AS Roma

The Giallorossi of Rome, three-time Serie A champions.

Associazione Sportiva Roma (Rome Sport Association; Italian pronunciation: ) is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for the 1951–52 season. Roma has won Serie A three times, in 1941–42, 1982–83 and 2000–01, as well as nine titles and two titles. In European competitions, Roma won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1960–61 and the inaugural UEFA Conference League in 2021–22, while they finished runners-up in the 1983–84 European Cup, the 1990–91 UEFA Cup and the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League. Fifteen players have won the FIFA World Cup while playing at Roma: Attilio Ferraris and Enrique Guaita (1934); Guido Masetti and Eraldo Monzeglio (1934 and 1938); Aldo Donati and Pietro Serantoni (1938); Bruno Conti (1982); Rudi Völler and Thomas Berthold (1990); Aldair (1994); Vincent Candela (1998); Cafu (2002); Daniele De Rossi, Simone Perrotta and Francesco Totti (2006); Paulo Dybala (2022).

Lore & Background

Since 1953, Roma has played home matches at the Stadio Olimpico, a venue the club shares with city rivals Lazio. With a capacity of over 72,000, the stadium is the second-largest of its kind in Italy, with only the San Siro able to seat more. The club plans to move to a new stadium, though it is yet to start construction. Having a strong local rivalry, Roma and Lazio contest the Derby della Capitale. The club's home colours are carmine red and golden yellow, which gives Roma its nickname "I Giallorossi" ("The Yellow and Reds"). These colours have often been combined with white shorts. The club badge features a she-wolf, an allusion to the founding myth of Rome.

Reader's Guide

AS Roma was founded in the spring 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. Foschi was an important Roman representative of the ruling National Fascist Party. 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 Lazio because of the intervention of the army General Vaccaro, a member of the club and executive of Italian Football Federation (FIGC). All three founding clubs were relegated, but the fascist-aligned FIGC bet over the capacity of the new team to give a stronger representation to the capital of Italy, and they were awarded a wild card for the , the Serie A forerunner. 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, where the club finished as runners-up behind . Captain Attilio Ferraris, along with Guido Masetti, Fulvio Bernardini and Rodolfo Volk, were highly important players during this period. 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 title. The 18 goals scored by local player Amedeo Amadei were essential to the Alfréd Schaffer-coached Roma side winning the title. At the time, Italy was involved in World War II and Roma were playing at the Stadio Nazionale PNF. 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.

The Serie A Title Race

During the 2007–08 campaign, the competition for the league championship remained intense between the two Italian giants. Roberto Mancini's team secured their third consecutive Scudetto, though the margin of victory was significantly tighter than in previous years. The Nerrazzuri ultimately finished only three points above the Giallorossi in the final standings. The title was officially clinched during the very last matchday when Inter defeated Parma with a 2–0 scoreline. Zlatan Ibrahimović provided both goals for the winning side after entering the game at half-time, bringing his league goal tally to seventeen. This victory also marked a significant moment for their opponents in that fixture, as Parma suffered relegation to Serie B following eighteen consecutive seasons in the top flight. The narrow gap between Inter and Roma highlighted how competitive the season remained despite the eventual outcome favoring the defending champions.

Domestic Cup Encounters

Beyond the league table, the clubs met in significant domestic cup competitions throughout the year. The season commenced with a high-stakes encounter on August 19, 2007, for the Supercoppa Italiana. In this match, Inter faced Roma and were defeated following a penalty shootout decision. Later in the calendar year, the rivalry intensified during the Coppa Italia final held in late May 2008. On that occasion, Mancini's squad lost the final to their rivals from Rome. These defeats proved pivotal for the coaching staff, as the loss in the cup competition contributed directly to subsequent personnel changes within the club hierarchy. The inability to secure silverware in these knockout tournaments contrasted sharply with the league success achieved earlier in the season, creating a complex narrative regarding the team's overall domestic performance and stability under management.

Centenary Celebrations

A major historical milestone occurred during this specific campaign as the club approached its centenary celebration. The organization marked one hundred years of existence on March 9, 2008, commemorating a foundation that had been celebrated with a party at San Siro the previous day. This event was inclusive, featuring participation from both current supporters and former players who had contributed to the club's history over the decades. While the focus remained on this significant anniversary, it coincided with a season where the team navigated various competitive challenges. The centenary served as a backdrop to the sporting activities, adding cultural weight to the 2007–08 season which was technically the ninety-ninth year of existence and the ninety-second consecutive season in the top flight of Italian football prior to reaching the full century mark.

Managerial Departure

The conclusion of the campaign brought significant administrative changes regarding the head coach position. Roberto Mancini was dismissed by Moratti shortly after the Coppa Italia final loss occurred in late May 2008. Days following this defeat, the club officially announced that the manager had been sacked. A primary factor cited for this decision involved a statement made by the coach following a second-leg match against Liverpool in the Champions League last sixteen. That specific game resulted in the side's elimination from European competition. The combination of domestic cup failure and the manner of their exit from Europe led to the end of Mancini's tenure, marking a turbulent finish to a season that had otherwise secured the league title for the club amidst its centenary year celebrations.