11 March 1900 - The New Kids On The Piazza

On 11 March 1900, Juventus played their first competitive match, losing 0-1 to Torinese. It was one of only four matches for them that season.

Founded in November 1897, at approximately the same time the first Italian league contests began, Juventus were not admitted to the league until three years later. At the time, the league, known as the Italian Football Championship, was divided into regional groups, with the group winners advancing to a series of playoffs.

Only six teams participated in the 1900 edition, with Juventus joined in the Piedmont group with FBC Torinese and Ginnastica Torino (both unrelated to the current Torino FC). The other groups were Liguria, which included Genoa and Sampierdarenese, and Lombardy, which had only one team, Milan.

Torinese had already beaten Ginnastica Torino before meeting Juventus at the Piazza d'Armi. Still wearing their original pink and black kits, Juventus fell by a single goal. They went on to beat Ginnastica twice, both times by the score of 2-0, before losing again to Torinese 2-1.

They eventually won the first of twenty-seven titles in 1905 after changing to their current black-and-white striped shirts, while Torinese were disbanded in 1906.

[Retro shirt company Toff's sells a replica of the 1900 shirt, which can be found here.]