ACF FIORENTINA
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'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).
| Contents |
| History |
| Honours |
| Current squad |
| 2007-2008 transfers |
| Notable former players |
| 1990s to present |
| 1970s to 1980s |
| 1950s to 1960s |
| 1926s to 1940s |
| Selected former managers |
| World Cup winners |
| Footnotes |
| External links |
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.
However, 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
★ 'Serie A'
:
★ 'Champions (2)': 1955–1956, 1968–1969
★ 'Coppa Italia'
:
★ 'Champions (6)': 1939–1940, 1960–1961, 1965–1966, 1974–1975, 1995–1996, 2000–2001
:
★ 'Runners-up (4)': 1957–1958, 1959–1960, 1970–1971, 1998–1999[2]
★ 'UEFA Cup Winners' Cup'
:
★ 'Champions (1)': 1960–1961[3]
:
★ 'Runners-up (1)': 1961–1962[4]
★ 'UEFA Champions League/European Cup'
:
★ 'Runners-up (1)': 1956–1957
★ 'UEFA Cup'
:
★ 'Runners-up (1)': 1989–1990
Current squad
''As of August 7, 2007''[5]
2007-2008 transfers
''Not including loan returns''
;In:
;Out:
Notable former players
1990s to present
; ★ Daniele Adani 1999-2002 ★ Lorenzo Amoruso 1995-1997 ★ Francesco Baiano 1992-1997 ★ Enrico Chiesa 1999-2002 ★ Angelo Di Livio 1999-2005 ★ Christian Riganò 2002-2005 ★ Anselmo Robbiati 1993-1999 and 2001-02 ★ Francesco Toldo 1993-2001 ★ Luca Toni 2005-2007 ★ Moreno Torricelli 1998-2002 ; ★ Gabriel Batistuta 1991-2000 ; ★ Brian Laudrup 1992-1993 ; ★ Hidetoshi Nakata 2004-2005 ; ★ Luis Oliveira 1996-1999 ; ★ Dunga 1988-1992 ★ Edmundo 1997-1999 ★ Adriano Leite Ribeiro 2002-2002(loan deal) | ; ★ Lubos Kubik 1989-1991 ★ Tomáš Řepka 1998-2001 ; ★ Stefan Effenberg 1992-1994 ★ Jörg Heinrich 1998-2000 ; ★ Predrag Mijatovic 1999-2002 ; ★ Rui Costa 1994-2001 ★ Nuno Gomes 2000-2002 ; ★ Andrei Kanchelskis 1996-1998 ; ★ Stefan Schwarz 1995-1998 |
1970s to 1980s
1950s to 1960s
1926s to 1940s
Selected former managers
★ Fulvio Bernardini
★ Giuseppe Chiappella
★ Claudio Ranieri
★ Luigi Ferrero
★ Giancarlo De Sisti
★ Bruno Pesaola
★ Claudio Cesare Prandelli
★ Giuseppe Galluzzi
★ Guido Ara
★ Nándor Hidegkuti
★ Giovanni Trapattoni
★ Nils Liedholm
★ Sven-Göran Eriksson
★ Lajos Czeizler
★ Nereo Rocco
★ Dino Zoff
★ Fatih Terim
★ Sebastião Lazaroni
★ Roberto Mancini
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)
Footnotes
1. Italian trio relegated to Serie B BBC
2. Italy Cup 1998/99 RSSSF
3. 1960/61: Fiorentina hold off Rangers' brave challenge UEFA.com
4. 1961/62: Atlético break Fiorentina's grip UEFA.com
5. Prima Squadra ACF Fiorentina
6. Lega Nazionale Professionisti - Calciomercato - Fiorentina Lega Calcio
7. Acquisito Anthony Vanden Borre ACF Fiorentina
8. Un accordo tra club toscani ACF Fiorentina
9. Acquisito Semioli ACF Fiorentina
10. Acquisito Christian Vieri ACF Fiorentina
11. Ceduto Reginaldo al Parma ACF Fiorentina
External links
★ Official website
★ CalcioToscano.it
★ Fiorentina.it
★ FiorentinaNews
★ FirenzeViola
★ ViolaNews
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