Juventus FC

Juventus Football Club. Juve. La Vecchia Signora—the Old Lady. A name that carries weight across Italy and far beyond. So let’s get the badge in for one of the most famous teams on Earth.

Founded in 1897 by a group of students on a bench along Corso Re Umberto in Turin, Juventus began as a modest schoolboy team but grew into a club that would come to represent an entire city—and much of a nation.

Turin, before becoming home to Juve, has had a long history y- beginning life as a Roman army camp 2000 years ago, housing the powerful House of Savoy which for centuries dominated Italian politics was central to the unification of Italy in the 1880s. Turn was even the capital of Italy from 1861 to 1865.

Modern Turin, Juventus’s home, was at the heart of Italy’s industrial boom in the early 20th century. Known as “the Detroit of Italy”, it became the centre of car manufacturing, mechanical engineering, and steelworks. At the heart of that transformation stood FIAT (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino), founded in 1899 by Giovanni Agnelli—whose family would go on to own Juventus and tie the club’s fate to the economic development of the city.

As FIAT expanded, drawing workers from southern and rural Italy to fill factory floors, the city itself changed. Turin became a magnet for migrants and a hotbed for industrial labour movements. Juventus, initially a club of middle-class students, became a bridge between old and new Turin—its appeal stretching from the classroom to the assembly line.

It’s no surprise that Juve’s early growth mirrored that of the city’s factories. FIAT eventually became Juventus’s financial backbone, giving the club access to resources that many rivals lacked. As Turin became the country’s economic engine, Juventus positioned itself as its footballing counterpart.

In the early 1900s, Juventus, who were previously playing in pink, wanted to change their kit colors. Tom Savage, a Nottingham-born player for Juventus, arranged for a set of black and white striped shirts to be sent from Notts County to Juventus. Juventus adopted these colors and have worn them ever since.

The Juventus badge has gone through many changes—each one capturing something about the era it represented. Early versions featured the bull of Turin, a reference to the city’s coat of arms. The mural crown that sometimes appeared above the crest was a symbol of the city’s status. In 1958, Juventus became the first Italian club to add a gold star above the badge, celebrating their tenth Serie A title—a tradition now common around the world.

In 2017 the traditional shield was replaced with a minimalist black and white “J”—a modernist symbol aimed at reflecting the club’s brand in a digital, globalised age. It was a controversial move. For traditionalists, it removed the team from the city’s proud heritage. For others, it was a sign of confidence—a club ready to lead again, not just on the pitch, but in how football presents itself to the world.

And lead they have. Juventus have won over 30 Serie A titles, more than any other Italian club, along with two European Cups and dozens of domestic trophies. From Giampiero Boniperti to Alessandro Del Piero, Zinedine Zidane, and Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus has been home to some of the game’s most iconic names.

But it has also retained a strong connection to its city, particularly through its supporters— the working people of Turin who filled the old Stadio Comunale, and now gather in the state-of-the-art Allianz Stadium.

It is a club shaped by factories and family, by migration and modernity, by a belief in progress tempered by a respect for tradition.