ACF Fiorentina is an Italian football club
based in Florence (Firenze), Tuscany. The club's traditional
colors were originally red and white but were changed to purple and white in 1928; since then, the club has been generally known
as "i Viola" (the purple ones). The club usually plays at the 47,282-capacity all-seater 'Comunale' Stadium "Artemio Franchi" (known until 1991 as Comunale di Firenze, which had itself
replaced the "Giovanni Francesco Berta" in the 1930s).
History
The club was founded on August 26 1926 by the merger of
Libertas and Club Sportivo Firenze. The club won its first trophy in 1939-40 with the Coppa Italia and its first scudetto (Italian championship) in 1955-56, the club were
runners-up in the four following seasons. In the 1960-61 season the club won the Coppa
Italia again and was also successful in Europe, winning the first Cup Winners' Cup
against Rangers.
In the 1960s the club won the Coppa Italia and the Mitropa Cup in 1966 and were league
champions again in the 1968-69 season. In 1974 the Viola won the Anglo-Italian League Cup. Success in the Coppa Italia was repeated in 1975, but from then until
the late 1990s the club found itself in the doldrums, culminating in a season in Serie B (second
division) in 1993-1994. Upon return to Serie A the club again proved able in the cup
competitions, winning the Coppa Italia again in 1996 and 2000 and the Italian SuperCoppa.
2001 heralded major changes for Fiorentina, as the terrible state of the club's finances was revealed; they were unable to pay
wages and had debts of around USD 50 million. The club owner, Vittorio Cecchi Gori, was able to
raise some more money, but even this soon proved to be insufficient resources to sustain the club. Then, Fiorentina were
relegated at the end of the 2001-02 season and went into judicially controlled
administration in June 2002. This form of bankruptcy (sports companies cannot exactly fail in
this way in Italy, but they can suffer a similar procedure) meant that the club was refused a place in Serie B for the
2002-03 season, and as a result, effectively ceased to exist.
The club was promptly re-established in August 2002 as Florentia Viola with a new owner, Diego
Della Valle, and was admitted into Serie C2, the fourth tier of Italian football. The
only player to remain at the club as they began their new life was Angelo Di Livio,
whose commitment to the cause of resurrecting the club further endeared him to the fans. Helped by Di Livio, the club won its
regional section in Serie C2 with considerable ease at the end of the 2002-03 season, which would normally have led to a
promotion to Serie C1. However, due to the bizarre Caso Catania (Catania Case) the
club skipped Serie C1 and was admitted into Serie B. This was only possible because the Italian Football Federation chose to resolve the Catania situation by increasing the number
of teams in Serie B from 20 to 24. In the 2003 off-season, the club also bought back the right to use the Fiorentina name and the
famous shirt design, and re-incorporated itself as ACF Fiorentina. Matches were still being played at the Artemio Franchi
stadium.
The club's unusual double promotion was not without controversy, with some suggesting that Fiorentina did not deserve it;
however, the club remained in Serie B and managed to finish the 2003-04 season in sixth place.
This achievement placed the Viola in a two-legged playoff against Perugia (the 15th-place finisher in Serie A) for a position in Serie A. Fiorentina completed their
remarkable comeback by winning the match 2-1 on aggregate, with both goals scored by Enrico Fantini, to gain promotion back to
Serie A. In their first season back in Italian football's top flight, the club struggled to avoid relegation, securing survival
only on the last day of the season, and avoiding a relegation playoff only on head-to-head record against Bologna and Parma.
In 2005-06, their form greatly improved, and they had qualified for the 3rd
Qualifying round of the Champions League by earning the 4th place in the Serie A
with 74 points. The combination of defence by captain Dario Dainelli and Czech international regular Tomáš
Ujfaluši, midfield by Cristian Brocchi, wing by Martin Jorgensen, playmaking by Stefano Fiore and key marksman
Luca Toni with Sebastian Frey as goalkeeper proved to
be an outstanding force in Serie A. Fiorentina officially regained their status as an Italian elite, especially with
Toni himself having scored an amazing 31 goals in just 34 appearances, the first player to
pass the 30 goal mark since Antonio Valentin Angelillo in the
1958-59 season - which has seen him claim the European Golden Boot.
On July 14, 2006 Fiorentina were relegated to Serie B due to
their involvement in the 2006 Serie A match fixing scandal and given a 12 point
penalty. However, on appeal, the team was reinstated to the Serie A, albeit with a 19 point penalty for the 2006-07 season. The
team also lost their UEFA Champions League 2006-07 place.[1] After the start of the season, upon appealing to the Italian
courts, Fiorentina's penalization was reduced to 15 points from 19, which was still far heavier than club officials had hoped
for. Despite starting the 2006-2007 season with the 15 point penalty, Fiorentina managed to secure a place in the 2007-2008
edition of the UEFA Cup.
Honours
National titles
Serie A:
-
Coppa Italia:
-
- Champions (6): 1939–40; 1960–61; 1965–66; 1974–75; 1995–96;
2000–01
- Runners-up (4): 1957–58; 1959–60; 1970–71; 1998–99[2]
European titles
UEFA Champions League (former European Cup):
-
UEFA Cup:
-
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup:
-
Current squad
As of August 7, 2007[5]
2007-2008 transfers
Not including loan returns
- In
- Out
Notable former players
1990s to present
1970s to 1980s
1950s to 1960s
1926s to 1940s
Managerial history
Fiorentina have had many managers and head coaches throughout their history, below is a cronological list of them from when
they were founded in 1926 by a merger, until the present day.[12]
World Cup winners
Footnotes
External links
Andrea Della Valle
Mario
Pizziolo (Italy 1934)
Daniel Passarella (Argentina 1978)