Parma F.C.

Parma Football Club (formerly Parma Associazione Calcio) is an Italian football club based in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, nicknamed the Crociati (Crusaders) and the Gialloblu (Yellow-Blues). The club's stadium is the 29,050 seater Stadio Comunale Ennio Tardini.

History

The club was founded in 1913 as Verdi FC in honour of the birthplace of famous opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, but the name was changed to Parma FC at the end of the same year. 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 AC in 1970 through the merger of AC Parmense and the old Parma AC. 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, Faustino Asprilla, Dino Baggio, Hernan Crespo, Enrico Chiesa, 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 team announced to be bought in 2005 by former Real Madrid chairman Lorenzo Sanz, and was reincorporated at that time as Parma Football Club. However, Sanz renounced to conclude the bid, so the team is still officially part of Parmalat, and led by a temporary administration awaiting for a purchaser. Despite all this troubles, Parma FC played a fairly good season, led by team stars such as Marco Marchionni, Domenico Morfeo and Mark Bresciano, and managed by head coach Mario Beretta, being able to avoid relegation in advance of four matches to the end of the championship. Beretta left Parma after the end of the season, and Stefano Pioli, from Modena F.C., was appointed as his replacement.