A.S. Roma (Associazione
Sportiva Roma) is a Italian football club. Nicknamed the
giallorossi, it plays in Serie A. Roma's home uniforms are
dark red shirts with dark yellow borders, white shorts and
black socks.
A.S. Roma was founded in July 1927, when Rome already had
three teams in the Italian football league - Alba, Fortitudo
and Lazio. The Fascist regime's idea at the time was to
merge all the Rome clubs into one which the many newly-arrived
immigrants could identify with, Lazio considered very much a
patrician club of the Roman social elite, and strong enough
to challenge the northerners. Lazio refused even a meeting
but Alba, Pro Roma, Fortitudo and Roman attended and Roma
was formed. Roma was named after the city and with the red
and yellow strip of the Roman club. The initial stadium was
Motovelodromo Appio. They took part in their first league in
the 1929-30 season.
A.S. Roma won their first scudetto in the 1941-42 season.
The second was won in the 1982-83 season and the third in
2000-01. They were runners-up in 1930-31, 1935-36, 1980-81,
1983-84, 1985-86, 2001-02 and 2003-04. They were relegated
only once, at the end of the 1950-51 season.
The club has won the Coppa Italia seven times: 1963-64,
1968-69, 1979-80, 1980-81, 1983-84, 1985-86, and 1990-91,
and the UEFA Cup (Fairs Cup) once in 1960-61, defeating
Birmingham City.
The current stadium is the 82,656 seater Stadio Olimpico,
which they share with S.S. Lazio. The two teams compete
against one another each year in the Rome derby, a major and
emotional event in Italian soccer.
Famous players have included: Amadeo Amadei, Angelo Sormani,
Roberto Pruzzo, Bruno Conti, Paulo Roberto Falcăo, Rudi
Völler, Giuseppe Giannini, Hidetoshi Nakata, Gabriel
Batistuta and Emerson. Current stars include Christian Chivu,
Antonio Cassano and Francesco Totti. |