A.S.Roma

Foundation
A.S. Roma was founded in July 1927. At the time, the city of Rome had several teams in the Italian football league: S.S. Lazio (1900)[1], Roman F.C. (1901[citations needed]), S.S. Alba-Audace Roma (founded in 1926 through the merger of Alba (1911) and Audace) and Fortitudo-Pro Roma S.G.S. (founded in 1926 through the merger of Fortitudo (1908) and Pro Roma (1912)), however most of them were weak financially and uncompetitive. Spurned on by the government's desire for each Italian city to be represented by one major club (as was done in Florence, Naples and Bari), Alba-Audace, Fortitudo-Pro Roma and Roman merged to form A.S. Roma. After a short use of the Motovelodromo Appio stadium, the yellow-red team settled in the working-class streets of Testaccio, where it built the extraordinary all-wooden homonym ground. The area still remains the club's spiritual heartland. On the other hand Lazio, which was the strongest club in that period and which had the most to lose from a merger, refused to partake in any discussions regarding this issue and remained tied to the city bourgeoisie, from where it had been born. Other grounds that have been used by the A.S. Roma team are: 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, 2003-04 and 2005-06 (due to match-fixing scandal). They were relegated only once, at the end of the 1950-51 season, returning to Serie A the next season.


[edit] 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.


[edit] 1980s and onwards

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, 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. In the 1990-1991 season, Roma reached the UEFA Cup final in which they lost to Inter Milan 2-1 on aggregate.

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. He is a hero to Roma supporters, even more today thanks to Italy's 2006 FIFA World Cup success. Since then Totti has become Roma's top scorer beating Pruzzo's previous tally of 106 goals.

Roma came close to a successful 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. Since they won the scudetto Roma have finished second every season in either the Serie A or the Coppa Italia. They lost out to AC Milan in the Coppa Italia final in the 2002-2003 season (losing 4-2 on aggregate), and again in the Serie A in the 2003-2004 season where they finished second.

2004-2005 was an abysmal campaign where Roma flirted with relegation before finishing in 8th place. They managed to secure a UEFA Cup spot by reaching the Coppa Italia final which they lost to Inter Milan 3-0 on aggregate. Their Champions League campaign was even worse as they only managed 1 point from 6 games before finishing last in their group. Their first game was a 3-0 victory for Dynamo Kiev as they got penalized because an object from the stands hit the referee. The match was called off, victory was given to the Ukrainian outfit, and Roma had to play 2 home games behind closed doors. Their only point came from the 1-1 draw at home with Bayer Leverkusen thanks to a late goal by Vincenzo Montella.

AS Roma also made 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. This was the second year in a row they lost to Inter Milan in the Coppa Italia final.

AS Roma beat Olympique Lyonnais to reach the quarter finals of the Champions League in 2007, but after taking a 2-1 lead over Manchester United at home and being undefeated in 10 games in all competitions, they suffered a 7-1 defeat in the second leg at Old Trafford (8-3 on aggregate). This was their first defeat in Europe since losing 1-0 to Shakhtar Donetsk in the group stage. It was also the biggest margin of victory in a quarter final match of either the European Cup or Champions League, since 1957-58, when Real Madrid beat Sevilla 8-0 (10-2 on aggregate).

The team remains in line to finish the season as runners-up in Serie-A to Inter Milan. The two clubs also face each other in the final of the Coppa Italia.


[edit] Supporters
The club plays at the 82,656 seater Stadio Olimpico, shared with S.S. Lazio. The two teams play twice a season 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 (becoming the first fatality in Italian football history), 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 principal ultras group until the middle of the 1990s was the left-leaning CUCS (Comando Ultrà Curva Sud). However the group was slowly usurped by rival factions and ultimately broke up. The Curva Sud has been controlled since then by various groups which lean markedly to the right (AS Roma Ultras, Boys, Giovinezza, etc.) This change is comparable to what had happened a few years earlier at neighbors Lazio when the a-political "Eagles Supporters" were purged by the far right "Irriducibili", who on the other hand, have enjoyed complete control of the Curva Nord since 1992. It is worth bearing in mind that in both team's cases the political leanings of the actual groups, though more likely to generate media attention, is usually not their raison d'etre and more just a part of their overall identity.

Supporter's anthem "Roma Roma" written by Antonello Venditti is played before each match, and "Grazie Roma", by the same singer, is played at the end of home games when the team wins.