AS Roma Club Overview

AS Roma was founded by Italo Fosh in 1927, as he merged three different clubs in Rome in order to beat the club teams from northern Italy. During its first few decades in existence playing AS Roma had a modest level of success with players such as Amedeo Amadei and Attilio Ferraris leading them to several national victories. In the 90’s Francesco Totti joined the organization, and has since made a profound impact the team, becoming the captain and having the most appearances and goals out of any player in the teams history. Currently Roma is ranked second after Inter in Serie A.

AS Roma History

A.S. Roma FC was founded in the summer of 1927 by Italo Fosh when he merged three Italian football teams into one organization in order for Rome to be able to compete with clubs from northern Italy. They started playing at Motovelodromo Appio stadium before settling down in Campo Testaccio on November 1929, and eventually moving to Stadio Olimpico in 1936. Roma’s first superstar players were Captain Attilio Ferraris, Guido Masetti, Fulvio Bernardini and Rodolfo Volk. In its second season the club finished runners up to Juventus.

In 1935 Luigi Barbesino was appointed to be the club’s manager. Under him the team came close to winning their first title, finishing only one point behind the champion Bologna. He was not successful as a coach was replaced by Alfréd Schäffer. In 1942 under his coaching ,A.S Roma won their first ever Scudetto title

During the years following World War Two, Roma finished at the very bottom of Serie A and got relegated to Serie B. However under the management of Giuseppe Viani, they were able to get back up to Serie A. After that point A.S Roma was not able to have another other success for another 20 years.

Finally in 1960 Roma FC won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by defeating Birmingham City 4-2 in the finals. Following this victory in 1963-64 and in 1968–69 Roma won their first two Copa Italias. Giacomo Losi set a record of 450 appearances with the team, a record which was not beaten for 38 years.

During the early seventies till the early eighties the team was successful. In 1972 A.S Roma won Anglo-Italian Cup against Blackpool 3-1. Giancarlo De Sisti and Francesco Rocca made the biggest impact on the team during this season. Then in the 1979/80 season the club won its third Copa Italia title.

In the 1980’s A.S Roma FC often went far in competitions but only won twice. The two competitions that the team won were their second Scudetto, for the first time in 41 years, and a Coppa Italia victory. They finished runners up in the European Cup final in 1984, 1985/86 season.

During the 90’s the team had up and down seasons. At their most successful point AS Roma FC won their seventh Coppa Italian trophy and ended up runners up to Torino in the Supercoppa Italiana. In addition to that Roma went to the UEFA Cup finals but ended up losing to Internazionale 2-1 in 1991. During the rest of the 90s Roma performed poorly, with its most successful season in 1997/98 finishing fourth place.

AS Roma players soon started to elevate their performance and the team became more successful in the 2000’s. Francisco Totti emerged as a superstar captain for the team. He even won the Serie A Young Footballer of the Year during the 1998/99 season. Under the management of Fabio Capello Roma won the Serie A title during the 2000/01 season. The following years the club ended up runner up many times, losing to AC Milan in 2003 and Juventus in 2001-2002 during the finals. Currently AS Roma is second place in Serie A.

Club Rivalries

S.S. Lazio

The rivalry between AS Roma and S.S Lazio is called the Derby della Capitale, or in English the Rome Derby. The two teams are arch rivals due to fact that both teams play in Rome at Stadio Olimpico. It was one of the most intense rivalries in all of European Football, as there is often violence between fans at the game. In 1980 a fan even got killed, and in 2004 a riot broke out in the stands which resulted in the game being shut down.

SSC Napoli

The rivalry between AS Roma and SSC Napoli is known as the Derby del Sole, The Derby of the Sun in English. The rivalry started in 1929, when AS Roma was formed. The two teams are rivals due to the proximity of the cities. Roma so far has won most of the matches.

Stars of the Current Squad

Francesco Totti - Totti is the captain of AS Roma. He is the top goal scorer for the team, and earned the Serie A Young Footballer of the Year in the 98-99 season. He has been capped twice to play for Italy’s national team.

Simone Perrotta - Perrotta is one of the most experienced midfielder on the team. He has played on the club level with teams such as Juventus and international level with Italy. He is versatile player as he can play both as an offensive and defensive midfielder.

Christian Panucci - Panucci is the vice captain of AS Roma and plays the midfield position.

Club Legends

Attilio Ferraris

Position: Midfielder

Achievements: First ever Captain of Roma, Bronze Medal in 1928 Olympics

Games played: 210

Guido Masetti

Position: goalkeeper

Achievements: One Italian title in 1942

Games Played: 339

Amedeo Amadei

Position: striker

Achievements: Italian title in 1941-42, scored 174 goals with the team

Games Players: 432

Most Appearances

Most Goals

Player Recognition & Awards

Francisco Totti

• All-Time Top Scorer for Roma
• 2006 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team
• EURO 2000 Team of the Tournament
• Serie A Footballer of the Year 2000, 2003
• Italian Footballer of the Year: 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007
• Serie A Young Footballer of the Year: 1999
• Serie A Top Scorer: 2006-07
• European Golden Boot: 2006-2007
• UEFA Euro 2000 Final's Man of the Match

Team Honours

National Titles

• Serie A:

  Champions (3): 1941–42; 1982–83; 2000–01

  Runners-up (10): 1930–31; 1935–36; 1954–55; 1980–81; 1983–84; 1985–86; 2001–02; 2003–04; 2005–06; 2006–07

  Coppa Italia:

  Winners (8): 1963–64; 1968–69; 1979–80; 1980–81; 1983–84; 1985–86; 1990–91; 2006–07

  Runners-up (6): 1936–37; 1940–41; 1992–93; 2002–03; 2004–05; 2005–06

• Supercoppa Italiana:

  Winners (2): 2001; 2007

  Runners-up (2): 1991; 2006

• Serie B:

  Winners (1): 1951–52

  European titles

  European Cup / UEFA Champions League:

  Runners-up (1): 1983–84

  Inter-Cities Fairs Cup:

  Winners (1): 1960–61

• UEFA Cup:

  Runners-up (1): 1990–91

  Anglo-Italian Cup:

  Winners (1): 1971–72

  Anglo-Italian League Cup:

  Runners-up (1): 1969

Club Management

Luciano Spalletti - Manager - Spalletti started managing Roma in 2005. He introducing the 4-2-3-1 formation to Roma, which resulted in the team going up to 5th place, and going on an 11 game winning steak. Spalletti also won the Serie A Coach of the Year award and led Roma to the Champions League quarter finals.

Francis Sensi - Lead Chairman/Main Shareholder — Sensi bought the major of the stocks in club in 1993. In addition to owning Roma, he is also the CEO of Italpetroli Spa, publisher or several newspapers, and gets involved in politics.

Rosella Sensi - managing director — Rosella is Francis Sensi’s daughter. She is the first women to ever hold the managing director position in the club’s history.

Uniforms

Home: maroon shirt with golden yellow trim and white shorts

Away: white shirt and white shorts

Stadium

AS Roma plays at Stadio Olimpico, located in the Foro Italico sports complex in Rome, Italy. In addition to hosting A.S Roma, the stadium also holds matches for the Italian national team and S.S Lazio. With the capacity of 82,307 the stadium was able to host international events such as the Olympic Games in 1960 and FIFA World Cup in 1990. It is going to be the site of the UEFA Champions League final in 2009.

Sponsors

• Cucciolone
• Wind
• Unicredit
• American Express

Important Links

• http://www.asroma.it/- (official website)

References

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AS_Roma
• http://www.asromafc.info/
• http://www.romaforever.it/en/
• http://www.roma-fc.com/