Napoli seal first Italian football league title in 33 years

A 1-1 draw at Udinese gave Napoli the point they needed to win first league title since 1990.

Napoli finally ended their long wait to win Serie A, joining late club icon Diego Maradona in the history books by being crowned Italian champions with a record-equalling five matches to play.

A 1-1 draw at Udinese on Thursday gave Napoli the point they needed to end 33 years of waiting, leading to wild celebrations among the thousands of fans in Udine, at the Stadio Maradona in Naples and all around southern Italy’s biggest city.

Supporters streamed onto the pitch at the Dacia Arena to celebrate after a season dominated by Luciano Spalletti’s side, creating moments of tension with home fans not happy at such open partying on their ground.

Victor Osimhen scored the decisive goal in the second half as Napoli’s current stars came back from trailing to Sandi Lovric’s opener at half-time and emulated the teams led by Maradona, which won the league in 1987 and 1990.

“To be compared to him, to be the captain after Maradona to lift the Scudetto, I just have no words,” said skipper Giovanni Di Lorenzo. “This isn’t my title, it belongs to every player and the people who worked to make our dream come true.”