Editing SSC Napoli (section)

===Napoli on the rise: Maradona era===
Napoli broke the world transfer record fee after acquiring [[Diego Maradona]] in a €12&nbsp;million deal from [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]] on 30 June 1984.<ref>{{cite news |date=26 June 2007 |title=Finals Countdown: Argentina |publisher=U4 The Game |url=http://www.4thegame.com/features/feature/180001/.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014174058/http://www.4thegame.com/features/feature/180001/.html |archive-date=14 October 2007 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> The squad was gradually re-built, with the likes of [[Ciro Ferrara]], [[Salvatore Bagni]] and [[Fernando De Napoli]] filling the ranks.<ref name="playerrecord2" /> The rise up the tables was gradual, by [[1985–86 Serie A|1985–86]], they had a third-place finish under their belts, but better was yet to come. With the attacking trio of Maradona, [[Bruno Giordano]], and [[Careca]] (nicknamed MaGiCa), the [[1986–87 Serie A|1986–87]] season was the landmark in Napoli's history, becoming just the third Italian team to win [[Double (association football)|the double]] after securing the Serie A title by three points and then beating [[Atalanta BC|Atalanta]] 4–0 to lift the [[1986–87 Coppa Italia|Coppa Italia]].<ref name="calcionap2" />
[[File:19870510_sanpaolo.jpg|left|thumb|Napoli supporters celebrating the team's first ''[[scudetto]]'' in May 1987]]
Because a mainland [[Southern Italy|Southern Italian]] team had never won the league before, this turned Maradona into a cultural, social and borderline religious icon for Neapolitans, which stretched beyond the realms of just football.<ref name="d10s2">{{cite news |date=26 June 2007 |title=People's champion |publisher=[[Channel 4]] |url=http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/articles/maradonagg.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529032359/http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/articles/maradonagg.html |archive-date=29 May 2008}}</ref>
[[File:Maradona_napoli_uefa_cup.jpg|thumb|Diego Maradona celebrating with the [[UEFA Europa League|UEFA Cup]] trophy after beating [[VfB Stuttgart]], May 1989]]
The club were unsuccessful in the [[UEFA Champions League|European Cup]] in the following season and finished runners-up in [[1987–88 Serie A|Serie A]]. However, Napoli were entered into the UEFA Cup for [[1988–89 UEFA Cup|1988–89]] and won their first major European titles.<ref name="calcionap2" /> Juventus, [[FC Bayern Munich|Bayern Munich]] and [[PAOK FC|PAOK]] were defeated ''en route'' to the final, where Napoli beat [[VfB Stuttgart]] 5–4 on aggregate, with two goals from Careca and one each from Maradona, Ferrara and [[Alemão (footballer, born 1961)|Alemão]].<ref>{{cite news |date=26 June 2007 |title=European Competitions 1988–89 |publisher=Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation |url=https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec198889.html |access-date=3 February 2023 |archive-date=27 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231127101612/https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec198889.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Napoli added their second Serie A titles in [[1989–90 Serie A|1989–90]], defeating Milan by two points in the titles race.<ref name="calcionap2" /> However, this was surrounded by less auspicious circumstances as Napoli were awarded two points for a game, when in [[Bergamo]], an Atalanta fan threw a 100 [[Italian lira|lira]] coin at Alemão's head.<ref name="league2" />

A controversial set of events set off at the [[1990 FIFA World Cup|1990 World Cup]], when Maradona made comments pertaining to North–South inequality in the country and the ''[[Unification of Italy|risorgimento]]'', asking Neapolitans to root for [[Argentina national football team|Argentina]] in the semi-finals against [[Italy national football team|Italy]] in Naples.<ref>{{cite book |last=Maradona |first=Diego |title=El Diego, pg. 165 |year=2004}}</ref>
{{cquote|''I don't like the fact that now everybody is asking Neapolitans to be Italian and to support their national team. Naples has always been marginalised by the rest of Italy. It is a city that suffers the most unfair racism.''|20px|20px|[[Diego Maradona]], July 1990
}}
The Stadio San Paolo was the only stadium during the competition where the [[Argentine National Anthem]] was not jeered,<ref name="wc902">{{cite book |last=Maradona |first=Diego |title=El Diego, pg. 166 |year=2004}}</ref> Maradona bowed to the Napoli fans at the end and his country went on to reach the finals. However, after the finals, the [[Italian Football Federation]] (FIGC) forced Maradona to take a doping test, which he failed testing positive for [[cocaine]]; both Maradona and Napoli staff later claimed it was a revenge plot for events at the World Cup.<ref name="d10s2" /> Maradona was banned for 15 months and would never play for the club again.<ref name="d10s2" /> The club still won the [[Supercoppa Italiana]] that year, with a record 5–1 victory against Juventus, but it would be their last major trophy for 22 years. In the [[1990–91 European Cup|European Cup]], they were eliminated in the second round.<ref>{{cite news |date=26 June 2007 |title=UEFA European Cup Matches 1990–1991 |publisher=Xs4All |url=http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method1/match1991.html |access-date=26 August 2007 |archive-date=27 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027010717/http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method1/match1991.html |url-status=live }}</ref>