ACF Fiorentina

ACF Fiorentina (ACF stands for Associazione Calcistica Fiorentina, or Fiorentina Football Association in English) has over the years established itself as one of the most well-known Italian football teams even though it belongs to only a midsize city, Florence. In the early 2000s Fiorentina faced an economic crisis and after bankruptcy ceased to exist. Since when, the club have been founded again.

History

The history of football in Florence goes back longer than the birth of AFC Fiorentina. In 1898, Florence Football Club was founded. That club was dissolved some years later, instead two older sport clubs, Club Sportivo Firenze and Palestra Ginnastica Fiorentina Libertas, started football sections in the 1910s. CF Fiorentina was founded in 1926, by a merger of these two Florentine clubs – CS Firenze and PG Libertas.

Even with the hype around a new and spacious stadium being built in 1931, much of the club's next 25 years were spent in the lower divisions of Italian football. The only bright spot was winning Coppa Italia in 1940.

The first Scudetto

The 50s were a lot more successful for Fiorentina. After some consistent top-table finishes in Serie A, the club won its first Scudetto in 1956 with a 12-point difference over the second-place team. The team came close to a perhaps even bigger trophy when reaching the European Cup final the subsequent season. After beating Grasshopper and Red Star, they had to face Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in the final and were defeated 2-0.

On Italian ground, they also came out triumphant in 1961, winning both its second Coppa Italia trophy and the first Cup Winners' Cup ever held, defeating Glasgow Rangers in the final.

The next decade also proved productive for the club. After winning another Coppa Italia title in 1966, Fiorentina won its second Scudetto in 1969 by prevailing over the favored Milan and Cagliari. The club followed it up with a streak of mediocre showings in the 70s, but still managed to win another Coppa Italia in 1975.

After Flavio Pontello took over as president in 1980 and started bringing in some marquee signings such as Roberto Baggio, Fiorentina once again found itself at the top. Still, even though they played exciting football and achieved some high-table finishes, the club did not manage to win any trophies during this period.

The 90s were much of the same for "La Viola." Even after acquiring some high-quality players like Gabriel Batistuta, the club only won a single Coppa Italia trophy in 1996.

Bankruptcy

The turn of the century brought some shocking news for the fans; the club turned out to be deeply in debt. The drama was culminated in July 2001 when the police raided the house of the owner Vittorio Cecchi Gori due to a money laundering investigation. It was discovered that the club’s financial state was miserable and AC Fiorentina had to declare bankruptcy in 2002.

All was not lost, however. After the club's bankruptcy, another one was created in its stead – Fiorentina Viola. The new club was forced to start competing from Serie C2, but still managed to return to the top flight in record-time. First, by skipping C1 by stepping directly from Serie C2 to Serie B, which was partly possibly due to an expansion of Serie B from 20 to 24 teams. After beating Perugia in the playoff, Fiorentina was back in Serie A for the 2004-05 season. Along the way, they re-bought the name rights and went back to being named ACF Fiorentina.

Post-Bankruptcy

After returning to Serie A in 2004–05, ACF Fiorentina re-established itself as a competitive force under managers like Cesare Prandelli. The 2010s saw ups and downs, with Vincenzo Montella leading Fiorentina to three consecutive fourth-place finishes (2012–15) and a Europa League semi-final in 2014–15. The Della Valle family, who owned the club from 2002 to 2019, played a key role in stabilizing the club after the bankruptcy.

Since 2019 owner Rocco Commisso has invested heavily to restore Fiorentina’s competitiveness. One highpoint for the club was reaching the UEFA Europa Conference League final in 2023, narrowly losing to West Ham United.

By Rosa Nelson

References:
http://en.violachannel.tv/history-fiorentina.html
http://www.football-italia.net/clubs/Fiorentina/history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACF_Fiorentina
http://soccersouls.com/2013/07/07/serie-a-looking-back-at-the-rise-and-fall-of-fiorentina/