Retro Bologna Shirt – Seven Scudetti and a Coin Flip

Bologna's football history begins in 1909, when a group of enthusiastic locals – many of them students from the famous University of Bologna, the oldest continuously operating university in the world – founded the club. From the very start, Bologna punched above their weight, and within two decades they had become one of the dominant forces in Italian football.

The 1920s and 1930s were a golden era. Bologna won the Serie A title six times between 1925 and 1941, building a dynasty under the guidance of legendary Hungarian coach Árpád Weisz and later Hungarian-born trainer Giuseppe Valdiserri. Their 1937 squad was so formidable that it earned the nickname 'Lo squadrone che tremare il mondo fa' – 'the team that makes the world tremble' – after a celebrated pre-war tour of Europe. It was a genuine powerhouse club, feared across the continent.

The seventh and most dramatic Scudetto came in 1964, and it remains one of Italian football's most extraordinary moments. Bologna and Grande Inter – Helenio Herrera's near-invincible side – finished the season level on points. There were no goal-difference tiebreakers in those days. The title was decided by a coin flip at a hotel in Rome. Bologna called correctly and were champions. The sheer absurdity and romance of that moment has never faded.

Bologna also claimed continental glory in 1961, winning the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup – a forerunner of the UEFA Cup – defeating Birmingham City in the final. It remains the club's only European trophy, but it demonstrated their quality on the wider stage.

The decades since have been harder. Bologna have experienced relegations and lengthy spells in the shadows of the Italian game, but the Emiliani spirit of resilience has always brought them back. The most recent chapter is one of genuine excitement: under the brilliant young coach Thiago Motta, Bologna qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history in 2024, completing a remarkable modern resurrection and reminding European football that I Rossoblu are still very much alive.

Bologna have been home to some genuinely magnificent footballers across their history, and the club's roll of honour reads like a who's who of Italian football's grandest names.

Angelo Schiavio was perhaps the first true icon. A prolific centre-forward who starred in that great 1930s side, Schiavio also scored the winning goal for Italy in the 1934 World Cup final – making him a national hero as well as a Bologna legend. His goals fuelled the club's pre-war dominance.

Giacomo Bulgarelli defined the post-war era at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara. A commanding, intelligent midfielder who embodied the club's values of technical quality and hard work, Bulgarelli was the heartbeat of the 1964 title-winning side and remains among the most beloved figures in the club's history.

Helmut Haller, the silky West German playmaker, brought international glamour to Bologna in the 1960s and was a key figure in that Scudetto triumph. His elegance on the ball drew admirers from across Europe.

Giuseppe Savoldi – nicknamed 'Beppe Savoldi' – was a powerhouse striker of the 1970s who became one of the most expensive transfers in Italian football history at the time when Napoli paid a then-record fee for him.

More recently, Roberto Baggio – though most associated with Juventus, Milan, and the Italian national team – had a brief but storied association with Bologna that delighted the city's passionate fans. And in the modern era, players like Riccardo Orsolini and the emerging talents of Thiago Motta's exciting 2023-24 squad have written new chapters in the Bologna story.

The Bologna shirt has always been defined by its bold red and blue vertical stripes, one of the most distinctive and recognisable designs in Italian football. There is an almost timeless quality to the kit – it has never needed gimmicks or radical reinvention because the core identity is simply that strong.

The shirts of the 1960s and 1970s are particularly cherished by collectors. Clean, simple, with no sponsor branding, these garments have the purity that defined the golden age of European football kits. The 1964 Scudetto-era shirts in particular are the holy grail for Bologna collectors – deeply historic and extraordinarily rare in any kind of match-worn condition.

The 1980s brought sponsors and the synthetic fabrics typical of that era, with Stefanel appearing as one of the key shirt partners. These kits have a wonderful retro charm that captures the aesthetic of Italian football at its most stylish and chaotic.

Into the 1990s and 2000s, Bologna kits evolved with the times – bolder collar designs, more adventurous detailing on the stripes, and memorable away kits in white or blue. The Serie A return kits of various promotions are highly collectible, carrying that sense of renewed hope that defines a club coming back to where it belongs.

With 84 retro Bologna shirts available in our shop, you can find everything from the austere elegance of the 1960s originals to the vivid nostalgia of the 1990s designs.