FC Parma - The Legend

Parma Football Club (formerly Parma Associazione Calcio) is an Italian football club based in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, that are competing in the 2009-10 Serie A season. The club plays its home matches in the 27,906 seat Stadio Ennio Tardini. Nicknames include Ducali (The Duchy Men), Crociati (Crusaders) and Gialloblu (Yellow-Blues).

Parma debuted in Serie A in 1990 and would quickly establish themselves as a top-flight team in Italian football from then on. The team became one of the top Italian teams in the 1990s and early 2000s, especially in the domestic and European Cup competitions, having been crowned UEFA Cup champions. Following the Parmalat scandal in late 2003, which caused the owning company to collapse, Parma has lately experienced a troubled period, having been under controlled administration until January 2007 as well as having to fight to avoid relegation.


History
The club was founded in July 1913 as Verdi Football Club: it was named so in honour of famous opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, who was born in the province of Parma. By December of the same year, the club had changed its name to Parma Football Club.

Parma began playing league football during the 1919-20 season. In their first season, they ended up second in the qualifying matches for the Emilian Championship. They achieved their first promotion from their regional league during the 1924-25 season, moving them from the second to the first division. A few short seasons later, during 1928-29, they won the first division and were promoted, becoming founding members of Serie B.

Serie B and C
The early years of the 1930s were spent by the club in Serie B and around this time they changed the club name to A.S. Parma. In 1932, Parma were relegated and became founding members of Serie C, where they spent the rest of the decade.

After a long decade of trying to gain promotion back into Serie B, they achieved it in the 1941-42 season. Italian football was postponed due to World War II but after it was continued, Parma played another three seasons in Serie B before being relegated once more in 1948-49. Then, they spent another five seasons in Serie C where they ended up in second place on two occasions before gaining promotion once again in 1953-54.

Following this promotion, one of the most successful periods in the club's history began: in 1954-55, they ended up ninth (a record for the club at the time). A notable star during this period was Ivo Cocconi who broke the club's appearance record, playing 308 times. Parma made their debut on the European stage during the 1960-61 season, defeating Swiss side AC Bellinzona in the Coppa delle Alpi. The club's form dropped, however, and they were once again relegated to Serie C in the 1964-65 season finishing last.

League yo-yo-ing: 70s and 80s
By the end of the 1960s, Parma were in Serie D, falling into relative turmoil by the club's standards; they changed their name on numerous occasions until finally settling for Associazione Calcio Parma in 1967-68. In the summer of 1969, another local club, AC Parmense, was merged with Parma to form one team.

The club crept back into professional football with promotion back to Serie B during the 1972-73 season, spending three solid seasons in the league and finishing as high as 5th (which set a new club record). However, relegation soon returned to the club and they stayed in Serie C until their eventual promotion under Cesare Maldini in 1978-79. They beat Triestina in a play-off match, thanks to two goals from a young Carlo Ancelotti.

However, they only lasted a season in Serie B and began the 1980s back down in Serie C. They came back up as champions in 1984 but were once again relegated, yo-yoing between the leagues. They returned to B under Arrigo Sacchi for the 1986-87 season and remained there for the rest of the 1980s. After making an impression at Parma, Sacchi was scouted by AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi, who brought him to become the new Rossoneri coach.

Parmalat years: UEFA Cup and Serie A
stepped into Sacchi's place as the new manager of Parma. Scala brought the club into the top flight for the first time in the club's history, on 27 May 1990. Parma beat their old rivals Reggiana 2-0 at home to secure it, thanks to goals from Marco Osio and Alessandro Melli. Their first ever game in Serie A was a 2-1 defeat at home to Turin giants Juventus. Their first Serie A victory came 15 days later, against Diego Maradona's Napoli; the game ended 1-0.

* Promotion team 1989-90

1. Giacomo Zunico
2. Cornelio Donati
3. Enzo Gambaro
4. Lorenzo Minotti
5. Luigi Apolloni
6. Massimo Susic
7. Alessandro Melli
8. Tarcisio Catanese
9. Marco Osio
10. Fausto Pizzi
11. Maurizio Ganz

The promotion attracted many foreign talents to the club; this achievement was paid for by the multinational dairy concern Parmalat controlled by the Tanzi family, who had become the club's new sponsor in addition to buying a 45% stake. A new era for Parma had begun, described by fans as the club's "Golden Period".

Parma ended ther first ever season in Serie A in sixth place, which meant they qualified for the UEFA Cup. However, the 1991-92 season saw Parma exit from the UEFA Cup to CSKA Sofia. Domestically, the club was having more success, securing the Italian Cup with a 2-0 victory against Juventus. An Italian player at the club, Alberto Di Chiara, was called up to the national side.

Parma's first international throphy was won in 1992-93 where they won the Cup Winners' Cup, beating Royal Antwerp 3-1 at Wembley Stadium in England on 12 May 1993. The following season, the club were successful in the European Super Cup; winning an all Italian final 2-0 over AC Milan. The same season, however, they lost the Cup Winners' Cup 1-0 in the final against Arsenal. The 1994–95 season saw perhaps their greatest achievement to date, when they beat Italian rivals Juventus in the UEFA Cup Final.

Success in cup football and high league finishes in the early 1990s attracted other stars, with the likes of Tomas Brolin, Hristo Stoichkov, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianfranco Zola, Faustino Asprilla, Dino Baggio, Hernán Crespo, Enrico Chiesa, and Diego Fuser joining the club. 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 Juventus.

Parma were unable to put their form into effect within the Champions League, however; they also only followed up their league position with a 6th place. Under Alberto Malesani in 1998-99, the team won the Coppa Italia against Fiorentina. He also took the club to their second UEFA Cup final victory, this time they beat Olympique de Marseille 3-0, with goals from Crespo, Vanoli and Chiesa.


Financial troubles and Serie B return: 2000s
Parma started off the 1999-00 season well, winning the Italian Super Cup, but they were knocked out of the Champions League early and ended the season in fourth place, level with Internazionale but lost the play-off 3-1.

Arrigo Sacchi returned to the club as manager in January 2001, but the former Italy coach soon stepped down due to ill-health. Renzo Ulivieri took over and took the side to fourth in the league once more and another Champions League qualification although they lost the Coppa Italia finals to Fiorentina.

2001–02

At the end of the season, Parma sold Gianluigi Buffon, Lilian Thuram, Sérgio Conceição, and Márcio Amoroso; signed Sébastien Frey, Matteo Ferrari, Martin Djetou, Aimo Diana, Marco Marchionni, Hidetoshi Nakata, and Emiliano Bonazzoli as replacement.

Another manager change came for the 2001-02 season as Pietro Carmignani took Parma to another Coppa Italia triumph. They beat Juventus 1-0 at home before losing 2-1 in Turin; they won the trophy via the away goals rule, this was Parma's third time winning the Italian Cup.

2002–03

Again, the winning players were turned for cash: Fabio Cannavaro was sold to Internazionale, Marco Di Vaio to Juventus, and Johan Micoud to Werder Bremen. In exchange, players such as Daniele Bonera, Matteo Brighi, Mark Bresciano, Adriano, Adrian Mutu, and Alberto Gilardino were signed. Moreover, Matías Almeyda was swapped for Vratislav Greško as well as Luigi Sartor for Sebastiano Siviglia.

2003–04

In the Summer 2003, Adrian Mutu left for Chelsea for a fee of £15.8 million, while Aimo Diana left for Sampdoria; Stephen Appiah for Juventus; and Sabri Lamouchi was swapped for Domenico Morfeo.

Although the team's sponsor Parmalat was facing financial scandal during the season, Parma finished 5th.

2004–05

Once again, players left for other teams: Hidetoshi Nakata for Fiorentina, Simone Barone for Palermo, Matteo Ferrari for Roma, while Cesare Bovo, Alessandro Potenza, and Alessandro Budel were loaned from Roma, Internazionale, and AC Milan, respectively. Also added to the young talent squad were Fábio Simplício and Vince Grella.

Silvio Baldini was appointed as coach, but later Carmignani was in charge again.

Parma played a fair 2004–05 season, led by team stars such as Sébastien Frey, Alberto Gilardino, Andrea Pisanu, Marco Marchionni, Domenico Morfeo, and Mark Bresciano, and were able to avoid relegation in advance of four matches to the end of the championship. They reached the semi-final of UEFA Cup in 2004-05.

2005–06

Capital problems came to a head in the 2005-06 season: In the transfer market, Frey and Gilardino were sold, but Parma was only able to acquire (through loan) Cristiano Lupatelli and Bernardo Corradi as replacement. The team also announced it was to be bought in 2005 by former Real Madrid chairman Lorenzo Sanz, and was reincorporated at that time as Parma Football Club. However, successively Sanz renounced to conclude the bid. Mario Beretta was appointed as new coach. Despite all their troubles, Parma finished mid-table and later qualified for the UEFA Cup 2005-06 due to the 2006 Italian football scandal.

2006–07

Annual sale of Parma turned to Daniele Bonera, Mark Bresciano, and Fábio Simplício. With the cash, Igor Budan, Andrea Gasbarroni, and Vitali Kutuzov were signed.

On 24 January 2007, Tommaso Ghirardi was announced as new owner of Parma FC, following a public auction sale.[1] Ghirardi, a 31-year-old entrepreneur and owner of Serie C2 club AC Carpenedolo, became also chairman of Parma FC, ending three years of state-controlled management. On 12 February, second-last placed Parma fired head coach Pioli and replaced him with Claudio Ranieri who, against overwhelming odds, managed to avoid relegation to Serie B on the final day of the season.[2]

2007–08

In the 2007–08 season, Parma again battled with relegation, presenting three different head coaches (Domenico Di Carlo, Héctor Cúper, and caretaker Andrea Manzo) during the whole season, but were ultimately unable to preserve their Serie A status, losing 2–0 at home to champions Internazionale on the final day of the season, consigning them to Serie B football next season.

Reginaldo and Cristiano Lucarelli were the only major transfer, along with the loan move of Corradi.

2008-09

Selling youngster Daniele Dessena and Luca Cigarini became cash flow of Parma. Milan youngster Luca Antonelli and Alberto Paloschi were also bought. Andrea Gasbarroni was exchanged with Julio César de León.

With a 2-2 draw on 16 May 2009, Parma were automatically promoted back to Serie A with two games left to play.

taken from here.