1909 Italian Football Championship

The two championships

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

1. 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. They won as a prize the Coppa Buni.
2. 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) The winner was 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 * |}

;Tie-break :Played on 21 February on neutral ground |}

Lombardy

;Classification

;Results :Played on 10, 17 and 24 January

Piedmont

Round 1

:Played on 10 and 17 January |}

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

;Repetition :Played on 24 January on Juventus ground |}

Torino advanced to Round 2.

Round 2

:Played on 7 February and 14 March |}

Veneto

Venezia was the only registered team.

Semifinals

Lombardy-Veneto

:Played on 21 February and 28 March |}

Piedmont-Liguria

:Played on 21 and 28 March |}

Final

:Played on 4 and 25 April |}

Italian Championship

• 1909 Italian Championship of Football

References and sources

• 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. 17–32, Guerin Sportivo #5, May 2012.
• Digitalized online archive of Turin newspaper La Stampa.

References

1. (22 February 1908). "La gran finale del Campionato Federale". La Stampa.