FK Partizan
Fudbalski klub Partizan known as Partizan Belgrade or Partizan, is a Serbian professional football club based in Belgrade. It forms a major part of the Partizan multi-sport club; the club plays in the Serbian SuperLiga and has spent its entire history in the top tier of Yugoslav and Serbian football having won a total of 45 official trophies: 27 national championships, 15 national cups, 1 national supercup, 1 Mitropa Cup, 1 Uhrencup finishing in the Yugoslav league all-time table as second. Partizan was founded by young high officers of the Yugoslav People's Army in 1945 in Belgrade, as part of the Yugoslav Sports Association Partizan, their home ground is the Partizan Stadium in Belgrade, where they have played since 1949. Partizan holds records such as playing in the first European Champions Cup match on 4 September, 1955, as well as becoming the first Balkan and Eastern European football club to reach the European Champions Cup final, when it did so in 1966. Partizan was the first Serbian club to compete in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
The club has a long-standing rivalry with Red Star Belgrade. Matches between these two clubs are known as the Eternal Derby and rate as one of the greatest cross-town clashes in the world. In September 2009, the British newspaper Daily Mail ranked the Red Star–Partizan derby fourth among the ten greatest football rivalries of all time; the club is very popular in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska. Partizan has many supporters in all the other former-Yugoslav republics and in the Serbian diaspora. Partizan youth academy is one of the most export-oriented in Europe. CIES Football Observatory report of November 2015 ranks Partizan Belgrade at the top place of training clubs out of the 31 European leagues surveyed. Partizan was founded on 4 October 1945 in Belgrade, as a football section of the Central House of the Yugoslav Army "Partizan", was named in honour of the Partisans, the communist military formation who fought against fascism during World War II in Yugoslavia.
The club was formed and managed by the group of young high officers of the Yugoslav People's Army and veterans of the Spanish Civil War. Among them were Svetozar "Tempo" Vukmanović, Koča Popović, Peko Dapčević, Bogdan Vujošević, Mijalko Todorović, Otmar Kreačić and Ratko Vujović. Two days after its establishment, Partizan made its first step on the football scene, with the friendly match against selection of Zemun that ended 4–2. Florijan Matekalo entered the record books as the first goal scorer in the history of Partizan, while Franjo Glazer was the first manager. Just three weeks Partizan went on the first of many international tours, travelling to Czechoslovakia where they beat the selection of Slovak Army with 3–1. At the time, just months after the World War II in Yugoslavia ended, no organized football competition was yet restored, so Partizan played only friendly games and tournaments both home and abroad; the club's first European engagement was a meeting against another army side, CSKA Moscow from what was Soviet Union, in 1975.
In late August, 1946, the new Yugoslav league started and Partizan played its first official match, beating Pobeda Skoplje 1–0. Since the club had the highest ambitions from the beginning, it attracted some of the best players from all over the country: Stjepan Bobek, Miroslav Brozović, Zlatko Čajkovski, Kiril Simonovski, Bela Palfi, Franjo Rupnik, Prvoslav Mihajlović, Aleksandar Atanacković, Miodrag Jovanović, Vladimir Firm, Ratko Čolić and Franjo Šoštarić. Prominent football expert Illés Spitz became the manager, spent next 14 years at various positions in the club, his implementation of top European training methods and playing tactics, combined with technically gifted squad, proved essential in winning the first championship in debut season, along with the first cup title, thus the first Double winner in the country. The second championship title was won in 1948–49 season. Partizan played its home games on the old BSK stadium until 1949, when its own stadium was built on the same site and named JNA Stadium.
In 1950, the club evolved from a football section of the Army into independent club under the umbrella organization JSD Partizan. The first club's president became Ratko Vujović. In 1953, the remaining formal connections between the club and the Army ceased. Although during the 1950s Partizan had a strong squad, led by national team players like Bobek, Čajkovski, Miloš Milutinović, Marko Valok, Bruno Belin, Tomislav Kaloperović and Branko Zebec, the club had a long break without winning a championship, only winning cup titles in 1952, 1954 and 1957. Despite the absence of domestic titles, Partizan's great performances on high quality tournaments throughout Europe gained them significant continental reputation. On 4 September 1955, Partizan participated in the first Champions Cup match, in Lisbon against Sporting CP; the final result was 3–3, with Miloš Milutinović becoming the first scorer in a most prestigious club competition in Europe. By the mid-1950s, the first big Partizan generation was well over its peak.
Only two titles and four cups in its first 15 years of existence were not enough for a club of Partizan's stature and popularity. In 1958, the club left way behind 13 years of playing in blue-red kits and adopted the now famous black and white colors; the change in the club's image and appearance was followed by radical changes in the playing squad. The number of young players, offspri
U.C. Sampdoria
Unione Calcio Sampdoria referred to as Sampdoria, is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria. Both the team name and jersey reflect this, the first being a combination of the former names, the second incorporating the former teams' colours in a single design; the team's colours are blue with white and black hoops, hence the nickname blucerchiati. Sampdoria play at Stadio Luigi Ferraris, capacity 36,536, which it shares with Genoa's other club, Genoa Cricket and Football Club; the derby between the two teams is known as the Derby della Lanterna. Sampdoria have won the Scudetto once in their history, in 1991; the club has won the Coppa Italia four times, in 1985, 1988, 1989 and 1994, the Supercoppa Italiana once, in 1991. Their biggest European success came when they won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1990, they reached the European Cup final in 1992, losing the final 1–0 to Barcelona after extra time.
The Ginnastica Sampierdarenese was founded in 1891, opening its football section in 1899. Named to honour Andrea Doria, a club named Society Andrea Doria was founded in 1895, which focused itself on football training and competition. Andrea Doria did not participate in the first Italian Football Championship, organised by the Italian Federation of Football since instead they had enrolled themselves into a football tournament, organised by the Italian Federation of Ginnastica; the club joined the competition for the 1903 Italian Football Championship, but did not win a game in the tournament until 1907, when they beat local rivals Genoa 3–1. It was not until 1910 -- 11. During that season's tournament, they finished above Juventus and Genoa in the Piedmont-Lombardy-Liguria section. After World War I Sampierdarenese began to compete in the Italian Championship, after they bought a pre-war club of Genoa province: Pro Liguria of Bolzaneto, thus and Doria met in the championship for the first time.
With the 1921–22 season, the Italian top league was split into two competitions. Sampierdarenese played in the FIGC-run competition, whereas Andrea Doria played in the CCI variation. Sampierdarenese won the Ligura section and went on to the semi-finals, finishing top out of three clubs. Both legs of the final ended in 0–0 draws, thus a repetition match was played in Cremona on 21 May 1922. Still intensely difficult to separate, the match went into extra time with Novese winning the tie 2–1. After the league system in Italy was brought back into one item, Sampierdarenese remained stronger than Andrea Doria by qualifying for the league. By 1924–25, the clubs were competing against each other in the Northern League. At the end of the 1926–27 season, the clubs merged by fascist authorities under the name La Dominante. Wearing green and black striped shirts, La Dominante Genova were admitted to the first season of Serie B, where they finished third, just missing out on promotion; the next season, under the name Liguria, they had a disastrous year, finishing bottom of the table and suffering relegation.
Because of this, both Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria reverted to their previous names as separate clubs. Sampierdarenese finished in the upper part; the following year, they were promoted into Serie A for the first time. Andrea Doria, on the other hand, battled out the 1930s down in Serie C. 15 July 1937 saw Sampierdarenese merging with Corniglianese and Rivarolese, with the club using the name Associazione Liguria Calcio. This saw them reach fifth place in Serie A in 1939. In the early 1940s, the club was relegated but bounced straight back up as Serie B champions in 1941. After World War II, both clubs were competing in Serie A, but in a reverse of pre-war situations, Andrea Doria were now the top club out of the two. However, on 12 August 1946, a merger occurred to create Unione Calcio Sampdoria; the first chairman of this new club was Piero Sanguineti, but the ambitious entrepreneur Amedeo Rissotto soon replaced him, while the first team coach during this period was a man from Florence named Giuseppe Galluzzi.
To illustrate the clubs would be represented in the new, merged club, a new kit was designed featuring the blue shirts of Andrea Doria and the white and black midsection of Sampierdarenese. In the same month of the merger, the new club demanded they should share the Stadio Luigi Ferraris ground with Genoa. An agreement was reached, the stadium began hosting Genoa's and Sampdoria's home matches. In 1979, the club playing Serie B, was acquired by oil businessman Paolo Mantovani, who invested in the team to bring Sampdoria to the top flights. In 1982, Sampdoria made their Serie A return and won their first Coppa Italia in 1985. In 1986, Vujadin Boškov was appointed as the new head coach; the club won their second Coppa Italia in 1988, being admitted to the 1988–89 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, where they reached the final, losing 2–0 to Barcelona. A second consecutive triumph in the Coppa Italia gave Sampdoria a spot in the 1989–90 Cup Winners' Cup, which the
AC Sparta Prague
Athletic Club Sparta Praha known as Sparta Prague, is a Czech football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning the central European Cup three times as well as having reached the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1992 and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1973. Sparta have been successful on the international stage, winning the Small Club World Cup, the predecessor to the FIFA Club World Cup, in 1969. Sparta have won 36 domestic league titles, the Czech Cup 27 times a record, the Czech Supercup twice. Sparta was long the main source for the Czech Republic national football team, however this has ceased to be the case, as the best Czech players exclusively play in foreign leagues. Sparta play at Prague's Generali Arena known as Letná Stadium. At the close of 1893, a small group of young people based around three brothers – Václav and Rudolf Rudl – had the idea of setting up a sports club. On 16 November, the founders' meeting approved the club's articles of association and one month on 17 December, the first annual general meeting took place.
Soon after that, the Athletic Club Sparta came up with its tricolour, in which blue symbolises Europe, red is the symbol of the royal city, though the reason for the yellow is not known any more. At the beginning of the club's football history, the players used to wear black jerseys with a big "S" on the front, they played for two years in black-and-white striped jerseys, which they returned to, wearing them as a reserve strip, for two years in 1996. In 1906, club president Dr. Petřík was in England where he saw the famous Woolwich Arsenal play with their red jerseys and decided to bring one set to Prague. At that time, he did not realise. Together with the red jerseys, Sparta players wear black socks. Shortly after World War I, a team was put together that triggered off the famous period of the 1920s and'30s referred to as "Iron Sparta". A football league in Czechoslovakia was established in the mid-twenties and the club collected title after title. To this day, the fans still recall the names of the players of that period with admiration: Peyer, Perner, Káďa, Kolenatý, Červený.
A few years some no less famous names appeared, such as Hochman, Hajný, Šíma, Silný, Čtyřoký, Košťálek and in particular Oldřich Nejedlý, the top scorer at the 1934 FIFA World Cup. Shortly before this most famous era kicked off, Vlasta Burian, the man who became the king of Czech comedians, played in goal for the club; the milestones of the first golden period of the club's history are two Central European Cup titles, which in the'20 and the'30s enjoyed the same recognition as that of today's Champions League. Sparta's three titles are important milestones in the cup's history. After two triumphs in 1927 and 1935, the third came in 1964, at a time when the cup's importance was falling behind that of other European cups. In 1946, AC Sparta toured Great Britain opening with a 2–2 draw against Arsenal on 2 October. Golden periods alternated with years when Sparta fans only nostalgically remembered the "good old times". After substantial changes driven by the socialist regime, bringing frequent changes of the club's name rather than achievements to be proud of, the title in 1954 was the last one before a long period of misery.
Only the great era of the team around Andrej Kvašňák in the 1960s brought back memories of the club's golden years. There are still many people who recollect the era of Jiří Tichý and Václav Mašek; those were the days when Sparta hosted the biggest number of fans in its history, with the stadium at that time accommodating 40,000. All three of the above-mentioned heroes were part of the national team that finished second at the 1962 World Cup in Chile. Other important players in these "golden years" were Vladimír Táborský and Ivan Mráz. Up until 1975, Sparta was the only Czech club. In this year, due to a number of circumstances, the team dropped to division two; the club only spent one year in this division, with the crucial matches for the club's comeback to the elite being sold out. The club did not win another league title until the early 1980s. Built around Chovanec, Berger, Hašek, Skuhravý and Griga, the team regained its former status and won five league titles in a row between 1986 and 1991.
In 1983 -- 84, the team got as far as the UEFA Cup quarter-finals. In the early 1990s, this successful era was continued by the next generation of players, such as Siegl, Horňák, Němeček, Frýdek, Němec and Kouba. Sparta has achieved a number of international successes, including two Central European Cup titles in the period of "Iron Sparta". More recent high points include Sparta's performance in the first year of the UEFA Champions League, in 1991–92. Sparta defeated Rangers Marseille and reached the semi-final group. Playing Barcelona, Dynamo Kyiv and Benfica, Sparta finished second. Unlike today's system, only the group winner reached the final. Being second in the group, Sparta was unofficially fourth best team. Sparta participated in the group stage of Champions League between 1997 and 2006; the club enjoyed their best Champions League performances in the 1999–2000 and 2001–02 seasons, reaching the now-defunct second group stage on both occasions. In 1999–2000, it won its initial group under the management of Ivan Hašek, was third in the quarter-final group.
In that group, Sparta came
ACF Fiorentina
ACF Fiorentina referred to as Fiorentina, is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany. Founded by a merger in August 1926, refounded in August 2002 following bankruptcy, Fiorentina have played at the top level of Italian football for the majority of their existence. Fiorentina has won two Italian Championships, in 1955–56 and again in 1968–69, as well as six Coppa Italia trophies and one Supercoppa Italiana. On the European stage, Fiorentina won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1960–61 and lost the final one year later, they finished runners-up in the 1956–57 European Cup, losing against Real Madrid, came close to winning the 1989–90 UEFA Cup, finishing as runners-up against Juventus after losing the first leg in Turin and drawing in the second one in Avellino. Fiorentina is one of the fourteen European teams that played the finals in all three major continental competitions: the Champions League, the UEFA Cup Winners and the UEFA Cup. Since 1931, the club have played at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, which has a capacity of 43,147.
The stadium has undergone several renovations. Fiorentina are known by the nickname Viola, a reference to their distinctive purple colours. Associazione Calcio Fiorentina was founded in the autumn of 1926 by local noble and National Fascist Party member Luigi Ridolfi, who initiated the merger of two older Florentine clubs, CS Firenze and PG Libertas; the aim of the merger was to give Florence a strong club to rival those of the more dominant Italian Football Championship sides of the time from Northwest Italy. Influential was the cultural revival and rediscovery of Calcio Fiorentino, an ancestor of modern football, played by members of the Medici family. After a rough start and three seasons in lower leagues, Fiorentina reached the Serie A in 1931; that same year saw the opening of the new stadium named after Giovanni Berta, a prominent fascist, but now known as Stadio Artemio Franchi. At the time, the stadium was a masterpiece of engineering, its inauguration was monumental. To be able to compete with the best teams in Italy, Fiorentina strengthened their team with some new players, notably the Uruguayan Pedro Petrone, nicknamed el Artillero.
Despite enjoying a good season and finishing in fourth place, Fiorentina were relegated the following year, although they would return to Serie A. In 1941, they won their first Coppa Italia, but the team were unable to build on their success during the 1940s because of World War II and other troubles. In 1950, Fiorentina started to achieve consistent top-five finishes in the domestic league; the team consisted of great players such as well-known goalkeeper Giuliano Sarti, Sergio Cervato, Francesco Rosella, Guido Gratton, Giuseppe Chiappella and Aldo Scaramucci but above all, the attacking duo of Brazilian Julinho and Argentinian Miguel Montuori. This team won Fiorentina's first scudetto in 1955–56, 12 points ahead of second-place Milan. Milan beat Fiorentina to top spot the following year, but more Fiorentina became the first Italian team to play in a European Cup final, when a disputed penalty led to a 2–0 defeat at the hands of Alfredo Di Stéfano's Real Madrid. Fiorentina were runners-up again in the three subsequent seasons.
In the 1960–61 season, the club won the Coppa Italia again and was successful in Europe, winning the first Cup Winners' Cup against Scottish side Rangers. After several years of runner-up finishes, Fiorentina dropped away in the 1960s, bouncing from fourth to sixth place, although the club won the Coppa Italia and the Mitropa Cup in 1966. While the 1960s did result in some trophies and good Serie A finishes for Fiorentina, nobody believed that the club could challenge for the title; the 1968–69 season started with Milan as frontrunners, but on matchday 7, they lost to Bologna and were overtaken by Gigi Riva's Cagliari. Fiorentina, after an unimpressive start moved to the top of the Serie A, but the first half of their season finished with a 2–2 draw against Varese, leaving Cagliari as outright league leader; the second half of the season was a three-way battle between the three contending teams, Milan and Fiorentina. Milan fell away, instead focusing their efforts on the European Cup, it seemed that Cagliari would retain top spot.
After Cagliari lost against Juventus, Fiorentina took over at the top. The team won all of their remaining matches, beating rivals Juve in Turin on the penultimate matchday to seal their second, last, national title. In the European Cup competition the following year, Fiorentina had some good results, including a win in the Soviet Union against Dynamo Kyiv, but they were knocked out in the quarter-finals after a 3–0 defeat in Glasgow to Celtic. Viola players began the 1970s decade with Scudetto sewed on their breast, but the period was not fruitful for the team. After a fifth-place finish in 1971, they finished in mid-table every year flirting with relegation in 1972 and 1978; the Viola did win the Anglo-Italian League Cup in 1974 and won the Coppa Italia again in 1975. The team consisted of young talents like Vincenzo Guerini and Moreno Roggi, who had the misfortune to suffer bad injuries, above all Giancarlo Antognoni, who would become an idol to Fiorentina's fans; the young average age of the players led to the team being called Fiorentina Ye-Ye.
In 1980, Fiorentina was bought by Flavio Pontello. He changed the team's anthem and logo, leading to some complaints
Association football
Association football, more known as football or soccer, is a team sport played with a spherical ball between two teams of eleven players. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies, making it the world's most popular sport; the game is played on a rectangular field called a pitch with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal. Association football is one of a family of football codes, which emerged from various ball games played worldwide since antiquity; the modern game traces its origins to 1863 when the Laws of the Game were codified in England by The Football Association. Players are not allowed to touch the ball with hands or arms while it is in play, except for the goalkeepers within the penalty area. Other players use their feet to strike or pass the ball, but may use any other part of their body except the hands and the arms; the team that scores most goals by the end of the match wins.
If the score is level at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time or a penalty shootout depending on the format of the competition. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, which organises World Cups for both men and women every four years; the rules of association football were codified in England by the Football Association in 1863 and the name association football was coined to distinguish the game from the other forms of football played at the time rugby football. The first written "reference to the inflated ball used in the game" was in the mid-14th century: "Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe"; the Online Etymology Dictionary states that the "rules of the game" were made in 1848, before the "split off in 1863". The term soccer comes from a slang or jocular abbreviation of the word "association", with the suffix "-er" appended to it; the word soccer was first recorded in 1889 in the earlier form of socca.
Within the English-speaking world, association football is now called "football" in the United Kingdom and "soccer" in Canada and the United States. People in countries where other codes of football are prevalent may use either term, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now use "football" for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is evidence. Cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net, it was remarkably similar to modern football. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established. Phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup. Athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda and harpastum were played involving hands and violence.
They all appear to have resembled rugby football and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified "mob football", the antecedent of all modern football codes, these three games involved more handling the ball than kicking. Other games included kemari in chuk-guk in Korea. Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other ball games played around the world FIFA has recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe; the modern rules of association football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the varying forms of football played in the public schools of England. The history of football in England dates back to at least the eighth century AD; the Cambridge Rules, first drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848, were influential in the development of subsequent codes, including association football. The Cambridge Rules were written at Trinity College, Cambridge, at a meeting attended by representatives from Eton, Rugby and Shrewsbury schools.
They were not universally adopted. During the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or universities were formed throughout the English-speaking world, to play various forms of football; some came up with their own distinct codes of rules, most notably the Sheffield Football Club, formed by former public school pupils in 1857, which led to formation of a Sheffield FA in 1867. In 1862, John Charles Thring of Uppingham School devised an influential set of rules; these ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football Association in 1863, which first met on the morning of 26 October 1863 at the Freemasons' Tavern in Great Queen Street, London. The only school to be represented on this occasion was Charterhouse; the Freemason's Tavern was the setting for five more meetings between October and December, which produced the first comprehensive set of rules. At the final meeting, the first FA treasurer, the representative from Blackheath, withdrew his club from the FA over the removal of two draft rules at the previous meeting: the first allowed for running with the ball in hand.
Other English rugby clubs followed this lead and did not join the FA and instead in 1871 formed the Rugby Football Union. The eleven remaining clubs, under
A.S. Roma
Associazione Sportiva Roma referred to as Roma, is an Italian professional football club based in Rome. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma have participated in the top-tier of Italian football for all of their existence except for 1951–52. Roma have won Serie A three times, in 1941–42, 1982–83 and 2000–01, as well as winning nine Coppa Italia titles and two Supercoppa Italiana titles. In European competitions, Roma won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1960–61 and were runners-up in the 1983–84 European Cup and the 1990–91 UEFA Cup. Fifteen players have won the FIFA World Cup while playing at Roma: Ferraris and Masetti. Since 1953, Roma have played their home matches at the Stadio Olimpico, a venue they share with city rivals Lazio. With a capacity of over 72,000, it is the second-largest of its kind in Italy, with only the San Siro able to seat more; the club plan to move to a new stadium. The club's home colours are Tyrian purple and gold, which gives Roma their nickname "I Giallorossi", their club badge features an allusion to the founding myth of Rome.
A. S. Roma was founded in the summer of 1927 when Italo Foschi initiated the merger of three older Italian Football Championship clubs from the city of Rome: Roman FC, SS Alba-Audace and Fortitudo-Pro Roma SGS; the purpose of the merger was to give the Italian capital a strong club to rival that of the more dominant Northern Italian clubs of the time. The only major Roman club to resist the merger was Lazio because of the intervention of the army General Vaccaro, a member of the club and executive of Italian Football Federation; the club played its earliest seasons at the Motovelodromo Appio stadium, before settling in the working-class streets of Testaccio, where it built an all-wooden ground Campo Testaccio. An early season in which Roma made a large mark was the 1930–31 championship, where the club finished as runners-up behind Juventus. Captain Attilio Ferraris, along with Guido Masetti, Fulvio Bernardini and Rodolfo Volk, were important players during this period. After a slump in league form and the departure of high key players, Roma rebuilt their squad adding goalscorers such as the Argentine Enrique Guaita.
Under the management of Luigi Barbesino, the Roman club came close to their first title in 1935–36, finishing just one point behind champions Bologna. Roma returned to form after being inconsistent for much of the late 1930s. Roma recorded an unexpected title triumph in the 1941–42 season by winning their first Scudetto title; the 18 goals scored by local player Amedeo Amadei were essential to the Alfréd Schaffer-coached Roma side winning the title. At the time, Italy was involved in World War II and Roma were playing at the Stadio del Partito Nazionale Fascista. In the years just after the war, Roma were unable to recapture their league stature from the early 1940s. Roma finished in the lower half of Serie A for five seasons in a row, before succumbing to their only relegation to Serie B at the end of the 1950–51 season, around a decade after their championship victory. Under future Italy national team manager Giuseppe Viani, promotion straight back up was achieved. After returning to the Serie A, Roma managed to stabilise themselves as a top half club again with players such as Egisto Pandolfini, Dino Da Costa and Dane Helge Bronée.
Their best finish of this period was under the management of Englishman Jesse Carver, when in 1954–55, they finished as runners-up after Udinese, who finished second were relegated for corruption. Although Roma were unable to break into the top four during the following decade, they did achieve some measure of cup success, their first honour outside of Italy was recorded in 1960–61 when Roma won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by defeating Birmingham City 4–2 in the finals. A few years Roma won their first Coppa Italia trophy in 1963–64 after defeating Torino 1–0, their lowest point came during the 1964–65 season, when manager Juan Carlos Lorenzo announced the club could not pay its players and was unlikely to be able to afford to travel to Vicenza to fulfil its next fixture. Supporters kept the club going with a fundraiser at the Sistine Theatre and bankruptcy was avoided with the election of a new club president Franco Evangelisti, their second Coppa Italia trophy was won in 1968–69, when it competed in a small, league-like system.
Giacomo Losi set a Roma appearance record in 1969 with 450 appearances in all competitions, a record that would last 38 years. Roma were able to add another cup to their collection in 1972, with a 3–1 victory over Blackpool in the Anglo-Italian Cup. During much of the 1970s, Roma's appearance in the top half of Serie A was sporadic; the best place the club were able to achieve during the decade was third in 1974–75. Notable players who turned out for the club during this period included midfielders Giancarlo De Sisti and Francesco Rocca; the dawning of a newly successful era in Roma's footballing history was brought in with another Coppa Italia victory, they defeated Torino on penalties to win the 1979–80 edition. Roma would reach heights in the league which they had not touched since the 1940s by narrowly and controversially finishing as runners-up to Juventus in 1980–81. Former Milan player Nils Liedholm was the manager at the time, with players such as Bruno Conti, Agostino Di Bartolomei, Roberto Pruzzo and Falcão.
The second Scudetto did not elude Roma for much longer. In 1982–83, the Roman club won the title for the first time in 41
Bologna F.C. 1909
Bologna Football Club 1909 referred to as Bologna, is an Italian football club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club are nicknamed the Rossoblu due to the red-and-blue striped shirts which they wear, which are the official colours of the city. Bologna were founding members of Serie A in 1929. During its history, the club has won the Italian league championship seven times, making them the sixth most successful team in the history of the league, they have participated in 72 Serie A championships out of 87 ninth in the ranking of the highest number of appearances of the formations in the highest Italian category. Bologna plays in Serie A, the highest level of the Italian football pyramid, for the fourth consecutive year. Since 1927 the team has been competing in its internal competitions in the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, born as Stadio del Littoriale and called, from the postwar period until 1983, Stadio Comunale; the stadium can host more than 38,000 spectators. Bologna Football Club's formation was orchestrated by Emilio Arnstein, an Austrian who became interested in football at university in Vienna and Prague.
He and his brother had founded another football club, Black Star, in Austria. The club was founded on 3 October 1909, in the Northern Italian city of Bologna. Upon its formation, Carlo Sandoni was the clubs sponsor and general manager, Swiss Louis Rauch became president, nobleman Guido Della Valle was the vice-president, Enrico Penaglia secretary, Sergio Lampronti cashier, while Emilio Arnstein and Leone Vincenzi were appointed councilmen. On 20 March 1910, Bologna played their first game, against Virtus, who wore white shirts. Bologna outclassed their opponents, winning 9–1; the first football squad featured. Their formative season was spent in the regional league under Arrigo Gradi as captain, Bologna won their league gaining promotion to a league named Group Veneto-Emiliano, they spent four seasons in this league. Bologna were entered into the Northern League before all football leagues were postponed for World War I. After the first war, Bologna began to become more successful. First reaching the semi-finals of the Northern Italian competition in 1919–20, they went one better the following season by reaching the Northern League finals, going out 2–1 to Pro Vercelli.
They would equal this again in coming runner up to eventual national champions Genoa. Bologna became Northern and National League champions for the first time during 1924–25, beating Genoa CFC after five hard-fought final matches to take the championship; the finals against the Ligurian giants were marred by heavy crowd troubles. A few seasons Bologna became champions of Italy for the second time in 1928–29 giving them a foothold in Italian football, building up a legacy, this was the last time the league was competed in the old system, Serie A was instated the following year; the Scudetto was won by Bologna four more times before World War II, these were achieved in. After World War II, the club was less successful. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the club floated between fourth and sixth position in the league, until they took the league title back in 1963–64. To date this remains their last Serie A championship; this qualified Bologna to the 1964–65 European Cup, but they were eliminated in the preliminary round against Anderlecht.
It was not all gloom for the club, however. The game was tense and finished 1–1 before going to a penalty shootout, where Bologna won 4–3. Beginning in the 1981–82 season, the club began to slide. First, they were relegated from Serie A after battling it out for survival with Genoa, they were relegated twice in succession and slid into Serie C1. They won their way out of C1 the next year, returned to Serie A for the 1988–89 season after four years of fighting it out in Serie B, they did not remain long, being relegated in 1991 and returning to Serie C1 in 1993. The club returned to Serie A for 1996. Two years Bologna tasted a slice of success on the European stage, winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup and playing in the UEFA Cup; the club remained in Serie A until the 2004 -- 05 campaign. Despite losing some key players, Bologna expected to be challenging for promotion from Serie B in the 2005–06 campaign. Despite its ambition, Bologna had a poor start to the season, causing the sacking of experienced coach Renzo Ulivieri, replaced by former Internazionale defender Andrea Mandorlini.
During this time, the team was sold by Giuseppe Gazzoni Frascara to Alfredo Cazzola, a local entrepreneur. Mandorlini, was not either able to bring Bologna up the Serie B table, was fired on 5 March 2006. Bologna ended the 2005–06 Serie B campaign in eighth place. In the 2006–07 season, Bologna ended with the seventh place: there were several clashes between chairman Cazzola and head coach Ulivieri, fired on 14 April 2007 and replaced by caretaker and former assistant coach Luca Cecconi. For the 2007–08 season, Bologna was led by Daniele Arrigoni, who helped the rossoblù achieve automatic promotion back to the top flight after finishing second in Serie B. During the summer of 2008, a club takeover was agreed between Cazzola and an American-based consortium.
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