Inter Milan kept celebrations of the club's 14th Italian league title low-key, after being given the 2006 scudetto stripped from Juventus for match-fixing.
The Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) announced Inter would be given last season's crown on Wednesday evening, just before Inter played a friendly against French top-flight team Monaco.
There was no champagne popping on the field or on the terraces, but players and club officials were unanimous in expressing satisfaction at being declared champions. "We are not celebrating but we are enjoying this scudetto anyway," said goalkeeper Francesco Toldo.
Inter actually came third in Serie A last season, behind Juventus and cross-town rivals AC Milan.
But Juventus were sent to the bottom of the 2005-06 standings and relegated for their involvement in the match-fixing scandal, while Milan were docked 30 points from their tally for last season.
This left Inter top of last season's modified final table.
Juventus were also stripped of the 2004-05 title, but the FIGC has decided to assign this to no one.
"It's a just reward for our honesty," said Inter coach Roberto Mancini.
"It is right that they have given us the scudetto. We deserved it for the points we won on the field. "The rulings show that some teams have been playing dirty.
"Now I know why Inter has not been able to win anything truly important over the last three years. We played clean".
It is Inter's first league title since 1989, when veteran coach Giovanni Trapattoni led the Neroazzurri to glory.
The scudetto is also the first one Inter has won since big-spending oil magnate Massimo Moratti bought the club in 1995.
Some fans thought Moratti was cursed never to repeat the heroics of his father Angelo, who was chairman during the club's heyday in the 1960s. Under Angelo Moratti Inter won three domestic league championships and two European Cups. With 14 titles, Inter are third in the all-time scudetto rankings. Juventus lead with 27 league championships, followed by Milan with 17.
Mancini said the 2006 title will spur Inter on to win the upcoming championship "on the field". This task will be made considerably easier by the fact that Juventus are in Serie B - with a 17-point penalty - and Milan must start the campaign at -8.
Lazio and Fiorentina, the two other clubs found guilty of misconduct by the FIGC, must start next season with penalties of 11 and 19 points respectively. Furthermore, Fiorentina have lost their place in the Champions League and Lazio have been withdrawn from the UEFA Cup.
According to the corrected 2006 Serie A standings, AS Roma came second and qualify directly for the group stages of the Champions League.
Milan and Chievo Verona finished third and fourth respectively and qualify for the Champions League preliminary round.
However, UEFA said Thursday it is considering whether or not to allow Milan to play in the Champions League. It said it will make a decision on August 2. European soccer's governing body has stressed that teams must be "ethically" fit to play in the continent's most prestigious club competition.
Palermo, Livorno and Parma will now be Italy's three clubs in the UEFA Cup.
Messina, which were relegated after finishing third-from-bottom last season, have been reinstated into Serie A in place of Juve.
