IN an advert that went down a storm with the Tartan Army last week, sports brand Adidas deftly slipped in a message to Italian fans who may be grieving from the absence of their team at this year’s World Cup.
The advert featured Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay making his way through the streets of Naples, where he plays his club football for SSC Napoli.
In the background, commentary from pop singer Lewis Capaldi asked Italian fans to “choose Scotland”, adding “you can't choose where you're born. But you can choose who you stand with”.
The fact that this was a message to Italian fans after their team failed to qualify for the World Cup passed some Tartan Army fans by, as the “choose Scotland” theme also paid homage to the “choose life” monologue from the Scottish film Trainspotting.
So, are Italians choosing Scotland?
It would seem to be the case for fans of Napoli at least.
Amerigo Andretta is the president of Napoli Fan Club UK, which has around 70 to 80 members who are mostly expats from Naples who now live in England.
He told The National he and members of the club were following Scotland all the way given McTominay and injured midfielder Billy Gilmour both play for the club.
“Yes definitely,” he said when asked if he was supporting Steve Clarke’s side, as he held up a McTominay-signed Napoli shirt.
“With me, it’s easy because I’m Scott McTominay-obsessed.
“Scott is a wonderful champion, he’s a great guy who was very humble when I met him. He’s very new but he’s already leading by example at Napoli.
“We won the title with him and he’s settled in the city very well. You can tell he’s trying to wear Italian stuff, he’s very smart and elegant, very sharp, and he’s enjoying Napoli and we are very happy with him. It’s impossible not to support him and Billy Gilmour as well.”
But Andretta, 38, also spoke about how Napoli fans feel connected to Scotland because of a similar history, with Naples having had a long history as an independent, sovereign state.
It was the capital of the Kingdom of Naples – and later the Kingdom of Two Sicilies – which ruled southern Italy for centuries until it joined the newly unified Kingdom of Italy in 1861.
Andretta, who is one of four founders of the fan club, said Neapolitans have a lot of parallels with Scots and their separate identity from the rest of the UK.
“Scotland is part of UK but you have proper culture as Napoli does in Italy,” he said.
“We always say Napoli is not really Italy, we have something different. We were united from Italian wars in the past and Scotland was the same, so there is this kind of link between Scotland and Napoli, so it maybe comes natural for us to have that kind of sympathy for Scotland.
“We would be very happy if Scotland go the extra mile in this World Cup.”
Scots have been spotted in Napoli in their droves in recent years since McTominay and Gilmour signed for the Serie A club in 2024.
Andretta said he has loved seeing Scots arrive in Naples in their kilts to follow his beloved team and says Neapolitans get along well with them.
“I attend 90% of the matches in Napoli and I have never seen Scottish people in Napoli with kilts and beers,” he said.
“I have seen so many groups having beers together between Neapolitans and Scottish people before and after the match. They fit in very well, they like to have a party and we are the same. We are 100% united and it’s very good to spend time together.
“I can see football is a great passion in Scotland and we are sort of mental about football in Napoli. It’s a religion, it’s not just 90 minutes. It’s Monday to Sunday, and I think that’s similar to Scotland.”
Asked how far he believes Scotland can go in the World Cup following their victory over Haiti in their first group stage match, he said anything could happen if they can manage to get out of the group.
“I would be very happy to pass the group stage and then we never know,” he said.
“We’ve seen many surprises in the past. Once you go through the group stage, anything can happen. No-one expected Morocco to be in the semi-final four years ago.”
