Roma have won Serie A three times, first in 1941–42 then in 1982–83 and again in 2000–01, as well as winning nine Coppa Italia titles and two Supercoppa Italiana titles. On the European stage Roma won anInter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1960–61, coming close to European Cup victory in 1983–84 (lost the one-legged final played at home against Liverpool), and finishing as runners-up in the UEFA Cup for 1990–91 (two-legged aggregate defeat against Inter). Therefore, Roma is the fourth Italian club by major honours won, behind Juventus, Milan and Inter, and it is considered one of the Seven Sisters of Italian football.
Home games are currently played at the Stadio Olimpico, a venue they share with city rivals Lazio. With a capacity of over 72,000, it is the second largest of its kind in Italy, with only the San Siro able to seat more. In September 2009 the club unveiled plans to build a Stadio della Roma (new 55,000-capacity) in the western suburbs of Rome. Its design was modelled after English football stadiums with the objective being to give fans a closer view of the pitch, and is said to be inspired by the Colosseum. In September 2011, it was announced that the new president, Thomas R. DiBenedetto, had reached an agreement with the mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, to have the new stadium completed by 2016.
A.S. Roma was founded in the summer of 1927 when Italo Foschi, initiated the merger of three older Italian Football Championship clubs from the city of Rome; Roman FC, SS Alba-Audace and Fortitudo-Pro Roma SGS. The purpose of the merger was to give the Italian capital a strong club to rival that of the more dominant Northern Italian clubs of the time. The only major Roman club to resist the merger was S.S. Lazio because of the intervention of the army General Vaccaro, member of the club and executive of Italian Football Federation. The club played its earliest seasons at the Motovelodromo Appio stadium, before settling in the working-class streets of Testaccio, where it built an all-wooden ground Campo Testaccio; this was opened in November 1929. An early season in which Roma made a large mark was the 1930–31 championship, the club finished as runners-up behind Juventus. Captain Attilio Ferraris along with Guido Masetti, Fulvio Bernardini and Rodolfo Volk were highly important players during this period.
First title victory and decline
After a slump in league form and the departure of high key players, Roma eventually rebuilt their squad adding goalscorers such as the Argentine Enrique Guaita. Under the management of Luigi Barbesino, the Roman club came close to their first title in 1935–36; finishing just one point behind champions Bologna.
Roma returned to form after being inconsistent for much of the late 1930s; Roma recorded an unexpected title triumph in the 1941–42 season by winning their first ever scudetto title. The eighteen goals scored by local player Amedeo Amadei were essential to theAlfréd Schaffer coached Roma side winning the title. At the time Italy was involved in World War II and Roma were playing at the Stadio del Partito Nazionale Fascista.
In the years just after the war, Roma were unable to recapture their league stature from the early 1940s. Roma finished in the lower half of Serie A for five seasons in a row, before eventually succumbing to their only ever relegation to Serie B at the end of the 1950–51 season; around a decade after their championship victory. Under future national team manager Giuseppe Viani, promotion straight back up was achieved.
After returning to the Serie A, Roma managed to stabilise themselves as a top half club again with players such as Egisto Pandolfini, Dino Da Costa and Dane Helge Bronée. Their best finish of this period was under the management of Englishman Jesse Carver, when in 1954–55 they finished as runners-up, after Udinese who originally finished second were relegated for corruption.Although Roma were unable to break into the top four during the following decade, they did achieve some measure of cup success. Their first honour outside of Italy was recorded in 1960–61 when Roma won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by beating Birmingham City 4–2 in the finals. A few years later Roma won their first Coppa Italia trophy in 1963–64, by beating Torino 1–0.
Their lowest point came during the 1964–65 season when manager Juan Carlos Lorenzo announced that the club could not pay its players and was unlikely to be able to afford to travel to Vicenza to fulfil its next fixture. Supporters kept the club going with a fundraiser at the Sistine Theatre and bankruptcy was avoided with the election of a new club president Franco Evangelisti.
Their second Coppa Italia trophy was won in 1968–69 when it competed in a small league like system. Giacomo Losi set a Roma appearance record during 1969 with 450 appearances in all competitions, the record he set would last for 38 years.
Time of mixed fortunes
Roma were able to add another cup to their collection in 1972, with a 3–1 victory over Blackpool in the Anglo-Italian Cup. During much of the 1970s Roma’s appearance in the top half of Serie A was sporadic. The best place the club were able to achieve during the decade was third in 1974–75. Notable players who turned out for the club during this period included midfielders Giancarlo De Sisti and Francesco Rocca.
The dawning of a newly successful era in Roma’s footballing history was brought in with another Coppa Italia victory, they beat Torino on penalties to win the 1979–80 cup. Roma would reach heights in the league which they had not touched since the 1940s by narrowly and controversially finishing as runners-up to Juventus in 1980–81. Former Milan player Nils Liedholm was the manager at the time, with players such as Bruno Conti, Agostino Di Bartolomei, Roberto Pruzzo and Falcão.
The second scudetto did not elude Roma for much longer; in 1982–83 the Roman club won the title for the first time in 41 years, amidst celebrations in the capital. The following season Roma finished as runners-up in Italy and collected a Coppa Italia title,they also finished as runners-up in the European Cup final of 1984. The European Cup final with Liverpool ended in a 1–1 draw with a goal from Pruzzo, but Roma eventually lost the penalty shoot-out. Roma’s successful run in the 1980s would finish with a runners-up spot in 1985–86 and a Coppa Italia victory, beating out Sampdoria 3–2.
After that a comparative decline began in the league, one of the few league highs from the following period being a third-place finish in 1987–88. At the start of the 1990s the club was involved in an all-Italian UEFA Cup final, where they lost 2–1 to Internazionale in1991; the same season the club won its seventh Coppa Italia trophy and ended runners-up to Sampdoria in the Supercoppa Italiana. Aside from finishing runners-up to Torino in a Coppa Italia final, the rest of the decade was largely sub-par in the history of Roma; especially in the league where the highest they could manage was fourth in 1997–98. The early 1990s also saw the emergence of homegrown striker Francesco Totti who would go on to be an important member of the team and the club’s iconic captain.
In the new millennium 2000–2010
The club attempted to defend the title in the following season but ended as runners-up to Juventus by just one point. This would be the start of Roma finishing as runners-up many times in both Serie A and Coppa Italia during the 2000s; they lost out 4–2 to AC Milan in the Coppa Italia final of 2003 and lost out to Milan again by finishing second in Serie A for the 2003–04 season. The club also re-capitalized several time in 2003–04 season. In November 2003 €37.5 million was injected by “Roma 2000” to cover the half-year loss and loss carried from previous year. and again on 30 June for €44.57 million. Through stock market, a further €19.850 million of new shares issued, and at the year end, the share capital was €19.878 million, which unchanged as of 2011. The following season also saw the departure of Walter Samuel for €25 million and Emerson for €28 million, which decreased the strength of the squad, thus Giallorossi finished as the eighth place, one of the worst of recent season.
A Serie A scandal was revealed during 2006 and Roma were one of the teams not involved; after punishments were handed out, Roma was re-classified as runners-up for 2005–06; the same season in which they finished second in the Coppa Italia losing to Internazionale. In the two following seasons, 2006–07 and 2007–08, Roma finished as Serie A runners-up, meaning that in the 2000s Roma have finished in the top two positions more than any other decade in their history Meanwhile, in the UEFA Champions League during both of these seasons, they reached the quarter-finals before going out to Manchester United. Despite the sloppy start in UEFA Champions League 2008–09, Roma managed to reach the knockout stage ahead of Chelsea in their group, thus finishing for the first time in their history as winners of the group stage. However, the Giallorossi would lose toArsenal in the knockout stage on penalty kicks, ending their Champions League campaign.
After a disappointing start to the 2009–10 season, Claudio Ranieri replaced Luciano Spalletti as head coach. At the time of the switch, Roma lay bottom of the Serie A table after losses to Juventus and Genoa. Despite this setback, Roma would later embark on an incredible unbeaten streak of 24 matches in the league – with the last of the 24 being a 2–1 win over rivals Lazio, whereby Roma came from 1–0 down at half-time to defeat their city rivals after Ranieri courageously substituted both Totti and De Rossi at the interval. The Giallorossi were on top of the table at one point, before a loss to U.C. Sampdoria later in the season. Roma would finish runners-up to Inter yet again in both Serie A and the Coppa Italia. This rounded out a highly successful decade in Roma’s history, following somewhat mediocre results of the 1990s. During the 2000s, Roma had finally recaptured the Scudetto, two Coppa Italia trophies, and their first two Supercoppa Italiana titles. Other notable contributions to the club’s history have included a return to the UEFA Champions League Quarter-finals (in the 2006–2007 and 2007–2008 editions) since 1984, six runners up positions in the league, four Coppa Italia finals and three Supercoppa finals – marking Roma’s greatest ever decade.
The “AS Roma SPV LLC” era
In the summer of 2010, the Sensi family agreed to relinquish their control of Roma as part of a debt-settlement agreement. This brought an end to the presidential reign of the Sensi family, who had presided over the club since 1993. Until a new owner was appointed, Rosella Sensi would continue her directorial role of the club. The 2010–11 season had once again seen Roma start off with mixed fortunes on both a domestic and European level. These included losses against teams like Cagliari, Brescia and a 2–0 defeat against Bayern Munich in the group stages of the Champions League, a match which saw manager Claudio Ranieri openly criticised by his players. However, these were accompanied by victories against Inter and a sensational victory against Bayern in the return fixture, which saw Roma fight back from 0–2 down at half-time to emerge as 3–2 winners. Following a series of poor results which saw Roma engage in a winless-streak of five consecutive matches, Ranieri resigned as head coach in February 2011, and former striker Vincenzo Montella was appointed as caretaker manager until the end of the season. It was also during this season that Roma icon Francesco Totti scored his 200th Serie A goal against Fiorentina in March 2011 – becoming only the sixth ever player to achieve such a feat.
On 16 April 2011, the takeover contract was closed with an American investment group led by Thomas R. DiBenedetto. “DiBenedetto AS Roma LLC” (later renamed to AS Roma SPV, LLC) consists of four other shareholders (or three not counting the family trust), namely James Pallotta (25%) of Tudor Investment; Michael Ruane (25%), the director of TA Realty, which partially owns the “AS Roma SPV, LLC” through family trust for 22.5%; and Richard D’Amore (25%) of North Bridge Venture Partners and Veeco.DiBenedetto became the 22nd president of the club, serving from 27 September 2011 to 27 August 2012 and was succeeded by Pallotta. In 2011, “AS Roma SPV, LLC” owned 60% shares on NEEP Roma holding, with the rest (40%) retained by the creditor of Sensi, UniCredit; NEEP in turn owned all shares held previously by Sensi (about 67%) with the rest free float in the stock market.
The new ownership immediately went into effect by making significant changes in the club, hiring Walter Sabatini as director of football and former Spanish international and Barcelona B coach Luis Enrique as manager; the first high-profile signings from the duo were attacking midfielder Érik Lamela from River Plate, forward Bojan Krkić from Barcelona, goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg from Ajax and unattached defender Gabriel Heinze. The club also sold and released defender John Arne Riise, goalkeeper Doni and forwardsJérémy Ménez and Mirko Vučinić. At the financial level, the company had recapitalized for more than €100 million, the last recapitalization occurring in the early 2000s.
Roma, however, was eliminated from 2011–12 UEFA Europa League play-off round. After the formal takeover on 18 August, Roma bought forward Dani Osvaldo, midfielders Miralem Pjanić and Fernando Gago and defender Simon Kjær, as well as youngster Fabio Borini, which cost the club more than €40 million. In 2012, Pallotta became the new president, which he personally broke the equal partnership by increased the shares holding on NEEP Roma Holding SpA on 1 August 2013 by buying 9% shares from UniCredit (Pallotta held 9% directly plus 15% indirectly on NEEP; in turn NEEP held more than 70% shares on AS Roma SpA, later diluted to 9% directly plus around 12% indirectly due to introduction of the 5th partner in AS Roma SPV, LLC on 4 April 2014; the change in ratio due to UniCredit sold 31% shares on NEEP to AS Roma SPV LCC not known.)
On 12 June 2013, Pallotta announced that Rudi García had been appointed the new manager of Roma. He enjoyed a fantastic start to his Roma career, winning his first ten consecutive games (an all-time Serie A record) including a 2–0 derby win against Lazio, a 0–3 victory away to Internazionale and a 2–0 home win over title rivals Napoli. During this run, Roma scored 24 times while conceding just once, away to Parma.
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source:
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