Jump to content

ACF Fiorentina

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by BigKahunaMan (talk | contribs) at 19:56, 14 July 2006 (→History). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Fiorentina
logo
Full nameACF Fiorentina SpA
Nickname(s)Viola (Purple)
FoundedAugust 26, 1926 (AC Fiorentina)
2002 (ACF Fiorentina)
GroundStadio Artemio Franchi,
Florence, Italy
Capacity47,282
ChairmanDiego Della Valle
ManagerItaly Cesare Prandelli
LeagueSerie B
2005-06Serie A, 4th

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 1955-1956, the club were runners-up in the four following seasons. In the 1960-1961 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 1968-1969 season. In 1974 the Viola won the Anglo-Italian 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 2001-2002 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 2002-2003 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, one of the lower tiers in 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 2002-2003 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 2003-2004 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 have 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 Jorgensen, Fiore and key marksman Luca Toni with Frey in goal has proved to be dominant 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.

Fiorentina's position in Serie A is currently in doubt due to the Serie A Scandal of 2006. Along with Juventus, A.C. Milan, and Lazio, the club has been accused of rigging games via manipulation of the referee selection process; individual players were also accused of illegally betting on games. As yet, there has been no final determination on Fiorentina's guilt or innocence in the case, though the club has denied any wrongdoing.[1] Prosecutor Stefano Palazzi has asked the tribunal to relegate Fiorentina (along with Milan and Lazio) to Serie B, and Juventus to Serie C, along with points docked to start the 2006-07 season, should guilt be positively established.

Also embroiled in the scandal is Fiorentina's owner, Diego Della Valle, who is charged with sporting fraud in connection with a conversation he had with a former Italian Football Federation official in charge of the 2004-05 season referee draw (presumably with regard to the club's chances of relegation in that season, as noted above).[2] Della Valle has denied guilt and claims the club is a victim of the process. Should he be found guilty, Palazzi has asked the tribunal to ban Della Valle from football for five years.

Besides the club's spot in Serie A, Fiorentina's place in the UEFA Champions League 2006-07 is also at stake. By virtue of their fourth place finish in Serie A, Fiorentina qualified for placement in the UEFA Champions League's Third Qualifying Round, but the Italian Football Federation has not been able to confirm the Italian participants in the Champions League or the UEFA Cup due to the ongoing possibility that the accused clubs may be relegated to Serie B or C. UEFA later gave the Italian Football Federation a deadline of July 27, 2006 to submit a final list of participants.[3]

On July 14 2006 Fiorentina were relegated to Serie B. They were also penalised with a 12 point handicap for next season, and were also banned from the next Champions League competition. [4]

Honours

Serie A winners

  • 1955/56
  • 1968/69

Coppa Italia winners

Coppa Italia runner-up

  • 1958
  • 1959/1960
  • 1970/1971
  • 1998/1999 [5]

Cup Winners' Cup winners

Cup Winners' Cup runners up

Champions' League runners up

  • 1956/57

UEFA Cup runners up

  • 1989/1990

Current first team squad

As of February 3, 2006 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 France FRA Sebastien Frey
2 DF Denmark DEN Per Krøldrup
3 DF Italy ITA Dario Dainelli (captain)
4 MF Italy ITA Marco Donadel
5 DF Italy ITA Alessandro Gamberini
6 MF Italy ITA Andrea Paolucci (on loan from Pescara)
7 MF Brazil BRA Guilherme Raymundo do Prado
8 FW Bulgaria BUL Valeri Bojinov
10 MF Italy ITA Stefano Fiore (on loan from Valencia)
11 FW Italy ITA Samuel Di Carmine (from youth team)
13 GK Italy ITA Marco Roccati
14 DF Italy ITA Davide Brivio (from youth team)
16 MF Brazil BRA Enrique David Mateo (from youth team)
17 MF Italy ITA Michele Pazienza (on loan from Udinese)
18 MF Italy ITA Riccardo Montolivo
No. Pos. Nation Player
19 MF Chile CHI Luis Jiménez
20 MF Denmark DEN Martin Jørgensen
21 DF Czech Republic CZE Tomáš Ujfaluši
22 GK Romania ROU Bogdan Lobonţ
23 MF Italy ITA Manuel Pasqual
24 Italy ITA Dario D'Ambrosio (from youth team)
26 MF Italy ITA Giuseppe Pancaro
27 DF Italy ITA Marco Di Loreto
29 FW Italy ITA Gianpaolo Pazzini
30 FW Italy ITA Luca Toni
32 MF Italy ITA Cristian Brocchi (on loan from AC Milan)
33 GK Italy ITA Niccolò Manfredini (from youth team)
99 GK Italy ITA Gianluca Berti (on loan from Empoli)

2006/2007 transfers

Note: these transfers will not be effective before the opening of the transfer market.

In

1 GK France FRA Sebastien Frey (from Parma)
23 DF Italy ITA Manuel Pasqual (from Arezzo) (co-ownership in favour Fiorentina)
25 GK Serbia SRB Vlada Avramov (from Vicenza)
6 DF Italy ITA Alessandro Potenza (from Internazionale)
11 MF Italy ITA Fabio Liverani (from Lazio)
17 MF Italy ITA Manuele Blasi (on loan from Juventus)
19 MF Italy ITA Massimo Gobbi (from Treviso)
— MF Italy ITA Michele Pazienza (loan extended from Udinese)
81 MF Argentina ARG Mario Alberto Santana (from Palermo)
83 FW Brazil BRA Reginaldo (from Udinese) (co-ownership change from Udinese & Treviso to Fiorentina & Treviso)
10 FW Romania ROU Adrian Mutu (from Juventus)

Out

6 MF Italy ITA Andrea Paolucci (return to Pescara)
8 FW Bulgaria BUL Valeri Bojinov (on loan to Juventus)
10 MF Italy ITA Stefano Fiore (return to Valencia)
19 MF Chile CHI Luis Jiménez (to Ternana) (co-ownership resolved in favour of Ternana)
25 MF Uruguay URU Gianni Guigou (to Treviso)
26 DF Italy ITA Giuseppe Pancaro (to Torino F.C.)
32 MF Italy ITA Cristian Brocchi (return to AC Milan)
99 GK Italy ITA Gianluca Berti (return to Empoli, to Sampdoria)
— MF Japan JPN Hidetoshi Nakata (retired)
— DF Italy ITA Christian Maggio (on loan to Sampdoria)
— MF Italy ITA Francesco Parravicini (to Palermo) (co-ownership)
— MF Italy ITA Andrea De Falco (to Pescara) (co-ownership)

Famous players

1950s & 1960s

1970s to 1980s

1990s to present

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ACF_Fiorentina&oldid=63838471"