00:05Italian football has a language all of its own, from the non-verbal gesticulations to
00:13unique terminology appropriated the world over. Here's a brief lesson on speaking calcio.
00:21While fan in English can refer to any kind of enthusiast,
00:25tifosi is reserved exclusively for sports fans, especially football.
00:33The most hardcore tifosi are known as ultras. These lead the chanting, raise banners, light flares,
00:41and occasionally transgress social norms in more serious ways.
00:49The ultras congregate on a curva, the Italian name for curved stands inside a stadium. The curva is a
00:57fan base's fiercely protected territory. Scudetto means little shield and has become a synonym for
01:08winning the Serie A title. That's because since 1924, the team that wins the championship sews a shield
01:16with the colours of the Italian flag to their jersey for the following season.
01:23The Cappo Cannonieri award is given to the leading goal scorer of each season in Italy's Serie A.
01:30Milan's Gunnar Nordahl won the title of Cappo Cannonieri a record five times.
01:36The word itself has military origins and means master gunner.
01:46The Cappo Cannonieri award normally goes to an atacante or striker. But the player most
01:52responsible for providing the assists is the trequatista. Most football cultures have a name for this
01:59position. The number ten, the playmaker. But in Italy it is known as a trequatista, which refers
02:07specifically to the third quarter of the pitch. Picture Roberto Baggio or Alessandro Del Piero ghosting
02:15between the lines. Teams that don't play with a trequatista may operate instead with a deep-lying playmaker,
02:24or regista, in the mould of Andrea Pirlo.
02:32The coaching mastermind behind the positioning of players on a team is known as a mister.
02:39This is attributed to the British influence during the early years of organised Italian football.
02:47In the 1960s, a mister by the name of Helenio Herrera was in charge of Internazionale,
02:53and he perfected the art of defensive football. It became known as catenaccio,
02:59or door bolt, and focused on the team defending as a single unit.
03:07Defending has become an art form in Italy, especially for the national team, the Azzurri.
03:15Azzurri means the blues, because of the colour of the jerseys. The specific shade is Savoy Blue,
03:22named after the House of Savoy, the royal family that led the unification of Italy in 1861,
03:28and ruled the Kingdom of Italy until 1946. And the sport Italians so obsessed over is known
03:39as il calcio, based on the Italian word kick. What began as a pastime has grown into a phenomenon
03:48that dominates a devoted football nation.
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