No, but that’s the dominant language at promotion-chasing FC Südtirol...
In a small region in north-east Italy, nearly two-thirds of the population speak German – soon, they might even be represented by a team in Serie A.
More than 500,000 people live in Südtirol, which borders Austria and Switzerland, and was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire until the First World War, when the Allies promised it to Italy as an incentive to join the conflict. After Germany and the Austro-Hungarians were defeated, Italy annexed the area in 1919. Benito Mussolini attempted to ban the German language, but the region was granted more autonomy after the Second World War, protecting German speakers’ rights.
For a long time, Südtirol didn’t make much of an impression in the football world. FC Bolzano from the region’s capital (also known as Bozen in German) had one season in Serie B in 1947-48, but largely bounced around at lower levels, ceasing to exist by 2017.
FC Südtirol were created from a 1990s buy-out of local side SV Milland, climbing to Italy’s fourth tier in 2000 under the management of future Watford boss Beppe Sannino (though, pretty much every manager on Earth was a future Watford boss back then).
The club relocated from Brixen to Bolzano, reached Serie C in 2010, welcomed the German national team to set up camp at their training base before the 2010 and 2018 World Cups, then won the third tier last season to ascend to Serie B for the first time in their history, conceding just nine goals in 38 games. Even by Italian football’s standards, that’s ludicrous.
Playing their matches at the picturesque Stadio Druso (below, they’re based in the
