Avellino, like plenty of centrally-located towns situated down Italy’s earthquake-prone spine, has suffered more than its fair share of devastation. And for local football fans, top-tier success has been limited to that one memorable stint during the 1970s and 80s, wedged between years of relegation-threatened campaigns.

In 2025, however, spirits have been lifted in the southern city that 55,000 Campani call home. With five rounds to go, and with a +34 goal difference, U.S. Avellino won promotion back to Serie B for the first time in seven years.

But while fireworks and cheer infect the modest town once called home by the descendants of fictional mob boss Tony Soprano, sadness swept over Vatican City following the death of Pope Francis.

“So what?,” one may ask. What do joyous celebrations in Avellino have to do with mourning and misery at St Peter’s Basilica? Well, sleuths and mystery lovers shouldn’t stop reading just yet.

There might just be some kind of sinister calcio voodoo going on.

As reported by Il Mattino, the fate of the papacy and the ascent of U.S. Avellino have been weirdly intertwined for nearly 70 years. And indeed, there is a good deal of evidence to show that something bad – mostly death – happens to a Pope whenever the Lupi win promotion.

The Timeline

It all began in 1958 as Serie D got underway and Pope Pius XII died in October. Avellino win promotion to Serie C as John XXIII is elected to the papal throne. Known as ‘the Good Pope’, he remained as head of the Roman Catholic faith until his death in 1963, the season in which the Irpini gained promotion to Serie C after slipping back down the year before.

Giovanni Montini was subsequently voted in and took the name Paul VI. He too would serve until death. In 1978, following a 15-year term, Albino Luciani would take his place, opting to be named John Paul I.

Just 33 days later, Montini – known as the ‘Smiling Pope’ – would suffer a heart attack, with many suspecting foul play. Double disaster at the Vatican provided the extra boost Avellino would need to achieve their historic promotion to Serie A paradiso.

This would make John Paul I the shortest-serving Pope since 1605. Conversely, Avellino would go on to spend a decade in the top flight, attracting high profile managers like Ottavio Bianchi and Rino Marchesi, and prominent players such as Fernando De Napoli and Steffano Tacconi.

Karol Wojtyla, who has an airport named after him in Bari, was voted in to lead shortly after Luciani’s passing. Catholics fondly remember the Polish-born Pope as John Paul II, perhaps the most famous in living memory and a self-confessed fan of KS Cracovia and Liverpool FC.

Credited with ending communist rule in Europe, Wojtyla died age 84 in 2005, the year Avellino beat Napoli in the Serie C PlayOffs. That day at the Stadio Partenio, current coach Raffaele Biancolino scored against an Azzurri outfit coached by Edy Reja and containing Ignazio Abate and Roberto ‘El Pampa’ Sosa.

Back in St Peter’s Square, Joseph Ratzinger would take the name Benedict XVI, becoming the second non-Italian Pope since the 16th century. Eight years later, in 2013, the German made history by becoming the first pontiff to resign from the Vatican, just in time for Avellino to secure second tier status where they would remain for five straight seasons.

The Final Piece of the Puzzle

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was then elected as the first Latin American cardinal to win the Papacy, better know as Pope Francis in the English-speaking world – Papa Francesco to Italians.

Just two days before Bergoglio passed away on April 21, Avellino mathematically secured another promotion, conquering Girone C of Serie C.

As ridiculous and intriguing as it all sounds, the mind boggles at what could possibly connect Avellino’s successes to the deaths of every Pope over the past 70 years.

Solving the Mystery

Two hundred and seventy-two kilometres separates Avellino’s stadium and Vatican City. Like every other Italian town, Avellino stands proudly behind its Romanesque cathedral, built in the twelth century and restructured after suffering through World War II bombings and the earthquakes of the 80s.

Is there some kind of divine calcio connection between Avellino and the Vatican? Were the boots of top Biancoverde goalscorer Facundo Lescano possessed by an anti-Papal spirit? Now that’s a strong accusation that even Zia Anna wouldn’t voice out loud.

Perhaps there was bad blood between the two parties somewhere along the line. Then again, no Pope has ever gone on record to admit to being a fan of any Italian football teams. So, spiritual vengeance for supporting Napoli or Salernitana – Avellino’s traditional rivals – is off the cards.

On the other hand, Avellino have enjoyed 15 different promotion-winning campaigns since Pope Pius XII died in the late fifties, with six more cardinals winning elections. Numerologists are welcome to enter that discussion. To all the vodouisants and supernaturalists, get in touch if you’ve got in the inside word.

Perhaps it’s all just hocus pocus, a malocchio-type coincidence so uninterpretable that even Da Vinci Code symbologist Robert Langdon would be on the first plane back to New Hampshire.

One thing is certain, however. Come 2026, our next elected Pope, whoever he may be, will be sleeping with one eye open at the Vatican should Avellino win promotion to Serie A.