The iconic Italian youth football tournament takes place every Carnival.

For decades, the Viareggio Cup has been one of the most prominent youth football tournaments in the world. For two weeks, this small city on the Tuscan coast – primarily known for its luxurious beaches and one of Italy's most impressive Carnival parades – has hosted scouts, managers, and journalists from around the globe.

Today, the tournament remains relevant in Italy, still considered the go-to event for discovering young football talent. Every year, the most important clubs from Tuscany, especially Fiorentina and Empoli, participate, alongside other significant teams from Italy and Europe.

In recent years, African academies have also made an impact, bringing talented young players who are discovered by European scouts and even win the tournament, as seen in the most recent edition.

Since its first edition in 1949, the tournament organizers have designed a unique poster every year. We've gathered some of the most iconic posters and discovered that, together, they tell a story about Italy, Italian football, and the evolving aesthetic trends from the 1950s to today.

The origins

The first, and probably the most beautiful. In 1948, a group of young boys in Viareggio decided to organize a football tournament to overcome the hardships of World War II and deliver a message of peace.

The inaugural, or rather embryonic, edition took place as a competition among the city's bars, with Bar Lencioni winning.

The following year, the Viareggio Cup (or Coppa Carnevale, as it was played during Carnival) was officially launched, with ten participants: Fiorentina, Lucchese, Lazio, Sampdoria, Milan, three foreign clubs (Olympique Nice, Rapid Menton, and Bellinzona), and two youth teams from Viareggio and nearby Livorno.

The first poster depicted a yellow ball, likely representing the sun, adorned with a mask symbolizing Carnival. The artist’s signature, ‘Beny’, also appeared.

1950 – Italia ‘90 before 90s

In 1950, the poster underwent a complete redesign. The cheerful, carnival-inspired ball gave way to a figure made of flags – reflecting the tournament's pacifist message – which seems to have inspired the symbol of Italia 90, designed 40 years later. This design would be used, in slightly different versions, until 1954.

1955 – A Ball Made of Flags

1955 saw the debut of one of the tournament's most enduring symbols: a leather football, the kind used at the time, with one half made up of flags. This symbol would appear in posters until 1980. During this period, Italian football was rapidly growing, and the Viareggio Cup began attracting future champions such as Boninsegna (1963, Inter), Bettega (1968, Juventus), and Serena (1979, Inter).

1981-82 – Interlude

Two distinctive posters were used during this two-year period. One featured a ball wearing an unusual hat, while the other displayed the pennants of the participating clubs. These posters marked a brief pause between two of the longest eras in Viareggio Cup poster history.

1983 – A Modern Ball

The traditional leather ball was replaced by a more modern black-and-white ball, still adorned with flags in one half. This new design appeared on a photograph of the water at Viareggio's jetty.

This style wouldn’t return until the year 2000. The next four editions featured posters where football took a backseat, replaced by full-page photos or illustrations reflecting the city’s identity: the sea and Carnival.

In these years, football still took center stage, with stars like Vialli & Mancini in 1985 and Batistuta in 1989.

1989-1997 – Good Old Leather Ball

After few years, the old symbol — the brown leather ball, half made of flags — returned for another long run. This was Italy’s Golden Age of football, and Viareggio was the starting point for many future 2006 World Cup heroes: Francesco Totti (Roma) in 1994, Gianluigi Buffon (Parma) in 1996. However, 1997 was a special year, as it featured many of the future stars of Italian football. That edition saw the participation of Andrea Pirlo (Brescia), Gennaro Gattuso (Perugia), Luca Toni, Totò Di Natale (Empoli), as well as future Manchester United defensive pillars Wes Brown and Phil Neville. The tournament was won by Gianluca Zambrotta’s Bari.

1996 – Welcome Sponsors

1996 marked the debut of sponsors in the posters, starting with SMART, followed by Parmalat (the iconic milk producer that appeared on Parma’s jerseys at the time), SNAI, Giochi Preziosi, and Bancolotto. The first technical sponsor, Diadora, appeared in 2008, coinciding with an edition won by Balotelli’s Inter, while a young Aubameyang began making waves at AC Milan.

2000-2024 – Goodbye Art

The entrance in the new century marks a new approach to the poster by the organisation. There’s less attention on the aesthetics and it’s treated more as a mere communication asset, with sponsors, partners and institutions getting more and more visibility.

The 2002 version is suitable for a clear political message, with the symbol of the Euro currency appearing on the poster. That year Inter triumphs with an outstanding attacking due made by Pandev and Martins, while Bayern Munich participates with two of his future legends, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm.

In 2009 the contemporary logo of the tournament, a V (for Viareggio) with a ball on the vertex and one of the sides made by Carnival’s confetti marks his debut, together with a young Romelu Lukaku with Anderlecht.

As future stars and modern posters have succeeded each other, the Viareggio Cup may have lost some of its international appeal over time. However, it continues to discover and launch talents year after year.

Notable players such as Insigne, Jorginho, and Immobile in 2010, Icardi in 2011, Donnarumma in 2015, Kean in 2017, De Ketelaere and Vlahovic in 2019, and many more have passed through the tournament. The Viareggio Cup will continue to be a cornerstone of Italian youth football, preserving its legacy and its role as a key event for developing future footballing stars.

Viareggio Cup Posters Tell a Story

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