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Fiorentina

100px|logo
Full name	ACF Fiorentina SpA
Nickname(s)	La Viola (The Purple Ones) Gigliati (Lilies)
Founded	26 August 1926 (AC Fiorentina) 2002 (ACF Fiorentina)
Ground	Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence, Italy
Capacity	47,282
Chairman	Andrea Della Valle
Manager	Cesare Prandelli
League	Serie A
2006-07	Serie A, 6th
Home colours Away colours

ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as simply Fiorentina, is an Italian professional football club from Florence, Tuscany. Founded by a merger in 1926, Fiorentina have participated at the top-tier of Italian football for the majority of their existence; only four clubs have played in more Serie A seasons. After climbing back up the Italian football system in the early 2000s, Fiorentina are competing in Serie A for 2007–08.

Fiorentina have won Serie A twice, first in 1955–56 then again in 1968–69, as well as winning six Coppa Italia trophies. On the European stage Fiorentina have won the UEFA Cup in 1988–89 and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1960–61, they also came close to winning the biggest European prize, finishing as runners-up in the European Cup during 1956–57.

Since 1931 the club have played at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, which currently has a capacity of 47,282. The stadium has used several names over the years and has undergone several renovations. Fiorentina are known widely by the nickname La viola; a reference to their distinct purple colours.

History

Main article: History of ACF Fiorentina

Associazione Calcio Fiorentina was founded on 26 August 1926, by a merger of two older clubs from Florence named Club Sportivo Firenze and Palestra Ginnastica Libertas.

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 14 July 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. 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. The combination of World Cup winner Luca Toni and Romanian international Adrian Mutu proved to be one of Serie A's most proficient strike partnerships. Scoring 31 goals between them.

While many doubted the potential of the Viola in the 2007/2008 season due to Luca Toni's departure, Fiorentina have been on sensational form and currently sit in 2nd place, and have been tipped by Marcello Lippi and other prominent names in Calcio as surprise Scudetto challengers.

Players

As of 7 August 2007 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	FRA	Sebastien Frey
2	DF	DEN	Per Krøldrup
3	DF	ITA	Dario Dainelli (captain)
4	MF	ITA	Marco Donadel
5	DF	ITA	Alessandro Gamberini
6	DF	ITA	Alessandro Potenza
7	MF	ITA	Franco Semioli
8	MF	ITA	Michele Pazienza
9	FW	ITA	Pablo Daniel Osvaldo
10	FW	ROU	Adrian Mutu
11	MF	ITA	Fabio Liverani
12	GK	ITA	Cristiano Lupatelli
13	DF	BEL	Anthony Vanden Borre
14	FW	ITA	Arturo Lupoli
15	DF	CZE	Ondřej Mazuch
16	MF	CZE	Jan Hable

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
17	DF	ITA	Federico Balzaretti
18	MF	ITA	Riccardo Montolivo
19	MF	ITA	Massimo Gobbi
20	MF	DEN	Martin Jørgensen
21	DF	CZE	Tomáš Ujfaluši
22	MF	SRB	Zdravko Kuzmanović
23	DF	ITA	Manuel Pasqual
24	MF	ARG	Mario Alberto Santana
25	GK	SRB	Vlada Avramov
27	FW	ITA	Samuel Di Carmine (from youth team)
29	FW	ITA	Giampaolo Pazzini
31	GK	ITA	Edoardo Pazzagli (from youth team)
32	FW	ITA	Christian Vieri
33	DF	ITA	Massimiliano Tagliani (from youth team)
34	FW	FRA	Matthias Lepiller (from youth team)

Notable players

Main article: List of ACF Fiorentina players

For a list of all former and current Fiorentina players with a Wikipedia article, see Category:Fiorentina players.

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.

Name Nationality Years Károly Csapkay 1926–1928 Károly Csapkay Gyula Feldmann 1928–1930 Gyula Feldmann 1930–1931 Hermann Felsner 1931–1933 William Rady 1933 Ferenc Ging 1933–1934 Guido Ara 1934–1937 Ottavio Baccani 1937–1938 Ferenc Molnar 1938 Rudolf Soutschek 1938–1939 Giuseppe Galluzzi 1939–1945 Giuseppe Bigogno 1945–1946 Guido Ara 1946 Renzo Magli 1946–1947 Imre Senkey 1947 Luigi Ferrero 1947–1951 Renzo Magli 1951–1953 Fulvio Bernardini 1953–1958 Lajos Czeizler 1958–1959 Luigi Ferrero 1959 Luis Carniglia 1959–1960 Giuseppe Chiappella 1960 Nándor Hidegkuti 1960–1962 Ferruccio Valcareggi 1962–1964 Giuseppe Chiappella 1964–1967 Luigi Ferrero 1967–1968 Andrea Bassi 1968 Bruno Pesaola 1968–1971 Oronzo Pugliese 1971 Nils Liedholm 1971–1973 Luigi Radice 1973–1974

Name Nationality Years Nereo Rocco 1974–1975 Carlo Mazzone 1975–1977 Mario Mazzoni 1977–1978 Giuseppe Chiappella 1978 Paolo Carosi 1978–1981 Giancarlo De Sisti 1981–1985 Ferruccio Valcareggi 1985 Aldo Agroppi 1985–1986 Eugenio Bersellini 1986–1987 Sven-Göran Eriksson 1987–1989 Bruno Giorgi 1989–1990 Francesco Graziani 1990 Sebastião Lazaroni 1990–1991 Luigi Radice 1991–1993 Aldo Agroppi 1993 Luciano Chiarugi 1993 Claudio Ranieri 1993–1997 Alberto Malesani 1997–1998 Giovanni Trapattoni 1998–2000 Fatih Terim 2000–2001 Luciano Chiarugi 2001 Roberto Mancini 2001 Ottavio Bianchi 2001–2002 Luciano Chiarugi 2002 Eugenio Fascetti 2002 Pietro Vierchowod 2002 Alberto Cavasin 2002–2003 Emiliano Mondonico 2003–2004 Sergio Buso 2004–2005 Dino Zoff 2005 Cesare Prandelli 2005–present

Colours, badge and nicknames

thumb|right|125px|A previous badge.

Original 1926 kit.

The official emblem of the city of Florence; a red and white fleur-de-lis; has played a pivitol role in the all round symbolism of the club. Originally when Fiorentina was founded in 1926, the red and white halves shirts were derived from the colour of the city emblem. The more well known and highly distinctive purple kit was adopted in 1928 and has been their's ever since; giving them the nickname La viola ("The purples"). Traditionally it is said that the purple kit became Fiorentina's by mistake, after an accident washing the old red and white coloured kits in the river.

Over the course of the club's history they have had several badge changes, all of which incorporated Florence's fleur-de-lis in some way. A particularly noted logo, was one which was half made up of the city of Florence's emblem and half made up of an "F" standing for Fiorentina. Today's logo is a gold bordered lozenge with a purple background, in the bottom half there is the letters "AC" in white and under it "F" in red, standing for the club's name. In the upper half, there is another gold bordered lozenge inside it, this time with a white background and the red fleur-de-lis of Florence.

World Cup winners

• Mario Pizziolo (Italy 1934)
• Giancarlo Antognoni (Spain 1982)
• Francesco Graziani (Spain 1982)
• Giovanni Galli (Spain 1982)
• Pietro Vierchowod (Spain 1982)
• Daniele Massaro (Spain 1982)
• Daniel Passarella (Argentina 1978)
• Luca Toni (Germany 2006)

Honours

National titles

Serie A:

• Champions (2): 1955–56; 1968–69

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

European titles

UEFA Champions League (former European Cup):

• Runners-up (1): 1956–57

UEFA Cup:

• Runners-up (1): 1989–90

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup:

• Champions (1): 1960–61
• Runners-up (1): 1961–62

External links

• (in Italian) Official website
• (in Italian) CalcioToscano.it
• (in Italian) Fiorentina.it
• (in Italian) FiorentinaNews
• (in Italian) FirenzeViola
• (in Italian) ViolaNews