Napoli President Wants to Add Horsepower to Club’s Shirts

The president of Italian Serie A club SSC Napoli wants to add some horsepower to the club’s shirts going forward.

According to Il Napolista, while speaking at a book launch event last week, Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis spoke about the history of the club and a desire to recapture some of their past glory by adding a horse to the club’s shirts:

“I have said many times to my parents: Let’s recover the horse which is also the symbol of Ferrari and Porsche. If we want to fly high, we must insert a prancing horse on the new Napoli shirt, as a symbol, together with the famous circled N.”
— Aurelio De Laurentiis, as quoted by Il Napolista (translated to English by Google)

Napoli’s crest featured a prancing horse during the 1926-27 season, just after two rival clubs — Naples FBC and Internazionale Napoli — merged under financial pressure. The merger was overseen by president Giorgio Ascarelli.

The new club, Associazione Calcio Napoli, only garnered a single point over 18 games in that 1926-27 season, and the crest was changed in 1927 to wipe the slate clean.

Napoli’s 1926-27 crest, after the merger of Naples FBC and Internazionale Napoli. (Graphic courtesy 1000Logos.net)

Historical crests of SSC Napoli. (Graphic courtesy 1000Logos.net)

A prancing horse, known as Il Corsiero del Sole, has been a symbol of the Metropolitan City of Naples — an Italian province consisting of 92 municipalities, with Naples as its capital — since medieval times. It has been used by other sports teams in the city, including Napoli Basket, which plays in Italy’s top basketball league.

*Coat of arms of the Metropolitan City of Naples. (Graphic courtesy **Wikipedia**)*

The current Napoli badge depicts an N inside a light blue circle, bordered by a darker blue circle. It is similar to the crest Internazionale Napoli wore before the 1926 merger. The shade of light blue used is inspired by the waters of the Gulf of Naples.

While De Laurentiis stated his intentions last week, it’s unclear if or when any change to SSC Napoli’s crest or shirts would take effect.

Feature graphics courtesy Wikipedia and 1000Logos.net