| Full name | Parma Football Club S.p.A. | |||
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| Nickname(s) | I Crociati (The Crusaders) I Gialloblù (The Yellow and Blues) I Ducali (The Duchy Men) |
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| Founded | 27 July 1913, as Verdi Foot Ball Club | |||
| Ground | Stadio Ennio Tardini, Parma, Italy (Capacity: 27,906) |
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| President | Tommaso Ghirardi[1] | |||
| Head coach | Franco Colomba[1] | |||
| League | Serie A | |||
| 2010–11 | Serie A, 12th | |||
| Website | Club home page | |||
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| Current season | ||||
Parma Football Club (formerly Parma Associazione Calcio), commonly referred to as just Parma, is an Italian professional football club based in Parma, Emilia–Romagna that will compete in Serie A for the 2011–12 season, having finished in twelfth position last season. Founded as Verdi Foot Ball Club in July 1913, the club changed its name in December of the same year.[2] Parma have played their home matches in the 27,906-seat Stadio Ennio Tardini, often referred to as simply Il Tardini, since 1923.[3]
Although Parma have never won a domestic league title and never competed for major trophies until the 1990s, they have won three Italian Cups, one Supercoppa Italiana, as well as two UEFA Cups, one European Super Cup and one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.[4] The club won all eight of these trophies between 1992 and 2002, a period in which it is also achieved its best ever league finish – as runners-up in the 1996–97 season – and threatened the dominance of the league's established powers: Juventus, Milan and Internazionale, the only Italian sides to have had more success in European competition than Parma.[5]
More recently, Parma's financial troubles, brought on in late 2003 by the Parmalat scandal which caused the parent company to collapse and resulted in the club operating in controlled administration until January 2007, having to fight to stave off relegation and develop young players, rather than buy established players and compete for titles.[6][7] Despite the recent downturn in success, Parma is an associated member and one of eight Italian clubs who are a part of the European Club Association, a collection of Europe's most elite clubs representing clubs at a continental level, formed after the dissolution of the G–14.[8][9]
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The club was founded in July 1913 as Verdi Foot Ball Club in honour of famous opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, who was born in the province of Parma, adopting its yellow and blue as its In December of the year, the club changed its name to Parma Foot Ball Club and began wearing white shirts emblazoned with a black cross.[10] Parma began playing league football during the 1919–20 season and launched plans to build a stadium – Stadio Ennio Tardini – for the club two years later. Parma became founder members of Serie B after finishing runners-up in the Prima Divisione in the 1928–29 season, where would remain for three years before being relegated and changing name to Associazione Sportiva Parma. In the 1935–36 season, Parma became founding members of Serie C, where they would remain until they secured a return to Serie B in 1943.
Italian football was then brought to a halt as World War II intensified, although Parma did make an appearance in the Campianto Alta Italia in 1944. Following the restart of organised football, Parma enjoyed three years in Serie B, then split into two regional divisions, before again being relegated in 1948–49 to Serie C, where they would spend another five seasons before an eleven-year spell in Serie B, including the achievement of ninth position in 1954–55, a club record at that time. Parma also made their debut on the European stage during the 1960–61 season, defeating Swiss side AC Bellinzona in the Coppa delle Alpi, but relegation to Serie C followed in 1964–65 season. Parma spent just one season in Serie C before they were relegated for a second successive season and found themselves in Serie D in 1966. The club was in turmoil and, having been ordered into liquidation by the Court of Parma in 1968, and failure in 1969.
In 1968, another local team, A.C. Parmense won promotion to Serie D. In 1970, after the financial insolvency of the A.S. Parma, A.C. Parmense changed its name to Parma Associazione Calcio, bringing about a change of luck in both financial and sporting terms, as the side was coronated as Serie D champions and spent three years in Serie C before promotion to Serie B. However, it was a short stay as they were relegated back to Serie C in their second season in the division. A return to Serie B did not materialise until the end of the decade and again the club lasted only one season in the second division of Italian football.
Under the management of Parma Cesare Maldini once again returned to Serie B after winning their division in 1984 with victory on the final day of San Remo with Juventus-bound Stefano Pioli scoring the only goal of the game. The Ducali again only spent a year in Serie B, finishing third from bottom and succumbing to relegation as a consequence. Arrigo Sacchi did, however, manage to return the club to Serie B in 1986 after a single season in the third tier. The club finally managed to keep their place in the division under the direction of Zdeněk Zeman and Giampieri Vitali. Nevio Scala was appointed as head coach in 1989.
Scala's Parma secured a historic promotion in 1990 to Serie A, finishing fourth.[11] Scala supplemented the squad that achieved promotion from Serie B with players like Tomas Brolin and Claudio Taffarel, as Tanzi and his family increased their stake, eventually acquiring the club in the name of parent company Parmalat to promote its milk and dairy products.[11][12] Parma ended ther first ever season in Serie A in sixth place, qualifying for the UEFA Cup.[11] However, Parma exited the 1991–92 in the first round. The club had more success on the domestic front, finishing sixth in the league and prevailing in the Coppa Italia final after losing the away leg 1–0, but winning the second leg 2–0 at home. In 1992, Parma's squad was further improved by summer arrivals, which helped them to their first international triumph when goals from captain Lorenzo Minotti, Alessandro Melli and Stefano Cuoghi secured a 3–1 victory in the Cup Winners' Cup over Belgian side Antwerp at Wembley.[11][13] They also managed a record high finish of third place.
The following season, the club were successful in the European Super Cup, beating Milan.[11] Having lost the first leg 1–0 at home, an extra time goal from Massimo Crippa enough for 2–1 aggregate Parma victory. The same season, however, they lost the Cup Winners' Cup 1–0 in the final against Arsenal and slipped to 5th in the league. The next year, bolstered by further acquisitions,[11] Parma would again face Juventus in a two-legged final; this time in the UEFA Cup. Dino Baggio scored the only goal of the first leg – played in Parma – and he scored again in the second leg, which was staged in Milan, to give Parma a 2–1 aggregate win and a second major European trophy. Parma lost the two-legged Coppa Italia final to Juventus by the same scoreline. A trophy-less 1995–96 season meant that Nevio Scala was replaced by Carlo Ancelotti.
The team was again overhauled as Hernán Crespo, Enrico Chiesa and Zé Maria all signed, while Gianfranco Zola was sold to Chelsea for £4.5 million.[11][14][15] Ancelotti guided to a club record second place in 1997 and Parma consequently made their debut in the Champions League, but progress from the group stages was not completed. Coupled with a disappointing finish in fifth position in Serie A, this led to the job being passed to Alberto Malesani, who signed Juan Sebastián Verón from Sampdoria. Despite a disappointing finish in fourth place in Serie A, this season remains Parma's most successful ever, completing a rare cup double, winning the Coppa Italia final on the away goals rule after playing out two legs against Fiorentina as well as the UEFA Cup, after a comfortable 3–0 victory over Marseille at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
Italian Super Cup victory over league champions Milan was contrasted with early Champions League elimination at the hands of Rangers and a fifth-place finish in the league. The following summer saw the sale of Crespo to Lazio for a world record transfer fee. Parma's start to the following season led to the sacking of Malesani, a brief spell under Arrigo Sacchi and the appointment of new coach Renzo Ulivieri, who led the side to fourth in the league. Parma lost the Coppa Italia final to Fiorentina 2–1 on aggegrate in 2001 and Ulivieri was sacked in October of the next season after a poor start. Things did not improve under Daniel Passarella and he too was fired. Pietro Carmignani's subsequent appointment provided a third Coppa Italia trophy in 2002, yet again facing Juventus and emerging victorious on the away goals rule. Parma's success in the 1990s and early 2000s earned them a tag as one of the Seven Sisters.[16][17]
Cesare Prandelli was announced as the new man-in-charge in May 2002, but Parma continued to move on their top players and Parma slipped to defeat to Juventus in the 2002 Supercoppa Italiana, although the depleted squad did manage to finish above expectations in fifth place.[18][19] Despite the sale of Mutu, injury to Adriano, Parmalat's financial meltdown and the insolvency of the club – which led to a name change to Parma Football Club – Parma again finished fifth, in no small part due to 23-goal Alberto Gilardino.[6][17][20][21] Prandelli's departure as manager preceded the 2004–05 season and Parma plummeted to their lowest finish in Serie A – despite another 23-goal haul from Gilardino, who was then sold for €24m – as managers Silvio Baldini and Pietro Carmignani came and went.[16] Parma ended the following season in tenth, but the Calciopoli scandal meant re-classification to seventh and a UEFA Cup spot. Stefano Pioli was appointed manager as the 2006–07 season approached.
After years of corporate and financial crisis due to the Crac Parmalat, Parma A.C. was renamed to Parma F.C. in 2004. On 24 January 2007, Tommaso Ghirardi became the owner and president of Parma F.C. with the former owners still owing €81.1m in tax.[22] In February, second-bottom Parma fired head coach Pioli and replaced him with Claudio Ranieri who managed to avoid relegation to Serie B on the final day of the season and then resigned.[23][24] Parma again battled with relegation the following year and three different men – Domenico Di Carlo, Héctor Cúper and Andrea Manzo – took charge that season as Parma failed to preserve their Serie A status after eighteen years in the top flight.[25] Life in Serie B started badly under Luigi Cagni and he was replaced by Francesco Guidolin, who won promotion back to Serie A with a second-place finish. Parma managed to finish eighth on their return to Serie A in 2009–10, narrowly missing out on qualification for the Europa League. In the summer of 2010, head coach Guidolin left the club for Udinese, swapping jobs with Pasquale Marino.[26][27] Marino lasted until 3 April 2011, sacked with seven games to go and with Parma two points above the relegation zone with seven matches remaining, after ten months at the club.[28] Franco Colomba was named as his replacement two days later. Led by Colomba, Parma won fourteen of the twenty-one points available and celebrated avoiding relegation with two games to spare.[29]
Parma is characterised by having used two different colour schemes during its recent memory, as well as at their inception. Originally, the club wore yellow and blue chequered shirts in honour of the city's traditional colours, which date back to 1545 when the Duchy of Parma was established,[30] but white shirts with a black cross on the chest were introduced after the First World War, drawing inspiration from Juventus' colours, following a name change.[10] White continued to be worn as the main colour of the home kits for much of the remainder of the century, although often complemented with yellow, blue or both, rather than black. The club did, however, experiment in the 1950s with blue shirts and blue and yellow striped shirts. The cross shirts were restored and worn until bankruptcy in 1968, when white shirts with off-centre blue and yellow vertical bands were worn, but the cross returned from 1970 until 1983 when a blue-sleeved white shirts was introduced and used for 8 years..
After decades in the lower divisions, Parma were promoted to Serie A in 1990, where they immediately became a major force in the battle for major trophies, on many notable occasions in direct opposition to Juventus, who would become fierce rivals of Parma's. This rivalry rapidly led to the demotion of the white and black shirts to the away kit, so the side wore yellow and blue hooped shirts at home for six seasons between 1998 and 2004, with navy blue shirts often worn as third choice in this period. This was a time of great success for the club, thus the shirts have become synonymous with Parma, often still called the Gialloblu (Yellow and Blues) today, despite a recent reversion to the traditional white shirts emblazoned with a cross caused by parent company Parmalat's collapse and the clubs subsequent re-foundation as Parma Football Club. Yellow and blue are now normally Parma's away kit colours, used in various combinations since 2004, such as vertical stripes, hoops, crosses or as solid colour designs.[31]
Parma's logo changed in 2005 to reflect the name change from Parma A.C. to Parma F.C., but the logo otherwise remains the same, encompassing the city colours of yellow and blue and the club's traditional black cross set on a white background, and has not changed much in many years, although it was dramatically overhauled to feature a prancing bull for one season in 2000–01 before it was criticised and discontinued in favour of the old badge.
Parma initially had no permanent home, initially using the Piazza d'Armi, where two wooden posts constituted the frame of the goal. In December 1914, the club began to use land between the Via Emilia, the Eridania refinery and the Ferraguti factory, but it was sold, so the club returned to the Piazza d'Armi before transferring to the Tre Pioppi, the first fenced-off pitch in the city.[32] Parma moved into their current stadium, the Stadio Ennio Tardini, in 1923 and have called it home ever since, although the stadium has since been overhauled and altered drastically from the vision of Ennio Tardini, under whose auspices the stadium was to be built, but who died before completion of the venue.[2] Much of the renovation took place after the club's first promotion to Serie A at the start of the 1990s. The stadium's usable capacity stands at 27,906, but only 22,885 are authorised to enter at once following the 2009 death of Vicenza fan Eugene Bortolon in the Curva Sud.
Expansion or renovation plans are often discussed at the highest level of the club's hierarchy and the Comune di Parma, but no project has received unanimous support. This is partly because the football club rent the stadium and often have interests which conflict with those of the municipal authority. The currently tenancy expires in 2031. One project which both club and council had agreed on was the potential redevelopment for Italy's potential hosting of Euro 2016. The bid was eventually unsuccessfully, but included plans for an improved 31,397 all-seater stadium.[33] An alternative to the development of the Tardini is the construction of a new stadium. Recent reports suggest that the stadium is unfit for use in UEFA competitions due to the inadequacy of its seating.[34]
The first team train and play many of their home friendly matches at Centro Sportivo Parma Calcio, Collecchio, which is located 15.4 kilometres to the south-west of the stadium. Three of Parma's youth teams – the under-20s, the under-17s and the under-16s – play their home matches in the same complex. The arrangement spans 114,000 square metres and seven pitches, one of which includes a 1,200-seat grandstand, which sits atop the main building, which is home to a locker room, a therapy room, medical offices and a gym. It also houses the offices of both the manager and the president, as well as a press room. Recently, the installation of a pitch with synthetic grass in a caged area has been completed.[35] It will also be home to the club's administrative operations once construction of the new office is completed at the cost of €6.5 million.[36] The under-15s and below train at Campi Stuard.[37]
The supporters of Parma are represented by three main groups: il Centro di Coordinamento dei Parma Club (which represents the majority of the fanbase), l'Associazione Petitot and the club's ultras, Boys Parma, which was established on 3 August 1977 by young fans wanting to split from the Centro di Coordinamento and to encourage meetings with opposition fans.[38] The Boys Parma occupy the northern end of the home stadium, La Curva Nord, directly opposite to where the away fans sit in the south stand.[2] In 2008, the Curva Nord was re-named in honour of Boys Parma 1977 member Matteo Bagnaresi, who died when he was run over on the way to the Tardini by a coach which was carrying the opposition Juventus fans.[39] In a not uncommon practice, the number 12 shirt has been reserved for the Parma fans, meaning that no player is currently registered to play with that number on his kit for the club. The implication is that the supporters, particularly those of the famous Curva Nord, are the twelfth man. The last player to be registered with the number was Gabriele Giroli for the 2002–03 season. Parma's club anthem is Il grido di battaglia, which means The Battle Cry.[40] For 2011–12, Parma had 7,559 season ticket holders.[41]
Parma maintain several rivalries with regional and national clubs; some of these are keenly fought local derbies. Juventus are now considered Parma's greatest rivals largely due to their recent duels, which include Parma's 1995 UEFA Cup victory, their first and third Coppa Italia triumphs and Supercoppa Italiana defeats in 1995 and 2002, as well as their 1995 domestic cup final defeat to The Old Lady.[42][43] These six matches comprise nearly half of the fourteen major finals that Parma have participated in. Ironically, Parma's colours have their origins in those that Juventus wear, and the switch from white and black to a yellow and blue home kit in the late 1990s was initiated in order to distance and distinguish Parma from Juventus. Derby dell'Enza[44] opponents Reggiana are considered Parma's second biggest rivals due to their close proximity. The Derby dei Ducati[45] is contested against neighbours Modena. Parma also maintain keenly fought rivalries with Vicenza, Bologna[46] (with whom they contest the Derby d'Emilia[47] in the duel between Emilia–Romagna's two biggest clubs[48]) and Genoa, while Cremonese also remain rivals of Parma, despite playing in the third tier of Italian football – two divisions below Parma. The Derby del Ducato[49] is played against Piacenza.
In Italy, it is common for clubs to be twinned in an arrangement called gemellaggi. This is a practice uncommon elsewhere.[50] Parma enjoy amicable relations with Empoli in an arrangement that dates back to a game played in foggy conditions in 1984 that ended in the Parma fans congratulating those of Empoli on their win when the full-time whistle was blown without the Azzurri fans' knowledge.[51][52] Perhaps a more current bond is felt towards the fans of Sampdoria.[53]
Since January 2007, the club has been majority-owned Tommaso Ghirardi. Enrico Bondi had previously been put in charge of selling the club after parent company Parmalat's financial crisis and sold it to Ghirardi for less than €3m. Ghirardi owns roughly 70% of Parma through the club's parent company Eventi Sportivi S.p.A and Parma Football Club is a limited liability company. Alberto Rossi and Alberto Volpi each bought 5% of the club from Eventi Sportivi on 21 July 2011 for a combined €7.5m to reduce Ghirardi's ownership to the approximate figure of 70%.[54] €3m of equity was raised elsewhere to bring the total equity in the to €30,000,000.[55] The club is one of the members of the European Club Association, which was formed after the dissolution of the G-14, a smaller international group of Europe's most elite clubs of which Parma were not a part.[8][9]
On 26 August 2011, the club announced that it had liabilities of €109m on 30 June 2010, but assets worth €127,395,328.[55] The club reported a revenue of €43.6m for the 2009–10 season, profit on player sales of €34.7m and costs of €71.4m, meaning a post-tax loss of €2.4m. Post-tax losses in 2008–09, the season spent in Serie B, were €9.9m, but €3.01m profits were recorded in 2005–06.[56] Net assets of the club stand at €12.8m, while bank debts are €12.5m.[57] Excluding gate receipts and television income given to visiting clubs, as well as revenue from player loans, this revenue drops to around €37m, €5m of which is matchday revenue, €20m of which is television revenue and €12m of which is commercial revenue. These figures are largely unexceptional and make the club the 14th highest revenue in Serie A.[58] Director Pietro Leonardi noted that the profit made in January 2011 on player sales was enough to finally undo the economic damage that the 2008 relegation to Serie B caused.[59]
To improve the financial standing of the club, there are hopes to eventually buy the Stadio Ennio Tardini from the relevant municipal authority.[60] In September 2011, the club had the eleventh highest annual salary bill in Italian football, paying €23m to 27 players at an average of just over €16,000 per player per week.[61][62] From the 2011–12 season, Serie A clubs have collective television rights rather than individually negotiated rights for the first time since 1998–99, mimicking the world's most commercially successful league: the Premier League. The domestic rights to broadcast live matches for those two seasons were sold for €1.149bn to Sky Italia, while the domestic highlights package cost RAI €30m, and MP & Silva bought the worldwide rights for €181.5m.[63][64] These figures resulted in higher broadcasting revenues for Parma, with larger clubs suffering from the centralisation of the selling of rights, although clubs do not receive an equal share and Parma's recent and historical results, as well as the city's relative size, count against them in the assessment of exact shares. All of Parma's league matches are broadcast on Dahlia TV, but Mediaset Premium also air their away matches. Parma's Coppa Italia matches from the Round of 16 onwards are all shown on RAI.
Parma have had their kits manufactured and been sponsored by a variety of companies since 1981, including parent company Parmalat for a period of eight years.[30] Their kits are presently manufactured by the global Erreà sportswear brand, whose origins are in Torrile, which is approximately 13 kilometres north of Parma. The club's principal sponsor is clothing retailer Navigare. Local bank Banca Monte Parma is the secondary kit sponsor, while telecommunications giant Telecom Italia Mobile, German household retail group Vorwerk and Japanese electronics company Kyocera also maintain relationships with the club. The club have a variety of other less prominent partnerships.[65]
| Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
|---|---|---|
| 1981–87 | Umbro | Prosciutto Parma |
| 1987–95 | Parmalat | |
| 1995–98 | Puma | |
| 1998–99 | Lotto | |
| 1999–00 | Champion | |
| 2000–01 | Parmalat, Mr Day | |
| 2001–02 | Joy, Parmalat, Santal | |
| 2002–03 | Parmalat, Santal | |
| 2003–04 | Parmalat, Santal, Cariparma | |
| 2004–05 | Champion | |
| 2005–06 | Champion, Erreà | Fidenza Village, ABO Project, Tecnocasa, Silver Cross |
| 2006–07 | Erreà | Gimoka, Play Radio |
| 2007–08 | Kome, Il Granchio, Gondolino, Coreggio | |
| 2008–09 | Banca Monte Parma, Metella | |
| 2009–12 | Navigare, Banca Monte Parma |
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
12 – Since the 2002–03 season, Curva Nord of the Stadio Ennio Tardini, as a sign of recognition towards the fans who sit in the Curva Nord, considered the 12th man in the pitch.
For information on Parma's youth teams, see Parma F.C. Youth Sector.
For details of former players, see List of Parma F.C. players and Category:Parma F.C. players.
For a list of club captains, see List of Parma F.C. players#Club captains.
For player records, including player awards, see Parma F.C. statistics and records.
Parma have had numerous presidents over the course of their history; here is a complete list of them:[100]
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Below is a list of Parma managers since the end of the First World War until the present day.[100]
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Parma have won eight major titles in their history, with all eight coming in a period of ten years between 1992 and 2002.[4] These honours make them the tenth most successful team in Italian football history in terms of the number of major trophies won, the fourth most successful team on the European stage, after Milan, Juventus and Inter, and, along with Milan, the only club in Italy to have won more international than domestic honours.
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!["Gli ingaggi lordi delle squadre di Serie A in milioni di euro [The payrolls of Serie A club in millions of euros]"](http://i033.radikal.ru/1109/d9/3e898795b1cf.jpg){kind=link}
!["Parma: 23 milioni [Parma: 23 million]"](http://s48.radikal.ru/i119/1109/cc/081806ca45a7.jpg){kind=link}