# 1997–98 SSC Napoli season

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.

## Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | GK | ITA | Giuseppe Taglialatela |
| — | GK | ITA | Raffaele Di Fusco |
| — | GK | ITA | Ferdinando Coppola |
| — | DF | ARG | Roberto Ayala |
| — | DF | ITA | Francesco Baldini |
| — | DF | ITA | Luigi Malafronte |
| — | DF | ITA | Mauro Facci |
| — | DF | BEL | Bertrand Crasson |
| — | DF | ITA | Raffaele Sergio |
| — | DF | ITA | Luigi Panarelli |
| — | DF | FRA | William Prunier |
| — | DF | ITA | Guglielmo Stendardo |
| — | DF | ITA | Mirko Taccola |
| — | DF | ITA | Mirko Conte |
| — | MF | ITA | Marco Zamboni |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | ITA | Raffaele Longo |
| — | MF | ITA | Francesco Turrini |
| — | MF | ITA | Roberto Goretti |
| — | MF | ITA | Massimiliano Esposito |
| — | MF | ITA | Giuseppe Giannini |
| — | MF | ITA | Fabio Rossitto |
| — | MF | FRA | Reynald Pedros |
| — | MF | ITA | Gennaro Scarlato |
| — | MF | ITA | Massimiliano Allegri |
| — | MF | CRO | Aljoša Asanović |
| — | MF | ITA | Angelo Cimadomo |
| — | MF | ITA | Luca Altomare |
| — | FW | ITA | Claudio Bellucci |
| — | FW | ITA | Igor Protti |
| — | FW | ITA | Gennaro Scarlato |
| — | FW | YUG | Damir Stojak |
| — | FW | ITA | Salvatore Bruno |
| — | FW | ARG | José Luis Calderón |

### Transfers

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 |
| MF | Beto | Flamengo |
| FW | Nicola Caccia | Atalanta |
| MF | Alain Boghossian | Sampdoria |
| DF | Francesco Colonnese | Inter |
| DF | André Cruz | A.C. Milan |
| FW | Alfredo Aglietti | Verona |
| FW | Dino Fava Passaro | Acireale |
| MF | Fabio Pecchia | Juventus |
| DF | Mauro Milanese | Parma |
| FW | Caio | Santos |

#### Winter

In :
| Pos. | Name | from |
| FW | Damir Stojak | Vojvodina |
| MF | Reynald Pedros | Parma |
| MF | Massimiliano Allegri | Padova |
| FW | Aljoša Asanović | Derby County |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To |
| 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 |

## Competitions
### Serie A
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | Relegation to Serie B |
| 17 | Lecce (R) | 34 | 6 | 8 | 20 | 32 | 72 | −40 | 26 | Relegation to Serie B |
| 18 | Napoli (R) | 34 | 2 | 8 | 24 | 25 | 76 | −51 | 14 | Relegation to Serie B |

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | L | W | D | L | L | L | L | L | L | D | L | L | L | L | D | L | L | D | L | W | L | L | L | D | D | L | L | L | L | L | D | L | L | D |
| Position | 11 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 |

#### Matches
## Statistics
### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | 1997-98 Serie A | 1997-98 Serie A |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Giuseppe Taglialatela | 28 | -55 | 27+1 | -55 |
| 6 | DF | ARG | Roberto Ayala | 28 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Francesco Baldini | 30 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | BEL | Bertrand Crasson | 22 | 0 | 19+3 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | ITA | Luca Altomare | 24 | 2 | 16+8 | 2 |
| 8 | MF | ITA | Raffaele Longo | 29 | 0 | 24+5 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | ITA | Francesco Turrini | 27 | 5 | 26+1 | 5 |
| 18 | MF | ITA | Roberto Goretti | 26 | 1 | 25+1 | 1 |
| 4 | MF | ITA | Fabio Rossitto | 28 | 1 | 28 | 1 |
| 9 | FW | ITA | Claudio Bellucci | 27 | 10 | 27 | 10 |
| 10 | FW | ITA | Igor Protti | 27 | 4 | 24+3 | 4 |
| 12 | GK | ITA | Raffaele Di Fusco | 7 | -19 | 5+2 | -19 |
| 5 | DF | ITA | Mauro Facci | 17 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ITA | Raffaele Sergio | 12 | 0 | 11+1 | 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 | 17 | 0 | 6+11 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | ITA | Gennaro Scarlato | 19 | 0 | 6+13 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | ITA | Massimiliano Allegri | 7 | 0 | 6+1 | 0 |
| 25 | MF | FRA | Reynald Pedros | 3 | 0 | 1+2 | 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 | 9 | 0 | 8+1 | 0 |
| 27 | MF | ITA | Giuseppe Giannini | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 26 | MF | ITA | Marco Zamboni | 4 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | ARG | José Luis Calderón | 6 | 0 | 2+4 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | FRA | William Prunier | 3 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | ITA | Massimiliano Esposito | 4 | 0 | 1+3 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | ITA | Alessandro Sbrizzo | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
* Source: http://calcio-seriea.net/allenatori_squadra/1997/1135/