S.S.C. Napoli crashed out of Serie A following a disastrous season. It only clinched 14 points out of 34 matches, despite having the services of several experienced Serie A players. Napoli went through four coaches over the course of the season, and hardly took a point in the second half of the season. Given the disastrous form of the team, Claudio Bellucci's ten goals were impressive, while thought top scorer Igor Protti was one of the largest disappointments of the entire series. The lack of defensive skills cost Napoli many points, and more than two goals were conceded on average. This was despite Roberto Ayala's brilliance, which earned him a transfer to Milan.
Only eight years following Napoli's second title, the club seemed to be in terminal decline, with hard work being needed to return to the top domestic league. Given that the club had not been relegated since a bankruptcy in 1964, the relegation was a shock, by the extremely poor season.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
| In | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Igor Protti | Lazio | loan |
| MF | Fabio Rossitto | Udinese | |
| DF | Raffaele Sergio | Udinese | |
| FW | Claudio Bellucci | Venezia | |
| FW | José Luis Calderón | Independiente | |
| DF | Mirko Conte | Piacenza | |
| MF | Giuseppe Giannini | Sturm Graz | |
| DF | William Prunier | Manchester United | |
| DF | Mauro Facci | Salernitana | |
| Out | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| MF | Fabio Pecchia | Juventus | |
| MF | Alain Boghossian | Sampdoria | |
| DF | André Cruz | A.C. Milan | |
| DF | Francesco Colonnese | AS Roma | loan ended |
| DF | Mauro Milanese | Parma | |
| MF | Beto | Flamengo | |
| FW | Caio | Inter | loan ended |
| FW | Nicola Caccia | Atalanta | |
| FW | Alfredo Aglietti | Verona | |
| FW | Dino Fava Passaro | Acireale | |
| In | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Damir Stojak | Vojvodina | |
| MF | Reynald Pedros | Parma | |
| MF | Massimiliano Allegri | Padova | |
| FW | Aljoša Asanović | Derby County | |
| Out | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| FW | José Luis Calderón | Independiente | |
| DF | Mirko Conte | Vicenza | |
| DF | Mirko Taccola | Lucchese | |
| DF | Alessandro Sbrizzo | Padova | |
| DF | William Prunier | Hearts | |
| MF | Massimiliano Esposito | Hellas Verona | |
| DF | Marco Zamboni | Chievo | |
| MF | Giuseppe Giannini | Lecce | |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Vicenza | 34 | 9 | 9 | 16 | 36 | 61 | −25 | 36 | |
| 15 | Brescia (R) | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 45 | 63 | −18 | 35 | Relegation to Serie B |
| 16 | Atalanta (R) | 34 | 7 | 11 | 16 | 25 | 48 | −23 | 32 | |
| 17 | Lecce (R) | 34 | 6 | 8 | 20 | 32 | 72 | −40 | 26 | |
| 18 | Napoli (R) | 34 | 2 | 8 | 24 | 25 | 76 | −51 | 14 |
| 14 September 1997 2 | Napoli | 2–1 | Empoli | Napoli |
Bellucci  33' Protti 48' |
C. Esposito 77' |
Stadium: San Paolo |
| 05 October 1997 5 | Roma | 6–2 | Napoli | Roma |
| Candela 16' Gautieri 34' Balbo 51, 60, 89' Di Francesco 53' |
Altomare 71' Bellucci 87' (pen.) |
Stadium: Olimpico |
| 18 October 1997 6 | Napoli | 0–2 | Internazionale | Napoli |
| Galante 10' Turrini 69' (o.g.) |
Stadium: San Paolo |
| 02 November 1997 7 | Bologna | 5–1 | Napoli | Bologna |
| R. Baggio 48' (pen.) 90' 90 + 5' (pen.) K. Andersson 55, 90 + 3' |
Goretti 14' |
Stadium: Renato Dall'Ara |
| 09 November 1997 8 | Napoli | 1–2 | Juventus | Napoli |
| Bellucci 55' |
Zidane 38' Fonseca 88' |
Stadium: San Paolo |
| 14 December 1997 12 | Napoli | 0–4 | Parma | Napoli |
| Blomqvist 18' D. Baggio 53' Crespo 65, 73' |
Stadium: San Paolo |
| 21 December 1997 13 | Sampdoria | 6–3 | Napoli | Genova |
| Boghossian 35' Montella 42' (pen.) 61' 90' (pen.) Klinsmann 73' Laigle 76' |
Bellucci 15' Protti 70' Rossitto 78' |
Stadium: Luigi Ferraris |
| 18 January 1998 16 | Napoli | 0–3 | Brescia | Napoli |
| Pirlo 13' Koźmiński 53' Diana 90 + 3' |
Stadium: San Paolo |
| 08 February 1998 19 | Empoli | 5–0 | Napoli | Empoli |
| C. Esposito 24' Cappellini 37' Pane 50' Florijančič 70, 75' |
| 28 February 1998 23 | Internazionale | 2–0 | Napoli | Milano |
| Zamorano 63' Ronaldo 73' (pen.) |
Stadium: Giuseppe Meazza |
| 14 March 1998 25 | Juventus | 2–2 | Napoli | Torino |
| Del Piero 46' Zalayeta 75' |
Turrini 69' Protti 90 + 2' |
Stadium: delle Alpi |
| 22 March 1998 26 | Napoli | 2–4 | Lecce | Napoli |
| Protti 35' (pen.) Altomare 73' |
Casale 2' Palmieri 29' Ayala 75' (o.g.) Atelkin 90 + 3' |
Stadium: San Paolo |
| 29 March 1998 27 | Fiorentina | 4–0 | Napoli | Firenze |
| Batistuta 40, 67' Robbiati 80' Edmundo 86' |
Stadium: Artemio Franchi |
| 05 April 1998 28 | Napoli | 1–2 | Piacenza | Napoli |
| Bellucci 51' |
Scienza 34' Dionigi 84' (pen.) |
Stadium: San Paolo |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||||||||
| 1 | GK |  ITA
|
Giuseppe Taglialatela | 31 | -63 | 27+1 | -55 | 3 | -8 | ||||
| 6 | DF |  ARG
|
Roberto Ayala | 30 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||||
| 15 | DF | ITA
|
Francesco Baldini | 33 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||||
| 22 | DF |  BEL
|
Bertrand Crasson | 24 | 0 | 19+3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||||
| 14 | MF | ITA
|
Luca Altomare | 26 | 2 | 16+8 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||||
| 8 | MF | ITA
|
Raffaele Longo | 33 | 0 | 24+5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||||
| 7 | MF | ITA
|
Francesco Turrini | 30 | 5 | 26+1 | 5 | 3 | 0 | ||||
| 18 | MF | ITA
|
Roberto Goretti | 30 | 1 | 25+1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | ||||
| 4 | MF | ITA
|
Fabio Rossitto | 32 | 2 | 28 | 1 | 4 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | FW | ITA
|
Claudio Bellucci | 31 | 13 | 27 | 10 | 4 | 3 | ||||
| 10 | FW | ITA
|
Igor Protti | 31 | 6 | 24+3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | ||||
| 12 | GK | ITA
|
Raffaele Di Fusco | 8 | -19 | 5+2 | -19 | 1 | 0 | ||||
| 5 | DF | ITA
|
Mauro Facci | 20 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||||
| 3 | DF | ITA
|
Raffaele Sergio | 15 | 0 | 11+1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||||
| 16 | DF | ITA
|
Luigi Malafronte | 10 | 0 | 9+1 | 0 | ||||||
| 30 | MF |  CRO
|
Aljoša Asanović | 15 | 0 | 8+7 | 0 | ||||||
| 31 | FW |  YUG
|
Damir Stojak | 13 | 2 | 8+5 | 2 | ||||||
| 13 | DF | ITA
|
Luigi Panarelli | 18 | 0 | 6+11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||
| 19 | MF | ITA
|
Gennaro Scarlato | 21 | 0 | 6+13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||||
| 28 | MF | ITA
|
Massimiliano Allegri | 7 | 0 | 6+1 | 0 | ||||||
| 25 | MF |  FRA
|
Reynald Pedros | 4 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||
| 23 | GK | ITA
|
Ferdinando Coppola | 1 | -2 | 1 | -2 | ||||||
| 29 | FW | ITA
|
Salvatore Bruno | 3 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | ||||||
| 17 | MF | ITA
|
Angelo Cimadomo | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | ||||||
| 33 | DF | ITA
|
Guglielmo Stendardo | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | ||||||
| 32 | DF | ITA
|
Emanuele Troise | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Players transferred out during the season | |||||||||||||
| 24 | DF | ITA
|
Mirko Conte | 10 | 0 | 8+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||
| 27 | MF | ITA
|
Giuseppe Giannini | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 26 | MF | ITA
|
Marco Zamboni | 5 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||
| 11 | FW | ARG
|
José Luis Calderón | 7 | 0 | 2+4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||
| 2 | DF | FRA
|
William Prunier | 4 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||
| 20 | MF | ITA
|
Massimiliano Esposito | 6 | 0 | 1+3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||||
| 21 | DF | ITA
|
Alessandro Sbrizzo | 5 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||||
general
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