The program was conducted from 1993 to 2001 by Fabio Fazio together with Marino Bartoletti, from 2001 to 2011 by Simona Ventura, from 2011 to 2013 by Victoria Cabello, from 2013 to 2017 by Nicola Savino and from 2017 to 2021 by the comic duo Luca and Paolo together with Mia Ceran.
The broadcast debuted on Rai 3 on 26 September 1993 conducted by Fabio Fazio and Marino Bartoletti with the participation of sports journalists such as Carlo Sassi.
During the first eight years of the program, comedians such as Teo Teocoli, Anna Marchesini and lesser known but still appreciated personalities alternated alongside the host, among which the Dutch astrologer Peter Van Wood, the Gambian journalist and Juventus fan Idris, the Japanese designer Takahide Sano, the journalist and TV presenter Luciano Rispoli, the pediatric primary and rowdy Sampdoria fan Renato Panconi, the Lazio nun Sister Paola, the journalist Paolo Brosio and the impassive-looking statistics expert Massimo Alfredo Giuseppe Maria Buscemi.
In addition, Ventura had also managed to present several international pop stars, such as the English singer Amy Winehouse who performed on November 4, 2007, with her single Back to Black, and Lady Gaga, who debuted in 2009 with Paparazzi.
The reasons for the success were primarily found in the imitations, firstly by Maurizio Crozza, and later, Max Giusti and Lucia Ocone, in addition to the fixed presence of the sketches of Gene Gnocchi (present until 2007); other popular elements are: the VIP guests in the studio, who watched the games while ironically discussing them with the host; the "schedine", i.e. the young female assistants of the program to which the "mufloni" (i.e. the male assistants) were also added; the correspondents for live matches from the stadiums (already present in the Fazio era), mainly fans from the entertainment world; the special correspondents, first of all DJ Angelo and Nicola Savino of Radio DeeJay (who later became presenter of the program in the 2013-2014 edition), who participated in events of particular interest.
In 2005, following the passage of Serie A television rights from Rai to Mediaset, to "circumvent" the ban, numerous changes were made: the correspondents for the matches no longer spoke inside the stadiums, but commented on the matches in other places, simulating in some cases the environment of the stands, the audio connections with Tutto il calcio minuto per minuto (whose collaboration continues) for the goals are eliminated, which are announced by the reporters in the studio, together with the epic music and celebrations live, and football begins to be a little less protagonist at the expense of variety.
Among comedians/imitators are Virginia Raffaele and Ubaldo Pantani; since January 2012 Marcello Cesena has also joined the cast of comedians, who brought the character of Jean Claude and his comic series Sensualità a corte.
From the 2013-2014 season the program changes its title to Quelli che il calcio and therefore focuses again on football, which once again becomes the central theme of the broadcast, without missing forays into other disciplines and moments of variety and comedy.
Nicola Savino (already present in the editions conducted by Simona Ventura as a correspondent in important events together with Digei Angelo) arrives to lead the program and Paolo Beldì returns to directing again, after a year of absence.