Sports in Turin

Sports in Turin have a rich heritage as the home to two historically significant football teams: Juventus F.C. (founded in 1897) and Torino F.C. (founded in 1906). Juventus has the larger fan base, especially in southern Italy and worldwide, while Torino enjoys a more localised support. The two clubs contest the oldest derby in Italy, the Derby della Mole or the Turin derby.[1]

Football (soccer)

Juventus is Italy's most successful football club and one of the most laureated in the world.[2] It ranks joint eighth in the list of the world's clubs with the most official international titles (fourth between European clubs).[3] and was the first in association football history — remaining the only one in the world (as of 2020) — to have won all possible official continental competitions and the world title.[4]

The Stadio delle Alpi, one of the host stadiums for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, was demolished in 2006 to make way for Juventus' owned ground, the Juventus Stadium, inaugurated in 2011. The other city's club, Torino, currently uses the Stadio Olimpico, property of the Comune of Turin, one of the host stadiums for the 1934 FIFA World Cup and the venue of the XX Winter Olympics.

Torino F.C. was founded by breakaways from Juventus and was one of the most formidable teams in the Serie A during the 1940s (before and after World War II), hence the nickname Il Grande Torino ("The Great Torino"). In 1949, in the Superga air disaster, a plane carrying almost the whole Torino F.C. team (at that time the most important team in Italy and known as the Grande Torino) crashed into the Basilica of Superga in the Turin hills. Valentino Mazzola was among those who perished in the accident.

Other sports

The C.U.S. Torino volleyball team won the domestic league four times and, in the 1979–80 season, the Volleyball European Champion's Cup. It was the first team from western Europe to win this competition. In the 1990s the team was dismantled as a result of financial issues. There is also the largest rugby team of the city by the same name, CUS Torino.

The most important basketball team is the Auxilium Torino, founded in 2009, playing in the Italian LBA since 2015–16 Season. In 2018 Auxilium Torino went to win its first Italian Basketball Cup ever.[5]

Events

Turin hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics from 10 February 2006, through 26 February 2006. Turin, with a population of over 865,000 and a metropolitan area of 1.7 million,[6] is the largest city to have ever hosted a Winter Olympics and was the largest metropolitan area to host them at the time.[7][8] The title of largest metropolitan area to host the Winter Olympics fell to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, (2.3 million) when that city hosted the XXI Olympic Winter Games.[9]

Other events hosted by the city include the Universiade (1933 IUG; summer: 1959 and 1970; winter: 2007), 1934 European Athletics Championships, 1979 European Cup (athletics), 1997 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, 2008 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships and the 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships.

In recognition of its rich sporting tradition, the City was awarded with the title of European Capital of Sport 2015.[10] The candidature[11] sees the City strongly committed to increasing sports activities and at the forefront of new technologies thanks to an agreement[12] signed with the Interfaculty School of Motor Sciences of Turin aimed to the dissemination of the project We-Sport.[13]

The FISA (International Rowing Federation) was founded in Turin in 1892.

Turin was also the home of the Valentino Park motor racing circuit.

The Juventus Stadium hosted the 2014 UEFA Europa League Final. This was the first time the city hosted a seasonal UEFA club competition's single-match final.

References

1. "Football Derbies: Derby della Mole". footballderbies.com. Retrieved 8 March 2008.
2. "Juventus building bridges in Serie B". fifa.com. Retrieved 20 November 2006.
3. Fourth most successful European club for confederation and FIFA competitions won with 11 titles. Fourth most successful club in Europe for confederation club competition titles won (11), cf. "Confermato: I più titolati al mondo!" (in Italian). A.C. Milan S.p.A official website. 30 May 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
4. In addition, Juventus F.C. were the first club in association football history to have won all possible confederation competitions (e.g. the international tournaments organised by UEFA) and remain the only in the world to achieve this, cf. "Legend: UEFA club competitions". Union des Associations Européennes de Football. 21 August 2006. Archived from the original on 31 January 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
   "1985: Juventus end European drought". Union des Associations Européennes de Football. 8 December 1985. Archived from the original on 8 December 2013. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
5. "Basket, Final Eight: Torino-Brescia 69-67. Storica prima dell'Auxilium" [Basketball, Final Eight: Torino-Brescia 69-67. Historical first time for Auxilium]. gazzetta.it (in Italian). 18 February 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
6. "Torino – Turin Italy City Profile". Retrieved 18 April 2007.
7. Neus, Elizabeth (19 January 2006). "Olympics by the numbers". USA Today. Retrieved 18 April 2007.
8. The 2002 Salt Lake City games also claims this title because at the time of the Olympics its Combined Statistical Area population was 1,516,227 and some events were held in the Provo metropolitan area of 400,209 (tables from the Census Archived 2009-05-17 at WebCite). . Retrieved 6 March 2009. Archived 16 May 2009.
9. Judd, Ron C. (2 July 2003). "Vancouver to host 2010 Winter Olympics". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 18 April 2007.
10. http://www.torino2015.it website of Torino Capitale Europea dello Sport 2015
11. Candidature link to the file of Candidature for European Capital of Sport 2015
12. "N".
13. http://www.we-sport.com Portal's homepage