Juventus once wore pink, until a Nottingham club lent them stripes
Italy's most successful football club did not start in black and white. Juventus, founded by Turin schoolboys, first played in pink and black, and only switched to its famous stripes around 1905, borrowing the look from Notts County in England. The name itself comes from the Latin word for youth.
The founders were students at the Massimo d'Azeglio Lyceum in Turin, among them the brothers Eugenio and Enrico Canfari, who set up Sport-Club Juventus in late 1897. The club lost its first league match in 1900 and won its first championship five years later. A split in 1906 saw the president Alfred Dick walk out with several players to form Torino, starting the city's derby. In 1913 Juventus finished last, and only survived relegation because club officials persuaded the federation to enlarge the league.
The turning point came in 1923, when Edoardo Agnelli, vice president of FIAT, became president. The family has owned the club ever since. In the 1930s it became Italy's first major professional club and won five titles in a row, and in 1961 it was the first Italian team to reach ten championships, earning a gold star above its crest, a custom other clubs later copied.
Under Giovanni Trapattoni the club became the first to win all three major UEFA trophies, clinching the set with the 1985 European Cup against Liverpool, a final overshadowed by the Heysel Stadium disaster. Michel Platini won the Ballon d'Or three years running in that team. Marcello Lippi's side added the 1996 Champions League.
The lowest point came in 2006, when the Calciopoli fraud scandal sent Juventus down to Serie B for the first time and stripped it of a title. Stars such as Del Piero and Buffon stayed, and the club bounced straight back. A new stadium opened in 2011, and from 2012 to 2020 Juventus won a record nine straight Serie A titles, part of an overall record of 36.
Source: Juventus FC
