Fiorentina is the first club to reach all four major European finals
Florence's purple-shirted club has played in the final of the European Cup, the Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Cup and, in 2023, the Conference League, the first team to reach all four. It has won only one of them, and in 2002 the club went bankrupt and had to start again.
Fiorentina was formed in 1926 by the noble Luigi Ridolfi Vay da Verrazzano, merging two older local clubs to give Florence a team able to take on the dominant sides of northwest Italy. The revival of calcio fiorentino, an old ball game once played by members of the Medici family, added civic pride. The club reached Serie A in 1931, the year its stadium opened, now called the Stadio Artemio Franchi, and won its first Coppa Italia in 1941. The nickname Viola comes from its violet kit.
The golden years came in the 1950s. With the Brazilian winger Julinho and goalkeeper Giuliano Sarti, Fiorentina won its first league title in 1955–56 by 12 points. The next season it became the first Italian team to reach a European Cup final, losing 2–0 to Alfredo Di Stéfano's Real Madrid after a disputed penalty, and in 1961 it won the first Cup Winners' Cup against Rangers. A second title followed in 1968–69, sealed by winning in Turin against Juventus.
That rivalry turned bitter. Fiorentina lost the 1982 title to Juventus on the final day in controversial circumstances, and in 1990 lost the UEFA Cup final to them, with the home leg moved to Avellino and star Roberto Baggio sold to Juventus on the day of the final, sparking riots. Under the filmmaker Mario Cecchi Gori and then his son Vittorio, the club built around the striker Gabriel Batistuta and later beat Arsenal at the old Wembley in the Champions League.
The spending proved ruinous. By 2001 Fiorentina could not pay wages and owed around 50 million dollars, and in 2002 it was relegated, placed in administration and refused a place in Serie B, effectively ceasing to exist before being refounded. It has since reclaimed its status, and only four clubs have played more seasons in Serie A.
Source: ACF Fiorentina
