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A.S. Roma

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Associazione Sportiva Roma (ISEQ: [IT0001008876]) is an Italian football club and the major in Rome and in central part of Italy. Nicknamed the giallorossi (yellow-reds), they currently play in Serie A. Roma's home uniforms are purple red shirts with golden yellow borders, white shorts and black socks.

The emblem of the team is the capitoline she-wolf lactating twins, symbol of Rome, superimposed a bipartite golden-yellow over red shield; official colors are the same as those of the city of Rome, red for imperial dignity, and gold which represents God in Christianity.

Contents

History

Foundation

A.S. Roma was founded in July 1927. The city of Rome already had five teams in the Italian football league (Alba, Fortitudo, Pro Roma, Roman F.C. and Lazio), however the Fascist regime wanted to merge the latter into one which the working classes could identify with and strong enough to challenge the traditional northern teams to reinforce Rome's image as regime capital for propaganda purposes. Lazio management refused to even discuss the matter, but Alba, Pro Roma, Fortitudo and Roman agreed to merge and thus Roma was founded. Roma was named according to the city and with the typical red and yellow strips of Rome. Their first stadium was Motovelodromo Appio. The following grounds have been Testaccio, Stadio Flaminio and Stadio Olimpico (the latter was built in 1952).

AS Roma took part in their first national league in the 1929-30 season and won their first Scudetto in 1941-42. The second one 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, returning to Serie A the next season.

1950s to 1970s

After returning to Serie A in 1952, Roma spent the remainder 1950s and early 1960s in the top half of Serie A. From 1963 to 1979 AS Roma endured a period of mediocrity with 3rd place in 1974-75 being the best they could manage, punctured by either mid-table mediocrity or flirtation with relegation. Notable players in this period include defender Giacomo Losi and midfielders Franco Cordova and Giancarlo De Sisti.

1970s to 1980s and onwards

Roberto Pruzzo was Roma's most effective striker in the 1980s.
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Roberto Pruzzo was Roma's most effective striker in the 1980s.

With talented players including Bruno Conti, Agostino Di Bartolomei, Roberto Pruzzo and Falcao, Roma would begin the 1980s in its best position to challenge for the title since 1942. After narrowly (and controversially) missing out in 1981 to Juventus FC, they broke through in 1983 amidst joyous celebrations in the capital. They reached the European Cup final the following year, only to lose to Liverpool on penalties.

They have more or less remained in the top half of Serie A ever since, occasionally mounting a serious challenge for the title, which they won again in the 2000/2001 season by beating parma 3-1 on the last day of the season, edging out Juventus by two points.

Francesco Totti was one of the main reasons for Roma's victory that season and has since become an icon of the club equal in status to Pruzzo and Conti before him. In Rome he is a hero and is worshipped, even more nowadays thanks to Italy's 2006 FIFA World Cup success.

Roma came close to a succesful defense of their title, but lost out as another title race with Juve went to the wire. They missed out by just one point and had to settle for second place and an automatic UEFA Champions League spot.

As of 2005-06, Roma have set the Serie A record for consecutive wins, beating (on February 26th) Lazio 2-0 in the Rome derby for their 11th consecutive win.

AS Roma also made it to the final of the 2005/06 Coppa Italia to face Inter Milan. They drew the First leg 1-1 but lost the return leg 3-1, losing 4-2 on aggregate.

After Serie A rivals Lazio, AC Milan, Juventus and Fiorentina were all banned from entry into the 2006/07 Champions League on 14th July 2006, AS Roma gained automatic entry into the competition, as the aforementioned teams' relegation and AC Milan's deduction of fifteen points meant that they effectively finished second to Inter Milan for the Serie A 2005-06 season.

Supporters

The club plays at the 82,656 seater Stadio Olimpico, shared with S.S. Lazio. 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 mortal 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.

Roma's Ultras traditionally represented the working classes of the city, usually left-wing. During the last decades, however, an increasing number of fans have turned rightwards, acquiring some notoriety for the association of some of its members with the Italian extra-parliamentary extreme right (a trademark traditionally associated with S.S. Lazio). The fanbase is now extremely divided politically speaking, yet still shares the passionate support the club always drew (Roma is currently the fourth club in Italy in terms of fanship, right after the three biggest and most successful clubs Juventus, Inter and Milan).

Generally speaking, A.S. Roma fans are a majority in Rome.

First team roster

As of January 2006
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2006/2007 transfers

Note: these transfers will not be effective before the opening of the transfer market.

In 

(co-ownership))

Out

Team honors

Vincenzo Montella celebrating the 2-0 goal in 2000/01 Roma-Parma 3-1 league match, which marked the winning of the league title.
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Vincenzo Montella celebrating the 2-0 goal in 2000/01 Roma-Parma 3-1 league match, which marked the winning of the league title.

AS Roma has won 3 Italian Championships (Scudetti), seven Italian Cups (Coppa Italia) in 1963-64, 1968-69, 1979-80, 1980-81, 1983-84, 1985-86, and 1990-91; the Supercoppa Italiana in 2001, and the UEFA Cup (Fairs Cup) once in 1960-61, defeating Birmingham City. In 1984 AS Roma lost the final match of the European Cup, played in Rome, against Liverpool F.C., after a penalty shootout.

AS Roma supporters in Italy are estimated to be about 2,000,000 (7% of Italian football fans).

Notable former players

   

Coaches

 

Retired numbers

As of 2006, AS Roma has officially retired only one shirt, the number 6 worn by Aldair, centre back, 1990-2003.

External links

UEFA Champions League UEFA Champions League 2006-07>2006/07
Qualified: Anderlecht | Barcelona | Bayern Munich | Bordeaux | Celtic | Chelsea | Internazionale* | Lyon | Manchester United | Olympiakos | Porto | PSV | Real Madrid | Roma* | Sporting | Werder Bremen
* - Tentative pending appeals of Juventus and AC Milan in Serie A scandal of 2006.

Serie A
Ascoli | Atalanta | Cagliari | Catania | Chievo | Empoli | Inter | Lecce | Livorno | Messina
Milan | Palermo | Parma | Reggina | Roma | Sampdoria | Siena | Torino | Treviso | Udinese

2006-07 Serie B relegations: Fiorentina | Juventus | Lazio
Serie A seasons
1991-92 | 1992-93 | 1993-94 | 1994-95 | 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99
1999-00 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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