Parma A.C. (Associazione
Calcio) is an Italian football club based in Parma,
nicknamed the Gialloblu. Its home kit consists of blue and
yellow hooped jerseys in the traditional rugby shirt style,
yellow shorts and blue socks. They play in all white away
from home. The club's stadium is the 29,050 seater Stadio
Comunale Ennio Tardini.
The club was founded in 1913 as Verdi AC in honour of the
birthplace of famous opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, but the
name was soon changed to that of the town. The club was
undistinguished, moving between Serie B and Serie C before
falling into the semi-professional leagues in the late
1960s. Following a flurry of owners and name changes, the
club became Parma A.C in 1970 through the merger of A.C.
Parmense and Parma A.C. The club crept back into
professional football but was uninspired until the 1980s. In
1985, Arrigo Sacchi became the club's manager and led them
to the Serie C1 championship, he left it in mid-table of
Serie B and the club drifted before the arrival of Nevio
Scala. Scala brought the club into the top flight in 1990
and attracted a number of skilled foreigners. This
achievement was paid for by the multinational dairy concern
Parmalat, who had become the club's new sponsor and taken a
45% stake. Success in cup football and high league finishes
in the early 1990s attracted other stars, with the likes of
Fabio Cannavaro, Gianfranco Zola, Dino Baggio and Diego
Fuser joining. Scala jumped ship in 1996 and was replaced by
Carlo Ancelotti. He took the club to its best ever league
finish in 1997, second place and only one point behind the
champions. Following Parmalat's financial scandal in 2003-04
the future of the football club is uncertain.
In all the club has won the Coppa Italia three times
(1991-92, 1998-99, 2001-02), the SuperCoppa Italiana once
(1999), the Cup Winners' Cup once (1992-93) and the UEFA Cup
twice (1994-95, 1998-99).
Famous players have included Diego Fuser, Hernán Crespo,
Fabio Cannavaro, Gianfranco Zola, Dino Baggio, Juan
Sebastian Veron, Ivo Cocconi, Lilian Thuram, Gianluigi
Buffon, Hidetoshi Nakata, Claudio Taffarel and Faustino
Asprilla. |