SSC Napoli: Explaining the Partenopei's Return to Prominence

SSC Napoli have enjoyed a wonderful 18 months, which Naples has not seen for over 20 years—since the days of Diego Armando Maradona.

Naples is a city with a unique passion for football. The club is in the blood of each Neapolitan and embedded in the city's culture.

The club's owner, film producer Aurelio De Laurentiis, has in eight years taken Napoli from bankruptcy and the depths of Serie C1 in 2004 to the pinnacle of European club football that is the Champions League.

Here, I attempt to explain Napoli's meteoric return to relevance and the contributing factors.

Calciopoli Scandal

In 2006, Italian football hit rock bottom when five clubs (Juventus, Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina and Reggina) were implicated in a scandal that involved a series of networks between these clubs and the referee association in order to select specific officials for certain games.

It was severely detrimental to Serie A and has slowly weakened the league, culminating in the loss of a Champions League spot (as of next season).

The biggest club left unscathed was Inter Milan, who began a period of dominance as their rivals were heavily weakened, either through enforced relegation or due to a mass exodus of their best players. The Nerazzurri dominated the league for four consecutive seasons, but this whole saga inadvertently helped Napoli.

The Partenopei were rebuilding from scratch after their bankruptcy two years prior and were therefore comparable in strength to those weakened sides. This meant that upon promotion back to Serie A, the difference between second place and the rest was surmountable with the necessary investment, which is where Aurelio De Laurentiis came in.

Aurelio De Laurentiis and His Investment

Aurelio De Laurentiis can be clearly highlighted as one of the more significant factors in Napoli's resurgence in the past decade. He bought the club in 2004 and has spent lavishly at times, but also maintained a healthy set of accounts with the club's financial nightmare still vivid.

Here are the figures of Napoli's net spending since the club returned to Serie A, with significant purchases from each season:

2007/08: -€43,585,000 (Daniele Manin €6.5 million, Ezequiel Lavezzi €6m, Marek Hamsik €5.5m, Fabiano Santacroce €5.5m, Michele Pazienza €4.8m, Walter Gargano €3.2m).

2008/09: -€15,900,000 (Christian Maggio €8m, Germán Denis €7.1m).

2009/10: -€51,700,000 (Camilo Zúñiga €8.5m, Hugo Campagnaro €7m, Fabio Quagliarella €18m, Luca Cigarini €11m).

2010/11: -€7,000,000 (Victor Ruiz €8.5m, Edinson Cavani (loan) €5m).

2011/12: -€36,950,000 (Miguel Britos €9m, Blerim Dzemaili €7.5m, Gökhan Inler €17.5m, Edinson Cavani (permanent) €16m).

As we can see, De Laurentiis has invested heavily, despite retrieving significant fees with departures e.g. Fabio Quagliarella (€15m). A trend in the purchases has been the age of the players, with the policy seemingly to buy players with significant potential at a young age—in the knowledge that the club can make a profit should they exceed expectations with the club, and attract interest from clubs prepared to offer greater wages.

With the added financial rewards of participating in the Champions League and a sound wage structure, Napoli are well-positioned for UEFA's new Financial Fair Play regulations, but should also be able to call upon their owner in order to compete alongside Europe's biggest clubs for the world's most coveted players.

We saw this in January, when the highly talented Chilean, Eduardo Vargas, shunned reported interested from Chelsea in order to join the Partenopei.

Walter Mazzarri

Walter Mazzarri deserves a lot of credit for Napoli's current success, given his predecessors Edoardo Reja and Roberto Donadoni were unable to give De Laurentiis assurances that the club was progressing rapidly enough.

Mazzarri has been handed a significant transfer budget each season, but the players he has bought have tended to be value for money—which has shown he has a good eye for talent.

The Italian tactician guided Napoli to a sixth place finish in 2010 and was able to improve last season, finishing third.

Expectations were curved somewhat this season in the league with the added distraction of Champions League football inevitably inhibiting the side's domestic form. Napoli are currently fifth and have ambitions to match last season's third place finish in order to secure another season of Champions League football, and the financial prizes it brings.

Tactics, Formation and I Tre Tenori

Tactically, Napoli have been a joy to behold in the past two seasons, since Walter Mazzarri's arrival. The Italian has implemented a unique 3-4-2-1 formation, with the three most advanced players known as "i tre tenori" (the three tenors).

They are comprised of Ezequiel Lavezzi, Marek Hamsik and Edinson Cavani, who embellish the Partenopei's style of football.

This trident is supported by the width of Christian Maggio and Camilo Zúñiga while two holding midfielders, Walter Gargano and Gökhan Inler, provide the side's stability. Paolo Cannavaro and Hugo Campagnaro are ever-presences in the back three and tend to be joined by the erratic Salvatore Aronica.

The formation is a conundrum for the opposition, who will not have faced a three-man defence too often before. Napoli's extra attacker, due to one less defender, enables them to outnumber the opposition's defence. Managers have often altered their tactics in order to combat Napoli, which has led to their side—as was the case for Claudio Ranieri's Inter last week—causing their own downfall.

It has been the same in Europe too, with the pace and movement on the counter-attack enough to see off Villarreal and Manchester City to qualify with Bayern Munich in the group phase of the Champions League. It has continued in the knock-out phase too, with Napoli enjoying a commanding position at half time in the tie with Chelsea, leading 3-1.

The Stadio San Paolo and the Fans

The Stadio San Paolo has been a huge factor in Napoli's return to prominence, with the Neapolitans coming in their droves each week to support their side. The club is said to have as many as six million supporters globally.

The capacity is 60,420 and has been sold out on several occasions this season. This has contributed to the club being able to average 40,356 per match. That is 67 percent of their capacity and the third most in Italy, behind Inter and Milan.

The noise made by the Ultras can be deafening, and has been such a problem that it led to nearby buildings swaying and ultimately being damaged by the raucous pandemonium.

It provides an intimidating atmosphere for the opposition, with fireworks and explosions blasting throughout matches. This has often led to the away side wilting under the intense pressure, and obviously a contributing factor to Napoli's superb home record.

All statistics and figures in the article by Transfermarkt

Jack Alexandros is a football analyst for Football Radar covering Serie A. You can follow him on Twitter @jackalexandros and @FRcalcioJack.