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You don’t need to be a diehard soccer fan to know people in Europe are known for taking the sport very, very seriously. That’s certainly the case with some Torino FC supporters who staged a protest to voice their displeasure with their team’s performance this year with the help of a massive pile of manure they used to send a message.
Serie A, the highest level of soccer in Italy, has historically run through three teams that have secured the lion’s share of the championships that have been handed out since the first one was awarded in 1930. Two of them, Inter Milan and AC Milan, play in the country’s fashion capital, while Juventus (which firmly leads the way on the all-time title front with 36) calls Turin home.
That city is also home to Torino FC, which is on the wrong end of a lopsided rivalry with Juventus but is still in the top five when it comes to Serie A championships with the seven it’s secured over the years. However, the bulk of those trophies were won in the 1940s, and the team is in the midst of a drought that will stretch to 50 years when the current season wraps up.
Torino returned to Serie A in 2012 after spending three seasons at the second level following its sixth relegation in a history that stretches back more than a century. There’s a chance that number could rise to seven based on how things have panned out during the ongoing campaign, and some fans went to great lengths to make it clear they are not happy with the current state of affairs.
Torino FC fans dumped a massive pile of manure outside the team’s training ground to protest their play
As things currently stand, Torino is sitting in 15th place among the 20 teams that comprise Serie A. The team has posted a 7-13-6 record that’s only netted them 24 points (Inter has a ten-point lead over Milan at the top of the table with 64), which puts them just three points above Lecce, one of the three teams that would be relegated if the season ended today.
There’s been plenty of blame to go around, and now-former head coach Marco Baroni became the latest casualty when he was fired before completing his inaugural season and replaced by Roberto D’Aversa following a 3-0 loss to Genoa on Sunday.
However, there is one group of fans that made it clear they believe much of the blame falls on the shoulders of Torino owner and president Urbano Cairo. His name appeared on a banner that was hung on a fence outside their training facility on Tuesday that read “MERDE COME CAIRO” (“S—t Like Cairo”), with the excrement in question being a reference to the large pile of manure that was deposited on the ground to drive the point home.
A Torino clamorosa forma di protesta contro il club granata
⚽️ #SerieA pic.twitter.com/YTSm5zjXtM— Antonello Perillo (@anperillo) February 24, 2026
Torino still has a dozen games to get its act together and avoid relegation before they cap off their season against Juventus on May 26th, which is one of nine games that will be against an opponent that’s currently above them in the standings.