1944 Campionato Alta Italia

The 1944 Divisione Nazionale,^[1][2] better known as Campionato Alta Italia was a football championship organized by the Italian Social Republic and disputed in Northern and Central Italy in 1944 among Serie A and Serie B teams plus others.

The tournament was won by Spezia, and officially recognized as an "honorary" title by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) only in 2002, following a long dispute. Following the decision of FIGC in 2002, Spezia is authorized by the Italian Federation to exhibit a tricolour badge on the official jerseys which is unique, being the only example of a permanent one in Italy. The badge has a different shape and size compared to the ordinary Scudetto.^[3]

Background

Following the American liberation of Tunisia and later Sicily in 1943, Italy suffered heavy bombings by the Allied Powers. The consequent multiple damages on railways and streets imposed to the FIGC to plan a special mixed championship for the 1943–44 season, with three different regional groups to reduce the teams movements.^[4] However, at the eve of his dismissal, Benito Mussolini suspended all sport activities.^[5]

After Italy defeat in World War II, with the country divided by the "Gothic Line", the Italian Football Federation split in two: while the official FIGC remained in the south, under the rule by the Kingdom of Italy, the northern FIGC, ruled by the Italian Social Republic, moved its headquarters to Milan and organized a "campionato di divisione nazionale misto" (mixed national division championship). The so-called Campionato Alta Italia (High Italy Championship) was the only Italian championship organized on a more than regional basis: in Central and Southern Italy many regional championship were held. Originally, the Roman Championship won by Lazio was part of the Alta Italia qualifications, but the Liberation of Rome changed the plan.^[1][2]

The Spezia players had to obtain the status of Firefighters from the La Spezia local command in order to be able to play football games traveling to other cities, as freedom of movement was restricted during war time in Italy. Similarly, Torino Calcio players were allowed to move freely and play football carrying FIAT documents. In 1944 the Grande Torino, similarly to Spezia as VVFF, participated with the denomination Torino FIAT.

In the northern FIGC's original plans, the winning team in the tournament would have been recognized as Champion of Italy; however; after the end of the championship, a statement from the northern Federation, following political pressure, announced that Spezia wouldn't be awarded the "Scudetto" title.^[6] Only in 2002 the Spezia title was officially recognised by FIGC as a decoration.^[3]

Following the decision of FIGC in 2002, Spezia Calcio is authorized by the Italian Federation to exhibit a tricolour badge on the official jerseys which is unique, being the only example of a permanent one in Italy. The badge has a different shape and size compared to the ordinary Scudetto.

Qualifications

Piedmont and Liguria

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Torino FIAT	18	16	2	0	78	19	+59	34	Qualified
2	Juventus Cisitalia	18	12	3	3	44	25	+19	27
3	Biellese	18	12	0	6	44	32	+12	24
4	Liguria	18	10	3	5	40	25	+15	23
5	Genova 1893	18	9	2	7	34	31	+3	20
6	Novara	18	8	1	9	28	33	−5	17
7	Asti	18	5	3	10	21	36	−15	13
8	Casale	18	4	2	12	20	37	−17	10
8	Alessandria	18	4	2	12	13	46	−33	10
10	Cuneo	18	1	0	17	8	46	−38	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Results

Home \ Away	ALE	AST	BIE	CSL	CUN	GEN	JUV	LIG	NOV	TOR
Alessandria		1–3	0–4	1–0	2–0	0–2	2–2	0–0	1–0	0–4
Asti	0–1		2–3	0–1	3–2	1–3	0–2	0–0	4–2	0–4
Biellese	5–1	3–0		4–3	2–0	3–1	1–2	5–4	3–2	1–2
Casale	2–0	0–2	0–2		2–0	0–2	0–2	2–4	2–2	1–4
Cuneo	3–2	0–2	0–2	0–2		0–3	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–3
Genova 1893	3–0	1–1	1–2	2–0	3–2		2–0	1–3	2–1	4–4
Juventus Cisitalia	4–0	2–2	3–2	5–1	6–1	3–1		4–3	2–0	0–0
Liguria	4–1	4–0	2–0	0–0	2–0	2–1	4–3		1–0	1–2
Novara	3–1	1–0	2–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	1–2	3–2		1–3
Torino FIAT	7–0	6–1	7–1	5–4	4–0	7–1	5–0	3–2	8–2

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Lombardy

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ambrosiana-Inter	14	10	1	3	30	13	+17	21	Qualified
2	Varese	14	6	4	4	26	20	+6	16	Tie-breaker
3	Brescia	14	7	2	5	24	20	+4	16
4	Fanfulla	14	5	5	4	17	17	0	15
5	Milano	14	5	3	6	18	16	+2	13
5	Pro Patria	14	4	5	5	12	14	−2	13
7	Cremonese	14	3	4	7	13	24	−11	10
8	Atalanta	14	3	2	9	12	28	−16	8

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Results

Home \ Away	AMB	ATA	BRE	CRE	FAN	MIL	PPA	VAR
Ambrosiana-Inter		2–1	8–2	3–1	3–1	0–2	2–0	3–0
Atalanta	1–2		3–2	2–0	0–0	0–2	1–0	1–4
Brescia	0–1	1–0		0–0	4–1	1–0	1–1	4–1
Cremonese	1–2	2–1	0–4		1–1	0–0	3–0	1–1
Fanfulla	2–1	3–1	0–1	1–0		3–1	1–0	1–1
Milano	1–3	6–0	3–2	0–2	1–0		1–1	0–0
Pro Patria	0–0	1–1	2–1	2–0	0–0	2–0		3–1
Varese	1–0	3–0	0–1	7–2	3–3	2–1	2–0

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Tie-breaker

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Brescia	0-1(aet)	Varese

Varese advanced to the semifinals

Veneto

Group A

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Venezia	12	10	0	2	43	12	+31	20	Qualified
2	Treviso	12	8	1	3	36	11	+25	16[a]
2	Padova	12	8	0	4	27	18	+9	16
4	Bassano	12	6	0	6	22	31	−9	12
5	Mestre	12	1	5	6	10	21	−11	7
6	Legnago	12	2	2	8	19	35	−16	6
6	Rovigo	12	2	2	8	9	38	−29	6

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. 1 point deducted?

Results

Home \ Away	BAS	LGN	MST	PAD	ROV	TRV	VEN
Bassano		4–1	1–0	0–3	5–2	0–7	0–1
Legnago	1–4		1–1	3–1	6–0	1–4	0–3
Mestre	0–2	2–2		0–2	0–0	1–1	1–2
Padova	7–2	7–1	2–1		1–0	1–3	2–0
Rovigo	0–1	3–2	1–1	0–1		2–0	1–3
Treviso	2–1	2–0	5–0	3–0	7–0		1–3
Venezia	7–2	4–1	2–3	5–0	11–0	2–1

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Vicenza	10	8	1	1	32	7	+25	17	Qualified
2	Verona	10	5	3	2	18	15	+3	13
3	Lanerossi Schio	10	5	2	3	16	16	0	12
4	DAM Valdagno	10	5	1	4	15	15	0	10[a]
5	Monti Padova	10	1	1	8	12	31	−19	3
6	Sambonifacese	10	1	2	7	16	25	−9	2[b]
7	Audace San Michele	2	0	0	2	1	7	−6	0	Withdrew[c]
7	Pellizzari Arzignano	2	0	0	2	1	8	−7	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. 1 point deducted.^[7]
2. 2 points deducted.^[7]
3. Audace San Michele and Pellizzari Arzignano withdrew during the championship. All their matches were invalidated.

Results

Home \ Away	ASM	DAM	LAN	MON	PEL	SMB	HEL	VIC
Audace San Michele
DAM Valdagno			2–0	1–0		–[a]	0–0	1–2
Lanerossi Schio		3–1		1–0		2–0[b]	4–0	1–1
Monti Padova		2–3	1–1			4–1	1–2	1–5
Pellizzari Arzignano
Sambonifacese		1–3	2–3	10–1			0–0	0–2[b]
Hellas Verona	2-0[c]	2–0[b]	5–0	4–2	6-0[c]	2–2		3–1
Vicenza	5-1[c]	5–0	4–1	3–0	2-1[c]	4–0	2–0[b]

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. The match DAM Valdagno-Sambonifacese wasn't disputed. FIGC decided that both the teams had lost the match and had 1 and 2 points deducted respectively.
2. Forfeit
3. Audace San Michele and Pellizzari Arzignano withdrew during the championship. All their matches were voided.

Final round

Treviso and Vicenza withdrew before the start of the round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Venezia	7-3	Verona	5-1	2-2

Both Venezia and Verona were admitted to the semifinals.

Venezia Giulia

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ampelea Isola d'Istria	14	10	2	2	35	17	+18	22	Qualified
2	Triestina	14	8	3	3	28	11	+17	19
3	Pro Gorizia	14	6	4	4	21	21	0	16
4	Monfalcone	14	6	2	6	19	22	−3	14
5	San Giusto	14	4	5	5	14	14	0	13
5	Udinese	14	5	3	6	17	25	−8	13
7	Cormonese	14	4	0	10	16	28	−12	8
8	Ponziana	14	3	1	10	13	25	−12	7

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Results

Home \ Away	AMP	COR	MFA	PON	PGO	SGI	TRI	UDI
Ampelea Isola d'Istria		4–2	3–0	5–2	4–1	1–1	2–0	6–2
Cormonese	1–4		2–1	1–0	0–1	3–1	0–4	0–2
Monfalcone	1–2	1–0		2–1	1–1	4–1	2–1	1–0
Ponziana	0–1	0–4	1–0		1–3	2–0	1–1	1–0
Pro Gorizia	3–1	2–1	1–1	3–2		1–1	0–3	3–1
San Giusto	0–1	2–0	1–2	1–0	2–0		0–0	4–0
Triestina	3–0	3–1	4–0	3–2	2–1	0–0		3–0
Udinese	1–1	3–1	4–3	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–1

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Emilia

Group A

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bologna	6	5	0	1	22	8	+14	10	Qualified
2	Cesena	6	4	0	2	12	5	+7	8
3	Panigale	6	3	0	3	9	12	−3	6
4	San Pietro in Casale	6	0	0	6	3	21	−18	−2[a]

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. 2 points deducted

Results

Home \ Away	BOL	CES	PAN	SPC
Bologna		2–0	4–0	2–1
Cesena	5–0		2–0	2–0
Panigale	1–3	3–2		3–1
San Pietro in Casale	1–11	0–1	0–2

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group B

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Faenza	8	4	3	1	18	7	+11	11	Qualified
1	Forlimpopoli	8	5	1	2	17	11	+6	11
3	Ravenna	8	4	1	3	17	7	+10	9
4	Imola	8	4	0	4	14	17	−3	8
5	Forlì	8	0	1	7	3	27	−24	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Results

Home \ Away	FAE	FOR	FRL	IML	RAV
Faenza		1–1	4–1	5–0	1–1
Forlì	1–2		1–5	0–1	0–3
Forlimpopoli	2–2	3–0		3–2	2–1
Imola	0–3	7–0	1–0		2–1
Ravenna	1–0	5–0	0–1	5–1

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group C

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Modena	8	6	2	0	17	6	+11	14	Qualified[a]
2	Carpi	8	4	3	1	19	6	+13	11
2	Reggiana	8	5	1	2	13	9	+4	11
4	Mantova	8	1	1	6	11	28	−17	3
5	Centese	8	0	1	7	11	22	−11	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. Carpi qualified on goal difference.

Results

Home \ Away	CRP	CEN	MAN	MOD	REA
Carpi		2–1	6–1	0–0	1–1
Centese	1–5		2–2	1–2	0–1
Mantova	0–4	3–1		1–3	1–2
Modena	1–1	4–3	5–0		1–0
Reggiana	1–0	3–2	5–3	0–1

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group D

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	VV.FF. Spezia	8	5	3	0	14	6	+8	13	Qualified
2	Corradini Suzzara	8	5	1	2	15	8	+7	11
3	Fidentina	8	2	4	2	20	20	0	8
4	Parma	8	2	3	3	8	12	−4	7
5	Orlandi Busseto	8	0	1	7	7	18	−11	0[a]

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. 1 point deducted

Results

Home \ Away	COR	FID	ORL	PAR	VFS
Corradini Suzzara		6–0	2–0	2–1	0–2
Fidentina	2–3		2–1	7–1	1–1
Orlandi Busseto	1–2	3–3		0–1	1–2
Parma	0–0	1–1	4–1		0–0
VV.FF. Spezia	2–0	4–4	2–0	1–0

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Tuscany

Standings

The qualified team, Lucchese, was excluded from the championship following the allied invasion of Tuscany.

Lazio

Standings

Lazio was excluded from the championship following the liberation of Rome. The organisation of the regional tournament, from then on known as Campionato romano di guerra 1943-1944, was taken over by the Kingdom of Italy.

Semifinals

Group A (Piedmont and Lombardy)

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Torino FIAT	6	3	2	1	21	12	+9	8	Qualified
2	Juventus Cisitalia	6	3	1	2	15	9	+6	7
3	Ambrosiana-Inter	6	2	2	2	12	13	−1	6
4	Varese	6	1	1	4	6	20	−14	3

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Results

Home \ Away	AMB	JUV	TOR	VAR
Ambrosiana-Inter		2–1	3–3	3–0
Juventus Cisitalia	1–0		3–1	6–1
Torino FIAT	6–2	3–3		2–1
Varese	2–2	2–1	0–6

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group B (Veneto and Venezia Giulia)

Verona withdrew before the start of the semifinals.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Venezia	4	2	2	0	3	0	+3	6	Qualified
2	Ampelea Isola d'Istria	3	1	0	2	2	4	−2	2[a]
2	Triestina	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2[a]

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. Ampelea Isola d'Istria and Triestina renounced to play the last match: Venezia was already qualified and there were public security problems due to the war and the rivalry between the two teams' fans.

Results

Home \ Away	AMP	TRI	VEN
Ampelea Isola d'Istria		–[a]	0–1
Triestina	1–2		0–0
Venezia	2–0[b]	0–0

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Ampelea Isola d'Istria and Triestina renounced to play the last match: Venezia was already qualified and there were public security problems due to the war and the rivalry between the two teams' fans.
2. Decided by the FIGC.

Group C (Emilia)

Round 1

Group A

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bologna	6	4	1	1	11	5	+6	9	Qualified
2	Cesena	6	4	0	2	13	6	+7	8
3	Forlimpopoli	6	2	2	2	10	11	−1	6
4	Faenza	6	0	1	5	5	17	−12	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Results

Home \ Away	BOL	CES	FAE	FRL
Bologna		2–0	3–1	3–1
Cesena	2–0		5–1	2–0
Faenza	0–2	0–2		0–2
Forlimpopoli	1–1	3–2	3–3

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group B

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	VV.FF. Spezia	6	5	0	1	14	4	+10	10	Qualified
2	Corradini Suzzara	6	2	1	3	7	10	−3	4[a]
2	Carpi	6	2	1	3	5	7	−2	4[a]
4	Modena	6	2	0	4	3	8	−5	3[a]

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. 1 point deducted

Results

Home \ Away	CRP	COR	MOD	VFS
Carpi		1–1	0–1	2–1
Corradini Suzzara	2–0[a]		2–0	2–5
Modena	0–2	2–0[a]		0–2
VV.FF. Spezia	2–0	2–0	2–0[a]

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Decided by the FIGC.

Round 2

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Bologna	0-4	VV.FF. Spezia	0-2[8]	0-2[9]

VV.FF. Spezia didn't play the semifinals, due to the retirement of Lucchese (the semifinalist of Tuscany), and they were directly admitted to the final.

Final round

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Result
1	VV.FF. Spezia	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	3	Champions
2	Torino FIAT	2	1	0	1	6	4	+2	2
3	Venezia	2	0	1	1	3	6	−3	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Results

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Venezia	1-1	VV.FF. Spezia
VV.FF. Spezia	2-1	Torino FIAT
Torino FIAT	5-2	Venezia

References and sources

• Fabrizio Calzia and Paolo Rabajoli, Lo Scudetto per sempre – I Vigili del fuoco della Spezia Campioni d’Italia 1944, Sagep e Il Secolo XIX