The strange tradition of the Italian club: Every time they are promoted, it is followed by every death of the Pope

Italian club Avellino has continued a strange decades-long tradition - winning promotion every time a Pope has died since 1958, including just days before the death of Pope Francis in 2025.

Avellino, a club from the lower tiers of Italian football, has once again become part of one of football's strangest and scariest traditions - winning promotion in the same year that a Pope dies.

The strange pattern began in 1958, when Pope Pius XII died and Avellino was promoted to Serie C. The trend continued in 1963, the year Pope John XXIII died, and again in 1978, when two Popes — Paul VI and John Paul I — died. That year, Avellino achieved promotion to Serie A for the first and only time in their history.

The tradition didn't stop there. In 2005, after the death of Pope John Paul II, Avellino was promoted to Serie B. Even the resignation of Benedict XVI in 2013 saw the tradition end, with Avellino back in Serie B.

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Now, in 2025, it has happened once again. On April 19, Avellino secured promotion to Serie B with a win against Sorrento. Just two days later, the world received news of the death of Pope Francis.

While the connection is purely coincidental, the pattern – unchanged since 1958 – has captivated Italian media and football fans. The odds, many say, are nothing short of astonishing.

Whatever the forces at play, Avellino's eerie connection to the Pope's history remains one of the most curious stories in modern football. /Telegraph/