province of the club he wished to join. These rules had already been bent in another controversial transfer involving player Luigi Gay, whose move from Pro Vercelli to Milan was approved despite questionable residency documentation. This earlier decision created a precedent that would later become central to Rosetta's case.

Rosetta resigned from Pro Vercelli intending to join Juventus, believing that, as in the Gay case, his resignation alone should be enough for the transfer.

However, Pro Vercelli refused to accept the move and argued that Rosetta had not fulfilled the residency requirements. This created a conflict between:

• the Northern League, which opposed Rosetta's registration with Juventus;

• the Italian Federation, which took a different legal interpretation;

• Juventus, which insisted the transfer was legitimate.

  
  

The disagreement escalated into a constitutional crisis within Italian football. Meetings became increasingly hostile, accusations of conflicts of interest were exchanged, and the presidents of the governing bodies openly challenged each other's authority. At one point, League president Ulisse Baruffini even challenged a Juventus representative to a duel after an especially heated exchange.

The dispute became so serious that the Northern League appealed directly to CONI, arguing that the uncertainty threatened not only domestic football but also the strength of the Italian national team ahead of the 1924 Olympic Games.

CONI stepped in as mediator, marking one of the first major interventions by the national Olympic committee in football governance. The affair established CONI as the supreme authority in disputes between sporting federations.

While the legal battle continued, Juventus were eventually forced to forfeit all matches in which Rosetta had played. The club lost a large number of points, dropping from title contenders to the middle of the table.

Before the sanctions, Juventus were level with Genoa at the top of their group. After the points deductions, Genoa comfortably qualified for the Northern League Final.

The Rosetta Case proved to be a turning point in Italian football because it:

• exposed the inadequacy of amateur transfer regulations;

• demonstrated that clubs were already offering financial incentives to attract top players despite the official amateur status of the game;

• accelerated the gradual acceptance of professionalism in Italian football;

• reinforced CONI's authority over the FIGC and other sporting bodies.

Although professionalism would not be formally recognised in Italy until 1926, the Rosetta affair is widely regarded as one of the key events that made reform unavoidable.

Group B

Group B was more uncertain and it was won by Bologna by one point over Torino. The finals were controversial. In the first leg in Genoa several fights broke out among spectators in the stands, while the pitch was invaded by supporters. One of the intruders, former Genoa player and then Cremonese manager Giovanni Battista Traverso, became involved in an altercation with Bologna player Giuseppe Della Valle and struck him with a punch.

Despite Bologna enjoying clear superiority in play, the home side secured victory only in the closing stages. Bologna subsequently lodged an official protest against the validation of the result, but this was rejected by the Northern League's governing board on 22 June. Genoa were fined 1,000 lire for the pitch invasion, while manager Traverso received a four-month suspension.

The return leg was played in Emilia a week later at the Sterlino ground, which had been battered by relentless rain. As in the first match, Bologna dominated proceedings, but Genoa struck first during the opening half. The setback infuriated the Bologna supporters.

During the opening fifteen minutes of the second half, Bologna equalised through a penalty. Over the next thirty minutes, the match descended into chaos, hampered both by the torrential downpour and the increasingly unruly behaviour of the crowd, to the extent that the referee, Panzeri of Milan, completely lost control of the situation. One newspaper report published the following day described him as "a castaway in a storm."

With only a few minutes remaining, the match was abandoned after Bologna supporters attempted yet another pitch invasion by climbing over the perimeter fencing. Initially, the referee stated that he had stopped the game because the heavy rain had rendered the pitch unplayable. However, he later admitted to reporters that the real reason was the disorder caused by the home crowd, and further revealed that he had awarded Bologna's equalising penalty only after coming under intense pressure. In his official match report, he explicitly wrote that he had "awarded the penalty kick to Bologna in order to avoid incidents on the field and in the stands."

The Northern League refused to ratify the result—also following a formal protest lodged by Genoa—and reserved judgment until the referee had been questioned. After examining Panzeri's report, the League Council found that it contained contradictory versions of events, particularly "on a matter of serious technical importance." It therefore instructed the League presidency, together with the Technical Commission, to conduct a further investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Bologna match.

The affair was finally settled at the Northern League Council meeting of 16 July. After Panzeri provided the requested clarifications, Article 15 of the regulations was applied against Bologna, resulting in a 2–0 forfeit victory being awarded to Genoa on account of the "serious misconduct of the spectators."

The Bolognese press reacted with fierce criticism of the sporting authorities' handling of the two finals, accusing the League of applying a double standard in Genoa's favour and alleging that Panzeri's official report had been altered.

Not that in the South things went much better.

The top two teams of Campania, Lazio and Apulia groups (made up of six clubs) would join Anconitana, sole representative of the Marche, and winner of the Sicilian playoff in the semi-final groups (made up for four teams with the top two to the final).

Savoia and Internaples qualified for Campania, Audace Taranto and Ideale Bari for Apulia, Palermo for Sicily.

The Lazio group saw a massive battle between Lazio, Alba and Fortitudo. Alba topped it by one point and the other two were forced to a playoff.

However, about two months after the last match of the Lazio Group between Tivoli and Lazio—where the Biancocelesti lost 2–1—the referee of the game, Galassi, confided to some friends that, in the final phase of the match, despite having noticed a foul in Tivoli’s penalty area, he awarded Lazio a free kick from the edge of the box instead of the expected penalty. This decision was reportedly motivated by fear of retaliation from local supporters.

Lazio, through its official Alfredo Palmieri, having learned of this statement, submitted an appeal to the Regional Lazio Committee of the Federation, requesting the annulment and a replay of the match. The request, in addition to aiming to correct a clear technical error, was intended to avoid the playoff with Fortitudo. In the event of a replay, a draw would have been enough for Lazio to secure sole possession of second place.

At its meeting on April 8, 1924, the Regional Lazio Committee rejected Lazio’s appeal, while assigning an investigative commission to proceed with inquiries regarding the conduct of referee Galassi.

Therefore, the playoff was needed. The Biancocelesti won it 4-0.

Lazio were in Group A of the Interregional semi-finals and were paired with Savoia, Ideale Bari and Anconitana. Savoia won and the Biancocelesti came second missing out on the Southern League final. But there was controversy. The match between Savoia and Ideale Bari was forced to be postponed due to the fact that a military event was taking place on the pitch that same day as the game. The replay saw Savoia win, but Ideale appealed because the military event had been planned a long time earlier only that Savoia had failed to inform them. The sports tribunal gave the win to Apulians. This meant that Lazio and Ideale had to have a playoff to determine who would win the group. The Biancocelesti won and should have gone on to meet Alba in the southern league final but another tribunal annulled the Ideale win so it was Savoia to meet Alba in the Southern final. The team from Torre Annunziata then went on to play the national final with Genoa and lost.

Genoa 1923-24. Source Wikipedia

Scudetto 1924-25

For the 1924-25 season the formulas were the same as the previous year but for the first time the Southern Leagues, instead of being organised by local committees, were managed directly by the Southern League.

Another slightly minor difference was that one of the groups had an extra team, Mantova. It was a compensatory decision due to the fact that a referee admitted in being bribed to favour Virtus Bologna against Mantova.

Genoa managed to win group A, despite a bad start, with a single point over Modena. Bologna won group B with a two-point lead over Pro Vercelli.

The final was yet again between Genoa and Bologna and once more marred by controversy. The first leg saw Genoa win in Bologna 2-1. In the second Bologna took the lead in the first half, but Genoa managed to equalise mid second half. Instead of putting the game to sleep they attacked recklessly and Bologna manged to score in the 83rd minute. A playoff was therefore needed.

A play-off to decide the Northern League title was held in Milan on 7 June before a huge crowd that surrounded the pitch, prompting referee Giovanni Mauro to question whether the match could be played under acceptable conditions.

The situation for the playoff. Source Wikipedia

After being persuaded to proceed, Genoa took a 2–0 lead through Daniele Moruzzi and Alberti, despite repeated pitch invasions by their supporters. The match descended into controversy in the second half when Bologna's Muzzioli appeared to score. Mauro initially awarded only a corner, believing the ball had been deflected behind by goalkeeper Giovanni De Prà, but after angry Bologna fans invaded the field and surrounded him for around fifteen minutes, he reluctantly awarded the goal—not because he believed it was valid, but to restore order and allow the game to continue.

Bologna equalised late through Alberto Pozzi, leaving the score at 2–2 after normal time. Genoa then refused to play extra time, arguing that Muzzioli's controversial "ghost goal" had been awarded under duress, while Bologna claimed victory because their opponents had declined to continue. The disorder extended beyond the stadium, with supporters from both clubs clashing at Milan Central Station. Despite the regulations effectively requiring the authorities to rule in favour of one of the two teams, the Northern League Council rejected both claims, refused to ratify the result and ordered the play-off to be replayed. Genoa were also fined by the FIGC for refusing to contest extra time.

So, match number four which took place in Turin on July 5. It finished 1-1 even after the extra time. But it was marred by an incident at the Porta Nuova station after the match. A clash between fans on opposing trains with shots fired against the Genoese causing a few wounded. The Federation threatened the Bologna club that if they did not hand over those responsible, they would be disqualified and lose the final. Finally on August 2 a decision was made: the game would be played in neutral territory with no fans. It was played on August 9 at 7 in the morning!!!! Bologna won comfortably and proceeded to the national final.

This is another match that fell in the requests for revision along with Lazio’s claim for the 1914-15 scudetto. Even in this case, everybody is still waiting.

In the Southern Division there was a reduction in the number of teams. In Campania there were four with Savoia and Cavese qualifying, six in the Apulia group with Pro Italia and Liberty proceeding and Messinese for Sicily who beat Palermo twice.

Just five clubs participated in the Rome based group: Lazio, Alba, Fortitudo, Audace Roma and Pro Roma. Alba won the group and the Biancocelesti came second overtaking Fortitudo in the last game.

The seven clubs as usual were joined by Anconitana for the inter-regional semi-finals. In Group A, Lazio and Anconitana were forced to a playoff which was won by the latter. Alba won group B and then beat Anconitana in the final.

There was not much Alba could do against Bologna in the national final as they lost 6-0 on aggregate.

Scudetto 1925-26

The chaotic and controversial conclusion of the 1924–25 Italian championship, following similar problems the previous year, convinced the Italian Football Federation that the existing format was no longer sustainable. The Pozzo Reform, which decided the championship through a two-legged national final, had generated such intense rivalry that serious public order problems had become commonplace. As a result, the Federation began planning a single-round national league of 16 teams, which would also increase the number of matches between Italy's strongest clubs. To prepare for the reform, it was decided that four clubs from each Northern League group would be relegated at the end of the 1925–26 season.

While clubs in southern Italy discussed adopting a similar structure, disagreements between Campanian, Apulian and Lazio clubs prevented any consensus. In the end, the Commission of Thirteen confirmed that the new Divisione Nazionale, to be introduced in 1926–27, would initially include only the 16 best clubs from the Northern League, with Southern League teams excluded and competing instead in the new second tier. Following protests—particularly from Alba Roma—the Federation agreed that, for the first two seasons, the Southern League champions would earn automatic promotion. The reforms were strongly backed by the Fascist regime, which recognised football's growing popularity and political value. Although Benito Mussolini himself showed little personal interest in the sport, several leading Fascist officials actively influenced football administration, most notably Leandro Arpinati, who became FIGC president at the end of the season.

In the Northern League there would be the usual two groups of 12 teams, the winners of which would meet in the final. The Southern Division proceeded as normal bit this time there would be ten semi-finalists.

Bologna won the first group with a two-point  lead over Torino whereas in the second Juventus easily qualified for the final with a 9-point lead over Cremonese.

There was a need for three games in the final since the first two finished in draws. Eventually Juventus won the playoff 2-1.

In the Southern league, Internaples and Bagnolese qualified for Campania, Anconitana and Maceratese for Marche, Pro Italia and Liberty in Apulia, Messinese and Palermo for Sicily.

In the Roma based group, Lazio had to face Alba, Fortitudo, Audace Roma, Roman and Pro Roma. Alba and Fortitudo qualified, the Biancocelesti came third. They did well with the smaller clubs but struggled with the richer and stronger teams.

The season however marked two important changes: the change of name from Podistica Lazio to Società Sportiva Lazio and the signing of Desiderio Koszegi as manager. For the first time the Biancocelesti had a professional coach. This would be the first step in becoming a professional club.

In the semi-final groups, Internaples won Group A, two points clear of Fortitudo, and Alba Roma won Group B, two points more than Bagnolese. Alba crushed Internaples 6-1 in the first leg of the final and drew 1-1 the second.

Juventus however took them to the cleaners in the final with a 12-1 aggregate.

Juventus 1925-26

A new start

This would be the last season with regional divisions. Starting from 1926-27 there would be national tournament no longer divided geographically. This would be a major change to the clubs with an increase in costs of running a team due to the fact that it meant that there would be the need to travel a lot more. The smaller clubs with limited finances would not be able to sustain the larger costs and more importantly the need to travel would mean that the amateur clubs would not be able to continue. It would be difficult for a player who had a regular job to leave every weekend to play football.

Everything was about to change.

Sources

Various pages on Lazio Wiki, Wikipedia and Lazio Stories