Vatican City Championship

Association football league in the Vatican City

Football league

Vatican City ChampionshipFounded| 1 May 1972[1]

|

Country| Vatican City
Number of clubs| 8
Level on pyramid| 1
Relegation to| None
Domestic cup(s)| Coppa Sergio Valci
Supercoppa
Current champions| Rappresentativa OPBG (4th title)
(2023)
Most championships| Dirseco
(8 titles)
Website| http://www.sportinvaticano.com

The Vatican City Championship (Italian: Campionato della Città del Vaticano) is the top men's association football league of Vatican City. Founded in 1972 as the Coppa Amicizia, teams are composed of workers representing various state departments.[2] Teams are permitted to field an outside player from Italian amateur teams to play as goalkeeper,[3] and players combine to form the Vatican City national team for rare friendly matches.[4] The Vatican football association, Federazione Vaticanese Giuoco Calcio, is not a member of FIFA[5] and is overseen by its president Domenico Regards as of May 2014.[4] All matches are played at the Associazione Sportivo La Salle complex in Western Rome, although the larger Campo Cardinale Francis Joseph Spellman served as home until recently.[6] The league has amateur status with matches and training taking place outside of work hours. Matches take place on Mondays and Tuesdays.[7] Equipment and uniforms are occasionally donated by organizations and benefactors[8] with deficits being covered by the Vatican government.[9] The league takes place between October and May each year with a two-month break in December and January.

## History

[edit]

The first organized football took place in the Vatican in 1947 when a four-team league was staged. The final that year was contested between Pontifical Villas and the Fabbrica di San Pietro.[10][11] The league was suspended shortly after creation because of fierce competitiveness. Only friendly matches were allowed for the next two decades until another league was reformed in 1966. Seven teams competed during the first season with employees of L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, claiming the first championship.[12] The current league was founded as the Coppa Amicizia, later renamed the Campionato della Citta Vaticano, by Sergio Valci who was former president of the FA and a Vatican healthcare employee until his death in 2012.[1]

A secondary cup known as the Coppa ACDV was created in 1985. It was renamed the Coppa Sergio Valci in 1994. The Vatican Supercoppa began in 2005 and sees the winner of the Campionato della Citta Vaticano face the Coppa ACDV winners.[2][12]

## Teams in the 2019-20 season

[edit]

Teams

DirTel Team
Fortitudo 2007
Pontificia Università Lateranense
Archivio Segreto
Dirseco
FC Guardia
Musei Vaticani
Rappresentativa OPBG

* Source: Sport in Vaticano Archived 2020-09-20 at the Wayback Machine

## Champions

[edit]

| Season  | Champions
(number of titles)

|

Coppa Vaticano
1947  | Final abandoned
Coppa Amicizia
1973  | Osservatore Romano (1)
1974  | Governatorato (1)
1975–1978  | Not held
1979  | Astor Osservatore Romano (2)
1980  | Not held
Campionato della Citta Vaticano
1981  | Malepeggio Edilizia (1)
1982  | Hercules Biblioteca (1)
1983  | SS Hermes[nb 1] (1)
1984  | Virtus Vigilanza[nb 2] (1)
1985  | Teleposte (1)
1986  | Teleposte (2)
| Season  | Champions
(number of titles)

|

1987  | Tipografia Osservatore Romano (3)
1988  | Servici Tecnici (1)
1989  | Associazione S.S. Pietro e Paolo (1)
1990  | Dirseco (1)
1991  | Dirseco (2)
1992  | Associazione S.S. Pietro e Paolo (2)
1993  | Dirseco (3)
1994  | Dirseco (4)
1995  | Dirseco (5)
1996–2000  | Not held
2001  | Associazione S.S. Pietro e Paolo (3)
2002–2004  | Not held
2005  | Galacticos Musei Vaticani (2)
2006  | AS Cirioni (1)
2007  | AS Cirioni (2)
| Season  | Champions
(number of titles)

|

2008  | Associazione S.S. Pietro e Paolo (4)
2009  | Gendarmeria (2)
2010  | Dirseco (6)
2011  | Dirseco (7)
2012  | Dirseco (8)
2013  | San Pietro Team (1)
2014  | San Pietro Team (2)
2015  | Musei Vaticani (3)
2016  | Musei Vaticani (4)
2017  | Santos (1)
2018  | Rappresentativa OPBG (1)
2019  | Rappresentativa OPBG (2)
2020–2021  | Not held
2022  | Rappresentativa OPBG (3)
2023  | Rappresentativa OPBG (4)

* Source:[2]

## Top scorers

[edit]

Season  | Team  | Scorer  | Goals  | Ref.

|
|
|
|

1973–2006  | Unknown
2007  | Musei Vaticani | Alessandro Quarta  |  | [13]
2008  | Cirioni-Fortitudo  | Corrado Rossi  |  | [14]
2009–2010  | Unknown
2011  | Dirseco  | Armando Goxhaj  | 15  | [15]
2012–2014  | Unknown
2015  | Musei Vaticani  | Alessandro Quarta  | 19  | [16]
2016  | Fortitudo 2007/Pantheon  | Flaviano Sperati  | 20  | [17]
2017  | DirTel  | Armando Goxhaj  | 22  | [18]
2018  | Fortitudo 2007  | Flaviano Sperati  | 16  | [19]
2019  | Dirseco  | Santo Morabito  | 20  | [20]

## Notable former players and coaches

[edit]

* Gabriele Giordano Caccia \- Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon
* / Dino da Costa-former Italian international
* Source(s):[9][10]

## See also

[edit]

* Sport in Vatican City
* Index of Vatican City–related articles

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Argano, Fabrizia. "Il Campionato in Vaticano: "Papa Francesco tifa per noi"" (in Italian). corrieredellosport.it. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
2. ^ a b c Zinelli, L. "Vatican City - List of Champions". RSSSF. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
3. ^ Collodi, Luca. "Al via il Campionato di calcio in Vaticano" (in Italian). Radio Vaticano. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
4. ^ a b Montague, James. "A Friendly Games for a Beatific State". New York Times. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
5. ^ Baxter, Kevin. "Vatican soccer tournament is a competition of Biblical proportions". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
6. ^ McGuiness, Pat. "VATICAN CITY: A POTTED HISTORY". Retrieved 25 August 2016.
7. ^ Nuti, Nicola. "Anche il Vaticano ha il suo campionato interno di calcio" (in Italian). News Cattoliche. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
8. ^ Nuti, Nicola. "Vaticano: 7 squadre per il campionato di calcio" (in Italian). News Cattoliche. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
9. ^ a b Mattei, Giampaolo. "Lo scudetto vaticano? Ai Gendarmi E per gli Svizzeri "zero tituli"" (in Italian). vatican.va. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
10. ^ a b "Chi Siamo" (in Italian). Sport in Vaticano. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
11. ^ "Santa Sede. Messa per l?Associazione Sportiva" (in Italian). avvenire.it. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
12. ^ a b Nolan, Kevin. "The unlikely marriage between football and Vatican City". These Football Times. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
13. ^ Schöggl, Hans. "Vatican City 2007". RSSSF. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
14. ^ Schöggl, Hans. "Vatican City 2008". RSSSF. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
15. ^ Schöggl, Hans. "Vatican City 2010/11". RSSSF. `{{cite web}}`: Missing or empty `|url=` (help)
16. ^ Schöggl, Hans. "Vatican 2015". RSSSF. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
17. ^ Schöggl, Hans. "Vatican 2016". RSSSF. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
18. ^ "2017 Classifica" (in Italian). Sport in Vaticano. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
19. ^ "Vatican City 2017/18". Sport in Vaticano. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
20. ^ "Copa Vaticana 2018-2019" (PDF) (in Italian). Sport in Vaticano. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 July 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.

## Footnotes

[edit]

1. ^ Later renamed Musei Vaticani
2. ^ Later renamed Gendarmeria

## External links

[edit]

* Official Vatican Sports

## See also

[edit]

* Vatican City national football team
* Coppa Sergio Valci
* Clericus Cup

* v
* t
* e

Football in Vatican City

General|

* Vatican Amateur Sports Association

National teams|

| Men|

* Men

|

Women|

* Women

League system|

| Men|

* Vatican City Championship

|

Domestic cups|

| Men|

* Coppa Sergio Valci
* Supercoppa

|

Other|

| Men|

* Clericus Cup

|

Clubs|

| Men|

* Ass. SS. Pietro e Paolo
* Circolo San Pietro
* DirTel Team
* Fortitudo 2007
* Corpo Della Gendarmeria Gruppo Sportivo Sez. Calcio
* FC Guardia
* Musei Vaticani
* Santos F.C.
* Rappresentativa OPBG

|

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