View source for 1909 Italian Football Championship

{{Short description|1909 Italian football season}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox football league season
| competition = Campionato Federale di Prima Categoria
| season = 1908–09
| image = [[File:1909 Società Ginnastica Pro Vercelli.jpg|frameless]]
| size = 280px
| caption = 1909 Pro Vercelli's squad
| winners = [[Pro Vercelli]]<br/>2nd title
| matches = 
| total goals = 
| league topscorer = Amilcare Pizzi (9)
| prevseason = [[1908 Italian Football Championship|1908]]
| nextseason = [[1909–10 Prima Categoria|1909–10]]
}}
The '''1909 Italian Football Championship''' was the 12th [[Italian Football Championship]] and the sixth since re-branding to [[Prima Categoria]]. Again the contest was made up of clubs exclusively from the 3 Northern Italian regions of [[Liguria]], [[Lombardy]] and [[Piedmont]]. In the second of two highly political consecutive seasons of Italian football, two championships of ''Prima Categoria'' were played; one exclusively with Italian players and a competition (deemed secondary the season before), that included non-Italians. However, political manoeuvring by the clubs with foreign players meant that this season, the competition with foreign players was ultimately deemed more important. Hence the 1909 Italian Football Championship is officially recognised as won by [[Pro Vercelli]] who won the competition that included non-Italian players. That is despite that the previous season they are also recognised as champions, having won the competition that year that featured only Italian players.

The number of entrants in what is now viewed as the main contest doubled from the previous year to eight.

==The two championships==

In this season, as in the previous one, two championships of ''Prima Categoria'' were played:

#''Italian Championship'', the second edition of the tournament in which only Italian players were allowed to play; the winners would be proclaimed ''Campioni Italiani'' (Italian Champions). The winner was [[Juventus FC|Juventus]]. They won as a prize the ''Coppa Buni''.
#''Federal Championship'', the first tournament where foreign players (if they lived in Italy) were also allowed to play; the winners would be proclaimed ''Campioni Federali'' (Federal Champions)<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.archiviolastampa.it/component/option,com_lastampa/task,search/action,viewer/Itemid,3/page,0005/articleid,1204_01_1908_0053_0005_17763765/anews,true/|publisher=La Stampa|title=La gran finale del Campionato Federale|page=5|date=22 February 1908|access-date=17 April 2012}}</ref> The winner was [[U.S. Pro Vercelli Calcio|Pro Vercelli]]. They won as a prize the ''Coppa Oberti''.

However, the "spurious international teams" (the clubs composed mostly of foreign players), adversing the autarchical policy of the FIF, withdrew from Italian Championship. That was to make the Federal competition the most important of the two. Further, Pro Vercelli's all Italian squad won the Federal Championship against teams that featured non-Italian players. Italian Championship winners, Juventus, were soon eliminated from the Federal Championship. This de-valued the Italian Championship into a meaningless tournament. The dissenters' strategy worked; the failure of the Italian Championship won by Juventus forced the Federation to later recognise the Federal Champions of Pro Vercelli as "Campioni d'Italia 1909", disavowing the other tournament.

==Federal Championship==
===Qualifications===
====Liguria====
:''Played on 17 January and 7 February ''
{{TwoLegStart}}
{{TwoLegResult|[[U.C. Sampdoria|Andrea Doria]] [[File:Bandiera blu e bianca con scudo di San Giorgio.svg|25px]]|| 4-4 |[[File:600px Rosso e Blu con striscia Bianco e croce Rossa su sfondo Bianco.png|25px]] [[Genoa C.F.C.|Genoa]]|| 1-1 | 3-3 |}}
|}

;Tie-break
:''Played on 21 February on neutral ground''
{{OneLegStart}}
{{OneLegResult|[[U.C. Sampdoria|Andrea Doria]] [[File:Bandiera blu e bianca con scudo di San Giorgio.svg|25px]] || 1-2 |[[File:600px Rosso e Blu con striscia Bianco e croce Rossa su sfondo Bianco.png|25px]] [[Genoa C.F.C.|Genoa]] |}}
|}

====Lombardy====
;Classification
{{#invoke:sports table|main|style=WDL
|res_col_header=Q
|winpoints=2

|team1=USM|name_USM=[[US Milanese]]
|team2=ACM|name_ACM=[[A.C. Milan|Milan]]
|team3=INT|name_INT=[[Inter Milan|Internazionale]]
|win_USM=2|draw_USM=0|loss_USM=0|gf_USM=5|ga_USM=1
|win_ACM=1|draw_ACM=0|loss_ACM=1|gf_ACM=3|ga_ACM=4
|win_INT=0|draw_INT=0|loss_INT=2|gf_INT=2|ga_INT=5

|col_Q=#99FF99|text_Q=Qualified for Semi-Finals
|result1=Q
|update=complete|source=Panini
}}

;Results
:''Played on 10, 17 and 24 January''
{{OneLegStart}}
{{OneLegResult|[[A.C. Milan|Milan]] [[File:Bianco e Rosso (Croce) e Rosso e Nero (Strisce).svg|25px]]|| 3-2 |[[File:600px Nero e Azzurro (Strisce)2.png|25px]] [[Inter Milan|Internazionale]]|}}
{{OneLegResult|[[US Milanese]] [[File:600px chequered White Black.svg|25px]]|| 3-1 |[[File:Bianco e Rosso (Croce) e Rosso e Nero (Strisce).svg|25px]] [[A.C. Milan|Milan]]|}}
{{OneLegResult|[[Inter Milan|Internazionale]] [[File:600px Nero e Azzurro (Strisce)2.png|25px]]|| 0-2 |[[File:600px chequered White Black.svg|25px]] [[US Milanese]]|}}
{{end}}

====Piedmont====

=====Round 1=====
:''Played on 10 and 17 January''
{{TwoLegStart}}
{{TwoLegResult|[[Juventus]] [[File:600px Nero e Bianco (Strisce).png|25px]]|| 3-2 |[[File:Flag - Garnet with white bull.svg|25px]] [[Torino F.C.|Torino]]|| 0-1 | 3-1 |}}
|}

Because both teams won a match (aggregate total was not applied), a tie break was needed.

;Repetition
:''Played on 24 January on [[Juventus FC|Juventus]] ground''
{{OneLegStart}}
{{OneLegResult|[[Juventus]] [[File:600px Nero e Bianco (Strisce).png|25px]]|| 0-1 |[[File:Flag - Garnet with white bull.svg|25px]] [[Torino F.C.|Torino]]|}}
|}

Torino advanced to Round 2.

=====Round 2=====
:''Played on 7 February and 14 March''
{{TwoLegStart}}
{{TwoLegResult|[[U.S. Pro Vercelli Calcio|Pro Vercelli]] [[File:600px Bianco con croce sottile Rossa.png|25px]]|| 3-1 |[[File:Flag - Garnet with white bull.svg|25px]] [[Torino F.C.|Torino]]|| 2-1 | 1-0 |}}
|}

====Veneto====
[[S.S.C. Venezia|Venezia]] was the only registered team.

===Semifinals===

===Lombardy-Veneto===
:''Played on 21 February and 28 March''
{{TwoLegStart}}
{{TwoLegResult|[[S.S.C. Venezia|Venezia]] [[File:600px Verde e Nero in diagonale.png|25px]]|| 3-18 |[[File:600px chequered White Black.svg|25px]] [[US Milanese]]|| 1-7 | 2-11 |}}
|}

===Piedmont-Liguria===
:''Played on 21 and 28 March''
{{TwoLegStart}}
{{TwoLegResult|[[U.S. Pro Vercelli Calcio|Pro Vercelli]] [[File:600px Bianco con croce sottile Rossa.png|25px]]|| 4-3 |[[File:600px Rosso e Blu con striscia Bianco e croce Rossa su sfondo Bianco.png|25px]] [[Genoa C.F.C.|Genoa]]|| 3-2 | 1-1 |}}
|}

===Final===
:''Played on 4 and 25 April''
{{TwoLegStart}}
{{TwoLegResult|[[U.S. Pro Vercelli Calcio|Pro Vercelli]] [[File:600px Bianco con croce sottile Rossa.png|25px]]|| 4-2 |[[File:600px chequered White Black.svg|25px]] [[US Milanese]]|| 2-0 | 2-2 |}}
|}

==Italian Championship==
*[[1909 Italian Championship of Football]]

==References and sources==
<references/>

*''Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004'', Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005
*Carlo Chiesa, ''La grande storia del calcio italiano'' Chapter 2: ''Juve, scippati due titoli! Inter, l'atroce beffa (1908-1910)'', pp.&nbsp;17–32, Guerin Sportivo #5, May 2012.
*Digitalized online archive of Turin newspaper ''La Stampa''.

{{Serie A}}
{{Serie A seasons}}
{{Football in Italy}}
{{1908–09 in European football (UEFA)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Italian Football Championship 1909}}
[[Category:Serie A seasons|1909]]
[[Category:1908–09 in Italian football| ]]
[[Category:1908–09 in European association football leagues]]