NAPLES: Napoli’s champions returned home Friday after winning their first Serie A title in 33 years, greeted by hundreds of jubilant fans following a raucous night of partying in Naples.

The returning heroes who brought Napoli its third Scudetto in its history on Thursday night arrived by plane from Udine at the nearby Grazzanise Air Base, where fans wearing “Champions of Italy” T-shirts were on hand to greet them.

Waving blue-and-white flags, singing songs and honking horns, ecstatic fans went wild at the sight of the players’ white bus returning to the team’s training centre in Castel Volturno, northwest of Naples.

But the wait was in vain as the players went straight home from the airport. They are sure to receive a hero’s welcome at Sunday’s home match with Fiore­ntina, and another party is being planned in the city at the end of the championship on June 4.

Naples had been abuzz all day, still giddy with joy after nearly all-night celebrations, a party marred, however, by one death and hundreds of injuries.

Mass street partying, punctuated by fireworks, flares, horns and firecrackers, began late on Thursday after the Napoli team secured the title with a 1-1 draw away at Udinese in northeast Italy, their first since the era of Diego Maradona, who led the team to victory in 1987 and 1990.

Throughout the night, Naples’ narrow streets were filled with the sounds of cheering, cars and scooters honking their horns, their passengers waving flags and banners.

Fans had prepared for weeks to celebrate, as Napoli built up an increasingly unbeatable lead against nearest-placed rivals Lazio.

Blue flags and bunting adorned every possible surface of the city centre, as did images of Maradona and star striker Victor Osimhen, whose goal on Thursday night pushed southern Italy’s biggest club over the line.

Naples health authorities said 203 people accessed emergency services overnight, including 22 with “red-level” critical injuries and 75 with “yellow-level” serious but not life-threatening conditions.

Health service spokesperson Anna Tagliaferri said the figure was not unusually high, with any of Naples’ larger hospitals routinely handling as many as 200 emergency room cases on a “normal” day.

A 26-year-old man fromgunshot wounds but authorities linked it to score-settling within the local Cam­orra mafia. Naples Prefect Claudio Palomba told RAI public radio the incident had “nothing to do with the [football] celebrations”.

Some in Naples saw the side’s runaway title triumph with five games still to play as a sign of resurgence in Italy’s impoverished south after decades of dominance — not just in sporting terms — by the wealthier north.

“A Scudetto won by Napoli is not like a Scudetto won by any other team”, best-selling true crime author and club supporter Roberto Saviano wrote in the Corriere della Sera newspaper, hailing “a miracle”.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni joined the chorus of congratulations for the club. “Thirty-three years after the last Scudetto, Napoli are back as champions of Italy. Congratulations to the whole team, to coach Spalletti and to the entire club for all their efforts and for this well-deserved result,” Meloni wrote on Twitter.

Napoli’s victory made the front pages of all Italy’s major newspapers on Friday, while the local Il Mattino ran a bumper special edition under the headline: “Naples Sings”.

“Under the sign of King Diego” read another of its headlines, demonstrating the enduring love for the Argentine great in this city.

Maradona, who died in 2020 at age 60, led Napoli to their first two titles earning the eternal adoration of the club’s fans.

Many of those celebrating — including coach Luciano Spalletti — described how Maradona was watching over the team.

“They [the fans] have seen great coaches and great players, they’re supporters who watched Maradona play, and probably some kind of protection from him has led to this result,” coach Spalletti, who broke down in tears after his side claimed the title, told DAZN after the match.

“Seeing the Partenopei smiling and happy is the biggest emotion for me. They are the ones who transmit their happiness. There are people here who will now be able to overcome difficult moments in their lives because they remember this moment. These people deserve all the joy.”

Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis said that the title was just the beginning for the club he took from bankruptcy to the top of the Italian game.

Film mogul De Laurentiis took control of Napoli in 2004 when the club were forced to restart from the third tier and since then has made Napoli consistently one of the best teams in Italy while keeping the club’s finances in decent shape.

“This is a starting point, not an ending,” said De Laurentiis in a packed Stadio Maradona in Naples after his club secured the Scudetto. “We are going to go again with [coach Luciano] Spalletti. It’s a title that we have built towards over the years.”

Napoli started the season in turmoil as fans were in revolt against club De Laurentiis after key players including supporter favourite Kalidou Koulibaly left or were sold.

However a clutch of new arrivals, including Nigerian Osimhen and Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, made an instant impact and Napoli charged almost unopposed to a historic Scudetto which puts the current crop alongside the teams led to two titles by Maradona.

“It is an amazing feeling, we have waited so many years for this moment. To be able to deliver the Scudetto to the Neapolitans is something that we will never forget in a hurry and will continue to live in our hearts for the rest of our lives,” Osimhen said to DAZN.

“I’m happy for all Neapolitans... now we’re going to celebrate in front of our own fans and enjoy the moment for life. We were underdogs at the start of the season, not so many people believed in us. This team stuck together... we believed from the start of the season that we had a great squad that we could deliver the Scudetto. Now we have realised this dream.”

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2023