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S.S. Lazio (Italian: Società Sportiva Lazio SpA) is an Italian football club based in Rome, Latium. They are known as the biancocelesti. They play in light blue shirts, with white shorts and socks.

History

Early years

The club was founded on January 9, 1900 as Società Podistica Lazio. The name Lazio was taken from the Latin word "Latium", which means "wide", in fact, Lazio is the name of the region which contains Rome. The sky blue and white team colors were inspired by the Greek flag and the country which gave birth to Olympic tradition; the eagle as an acknowledgement by its founders to the symbol of the Roman Empire. Lazio is the first team of the city of Rome.

The club was founded as an athletics club, however a football section was added in 1902. In fact, Lazio is today the biggest sports club in Europe with 34 disciplines ranging from cricket to basketball to parachute jumping.

Lazio did not join the league competition until 1913 though it reached the final of the national championship playoff a number of times but never won, losing badly twice: 9-1 (on aggregate) to Casale in 1914 and 6-1 (on aggregate) to Genoa 1893 in 1923.

The club played in the first organized Serie A, with a second place, in 1937, as its highest pre-war result. After World War II the club performed modestly overall in the league and won its first Coppa Italia in 1958. Lazio, however, did wait until 1974 for its first scudetto, won by a team whose leading members were striker Giorgio Chinaglia, defender and captain Giuseppe Wilson, midfielder Luciano Re Cecconi, and coach Tommaso Maestrelli.

The 1950s

Lazio were unrelegated between 1929 and 1961, with the 1950s producing a series of depressing performances in Serie A with only 3rd place in 1957 and an Italian Cup win in 1958.

The 1960s and 1970s

Lazio were in decline at the start of the 1960s with its first relegation in 1961 in the "serie B", but they returned two years later. Under Argentine coach Juan Carlos Lorenzo, Lazio's tight defence ensured a credible 9th place in 1964 with a paltry 21 goals scored and 24 conceded. A 3-0 away win over Juventus was a highlight of the season. Stars of the side in those years included midfielder Nelo Governato. After a few more desperate seasons, Lazio were relegated in 1967 only to return once more in 1969 with a respectable 8th place finish following.

The 1970s began just as the 1960s did, with relegation. But promotion the following year ushered in Lazio's first truly successful period. They took to the field in the 1972-73 season with a team comprising Pino Wilson in defence, Luciano Re Cecconi and Mario Frustalupi in midfield, Renzo Garlaschelli and Giorgio Chinaglia up front. With Chinaglia providing the goals and the defence giving little away, Lazio emerged as surprise challengers for the Scudetto to Milan and Juventus, only losing out on the final day of the season after conceding a late goal at Napoli (whilst Juventus left it late to secure a win at Lazio's bitter rivals Roma).

It served as a prelude to a breakthrough for the 1973-74 season, when Lazio would sweep all before them to win their first League title, leading throughout the season. Unfortunately this was not built upon, as 4th place the following year would be followed by struggles against relegation in 1975-76 and 1977-78 (with 5th place in between). The tragic death of Re Cecconi and departure of Chinaglia would be a double blow for Lazio, but the emergence of Bruno Giordano during this period provided comfort: he finished League top scorer in 1979, when Lazio finished 8th.

The 1980s and the 1990s

Lazio were forcibly relegated to Serie B in 1980 after a remarkable scandal about illegal bets on their own matches, along with Milan. They remained down for three seasons in what would mark the darkest period in Lazio's history. They would be return in 1983 and managed a last-day escape from relegation the following season. 1984-85 would prove most harrowing, with a pitiful 15 points and bottom place despite the emergence of promising (albeit unfulfilled) talent such as Francesco Dell'Anno and Francesco Fonte.

In 1986, Lazio were hit with a 9-point deduction for yet another corruption scandal. A struggle against relegation followed, only escaping after a play-off win over Campobasso. This would prove a turning point in the club's history, with Lazio returning to Serie A in 1988 and under the careful financial management of Gianmarco Calleri consolidated the club's position as a solid top-flight club.

But the arrival of Sergio Cragnotti, in 1992, changed the club's history for some time as he was prepared to invest long term in new players for the club in order to make the team a competitor on the Serie A level. In 1993 Lazio finished fifth in Serie A, fourth in 1994, second in 1995, third in 1996, and fourth again in 1997, then it lost the championship just by one point to AC Milan on the last championship's match in 1999 before finally winning its second scudetto in 2000, as well as the Italian Cup in an impressive and rare (by Italian standards) "double" with Sven-Göran Eriksson (1997-2001) as manager. In addition to the aforementioned one, Lazio had two other Coppa Italia triumphs in recent years, in 1998 and 2004. Lazio also won the last ever UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1999 and reached the UEFA Cup final in 1998, but lost 0-3 against Inter Milan. Lazio won the Italian Super Cup twice and defeated Manchester United in 2000 to win the European Super Cup. Lazio was also the first Italian football club to be quoted on the Italian Piazza Affari stock market.

Recent years

A financial scandal involving Cragnotti and his food products multinational Cirio forced him to leave the club in 2002, and Lazio was controlled until 2004 by caretaker financial managers and a bank pool. It was subsequently sold to enterpreneur Claudio Lotito, who is the current majority share owner. That summer, 36-year old former Lazio star Paolo Di Canio accepted to join the club he supported as a youth, taking a 75% paycut. The 2005-2006 season saw Lazio lose veterans such as Fernando Couto, Paolo Negro and Giuliano Giannichedda who were let go by the club, among other things, to lower its salary expenditure. The current season under the coaching of Delio Rossi has seen the club compete beyond all expectations with a team which blends remaining veterans such as Angelo Peruzzi and midfield fan favorites Fabio Liverani and Ousmane Dabo with an infusion of motivated players with lower salary demands. The policy has proven to be a successful as the club has just qualified for next season's UEFA Cup.

On July 14, it was announced that they had been relegated to Serie B with a 7 point penalty for their involvement in match-fixing scandal.

Supporters

The club plays at the 82,656 seater Stadio Olimpico, shared with A.S. Roma. The two teams play one another each year in the Rome derby, a fiery, emotional match often marked with tension and occasional crowd trouble in and around the stadium. Two extreme incidents in particular have left their mark on the history of this fixture. In 1979, Lazio fan Vincenzo Paparelli was hit in the eye and killed by a flare fired by a Roma fan from the opposite end of the stadium (entering in Italian history as the first fatal episode of football-related violence) and in 2003 an unprecedented event occurred when the Roma Ultras forced the game to be suspended after spreading false rumours among the crowd present that a child had been killed by the police prior to the beginning of the game. Last season, Lazio won the first leg of the derby 3-1, while the second leg was a 0-0 draw. During the 2005-2006 season the first leg of the derby ended in a 1-1 draw, while the second leg was won 2-0 by AS Roma.

Lazio's ultras fanbase has been the object of a certain amount of media scrutiny over the past few years and in particular the right-wing label which is often used to describe it. Particularly, Lazio's hardcore ultras (the "Irriducibili", in particular) have acquired some notoriety over the years for the association of some of its members with the Italian extra-parliamentary far right, and more specifically for alleged recruitment activity among fans. The group has also been criticised for the display of racist and anti-Semitic banners, as well as a particularly notorious one in February 2000 commemorating Serbian paramilitary Arkan.

Generally speaking, Lazio draws most of its core support from Rome's northern neighborhoods (Prati, Parioli, Salario, Nomentano, etc.) and its support is traditionally linked to Rome's upper-middle class which has always given it an "aristocratic" appeal.

Current first team squad

As of February 5, 2006

Squad change during 06/07 season

In:

Out:

(end of loan spell)

Famous players

     

Team honors

External links

Italian football clubs | Sport in Rome | Lazio | 1900 establishments

نادي لاتزيو | Лацио (отбор) | SS Lazio | S.S. Lazio | Lazio Rom | Società Sportiva Lazio | SS Lazio | Società Sportiva Lazio | לאציו (כדורגל) | SS Lazio | SSラツィオ | Lazio Rzym | Società Sportiva Lazio | Лацио Рим (футбольный клуб) | S.S. Lazio | SS Lazio | SS Lazio | S.S. Lazio | 拉素體育會

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "S.S. Lazio".

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