Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli was founded on 1 August 1926 in Naples through the merger of Internaples FC and Naples Foot-Ball & Cricket Club, the latter dating back to 1904. The club has played at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona — renamed in 2020 from the Stadio San Paolo to honour the legend who transformed Napoli — since the 1959 stadium opening. The light-blue (azzurri) shirts pay homage to the colour of the Bay of Naples.
Napoli's defining era arrived with Diego Maradona (1984-1991), the most consequential player in any single club's history. With Maradona, Napoli won their first ever Scudetto in 1986-87 — the first major trophy by a southern Italian club, an event that triggered citywide celebrations lasting weeks. A second Scudetto followed in 1989-90. The 1988-89 UEFA Cup added a European trophy. Maradona's no. 10 was retired by the club after his death in 2020, and his image is woven into the city's identity in a way few sport-city relationships are.
The post-Maradona era brought financial collapse, Serie B/C demotions, and the 2004 takeover by film producer Aurelio De Laurentiis, who bought the club out of bankruptcy and rebuilt it from the ground up. Napoli returned to Serie A by 2007 and steadily climbed the table, with Edinson Cavani, Marek Hamšík, Lorenzo Insigne and Dries Mertens defining the rise. The third Scudetto arrived in 2022-23 under Luciano Spalletti — 33 years after Maradona's last — driven by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Victor Osimhen and a generation of fans who had only ever heard about the previous championship from their parents. Napoli's fourth title followed in 2024-25 under Antonio Conte. The North-South ideological rivalry with Juventus is the country's defining cultural fixture; the local Roma rivalry adds further intensity.