The history of Parma Calcio 1913 covers nearly 100 years of the football from the club based in Parma, Italy. Established in 1913 the club would eventually go on to win titles on the national and international stage. The club is most famous for the period in which it collected all of its eight major titles, between 1992 and 2002. The club was declared bankrupt in 2015.
Early years (1913–1940) A football club was founded in Parma in July 1913 as Verdi Foot Ball Club in honour of famous opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, who was born in the province of Parma, adopting its unique white shirts emblazoned with a black cross on the front. The genesis came about after Verdi's death was commemorated with the dispute of the Coppa Verdi; the players who competed formed the basis of the first team of Parma Football Club, formed in December of the same year. Parma began playing league football during the 1919–20 season, finishing second in Emilian Championship qualifying. In 1922, the president at the time, Ennio Tardini, launched his plans to build a stadium for the club, as Parma initially had no permanent home, having previously used the Piazza d'Armi for two spells, land on the outskirts of the south-east of Parma and the Tre Pioppi. The Stadio Ennio Tardini would be named in the Italian lawyer's honour after he died before the stadium was opened the following year.
Parma were participating in the Emilian regional championship at this point, from which they would qualify to play nationally by performing well. They achieved their first promotion from a regional league during the 1924–25 season, moving from the Seconda Divisione to the Prima Divisione, before becoming founding members of Serie B after finishing runners-up in the Prima Divisione in the 1928–29 season. Parma made their debut in Serie B on 6 October 1929, beating Biellese 2–0. The team remained in Serie B for three years before being relegated to the Prima Divisione at the end of the 1931–32 season, the year before the club changed its name to Associazione Sportiva Parma. Having finished in the top two positions for three consecutive seasons in the Prima Divisione, Parma were accepted into the renamed third tier of Italian football for the 1935–36 season, Serie C, where they competed for the rest of the decade, achieving a best finish of fourth in 1939–40.
Life as a provincial club (1940–1968)
After finishing as runners-up in 1941–42, Parma very nearly achieved a return to Serie B the next year, winning seventeen matches of nineteen and scoring 82 goals to top their group, before progressing to the final, where they would have won promotion but for their disqualification due to alleged corruption on the final day of the season in their match against Lecco. Italian football was then brought to a halt as World War II intensified, although Parma did make an appearance in the Campianto Alta Italia in 1944. Following the restart of organised football, Parma enjoyed three years in Serie B, then split into two regional divisions, before again being relegated in 1948–49 to Serie C after losing their relegation play–off by four goals to one against Spezia in Milan. Il Crociato then spent another five seasons in Serie C, where they finished second place on two occasions before gaining promotion once again in 1953–54 with the help of the prolific Czechoslovak left-winger Július Korostelev, who scored 15 of the side's 45 goals. While Korostelev headed the scoring charts that year, William Bronzoni was more consistent and remains the club's record league goalscorer to this day, having netted 78 times from 1945 to 1953
Following this promotion, one of the most successful periods in the club's history began, as the team would spend eleven consecutive years in the second tier and consistently finish mid-table; they would end up as high as ninth position in 1954–55, which represented a record for the club at that time. The stars of this era were Paolo Erba, who was named the capocannoniere, the league's top scorer, in 1956–57, and Ivo Cocconi, who set the club's appearance record, playing 308 times. Parma also made their debut on the European stage during the 1960–61 season, defeating Swiss side AC Bellinzona in the Coppa delle Alpi. The club's form dropped, however, and they were once again relegated to Serie C in the 1964–65 season, finishing last with just 23 points. Parma spent just one season in Serie C before they were relegated for a second successive season and found themselves in Serie D in 1966. The club was in turmoil and, having been ordered into liquidation by the Court of Parma in 1968, it was the absorption of local side A.C. Parmense that brought about a change of fortunes in both financial and sporting terms and led to a change of name to Associazione Calcio Parma.
Dipping into and out of lower league obscurity (1968–1985) Parma topped their regional division in 1969–70, earning themselves promotion to Serie C, where they would remain for three years. In 1969, the club signed winger Bruno Mora, who was capped 21 times for Italy, went to the 1962 World Cup, won Serie A twice and the European Cup once and was the first person from Parma to play for the national team when he made his debut in 1959. He had previously turned the opportunity to play for Parma down due to its relatively small size, but he ended his career at the club in 1971 after a two-year stint wearing the cross. He would later manage the club for a short period in the early 1980s before his death in 1986. The club crept back into professional football with promotion to Serie B during the 1972–73 season after a 2–0 play-off victory over Udinese in Vicenza, but would spend just two seasons in the league, although they did manage to finish as high as 5th in 1973–74, setting a new club record in the process. Relegation the following year saw the club return to Serie C, where they would stay until their promotion under Cesare Maldini in 1978–79.
Maldini-led Parma beat Triestina 3–1 after extra time in a play-off match, thanks to two goals from a young Carlo Ancelotti, who moved to Roma that summer after his starring role. However, they only lasted a season in Serie B and began the 1980s back down in Serie C. In 1982–83, Massimo Barbuti arrived at Parma, a player who is still referred today as l'idolo della Nord, or the idol of the North. He was so called for his popularity amongst those sitting in the Curva Nord, where Parma's staunchest fans have historically sat during home matches at the Tardini. Parma returned to Serie B as champions after winning their division in 1984 with 18 goals from Barbuti and final day victory over San Remo with Juventus-bound Stefano Poli scoring the only goal of the game. Il Ducalis stay in Serie B was shorter than hoped as they spent just one season in the league, finishing third from bottom and being relegated as a result. The disappointment led to the departure of cult hero Barbuti, a striker who scored 37 league goals in 98 appearances in just three years for the club and was loved by the fans for his tireless running, goalscoring record and manic celebrations in front of – and sometimes in — the Curva Nord at the Stadio Ennio Tardini.
Two promotions (1985–1990) Parma continued to yo-yo between the leagues and returned to Serie B under Arrigo Sacchi in 1986 after finishing level on points at the top of the league with Modena, having never previously seriously threatened to do so. Promotion was secured on the final day of the season with a 2–0 victory over Sanremese, a day on which Alessandro Melli, a player who would go on to play an important role in some of Parma's most famous triumphs and enjoy considerable success at the club in the process of doing so, scored his first goal for the Gialloblu. Parma's first season back in Serie B was a successful one, missing out on promotion to Italy's top tier by just three points and eliminating AC Milan from the Coppa Italia, a result that convinced their owner, Silvio Berlusconi, to hire Sacchi as the new manager of the Rossoneri. His replacement, Zdeněk Zeman, was fired after just seven matches and replaced by Giampieri Vitali, who secured two mid-table finishes before being replaced in 1989 by Nevio Scala, who would introduce a 5–3–2 formation that would be the basis for much of the club's success during his reign.
Scala's Parma led Serie B at the half-way mark and, despite the distress of a stadium disaster in a home match against Reggina in January and the death of owner Ernesto Ceresin in February seeing the Ducali fall to eighth, a late run of form and victory on the final day against old Derby del Grana rivals Reggiana with goals from fan favourite and right winger Marco Osio and forward Alessandro Melli meant Parma secured a historic promotion to Serie A on 27 May 1990. After Parma's promotion, Calisto Tanzi increased his stake in the ownership of the club to 45% with the purchase of the deceased Ceresin's sons' shares and named Giorgio Pedraneschi as president. This would allow Scala to supplement the squad that achieved promotion from Serie B, which included central defenders Luigi Apolloni and Lorenzo Minotti – Minotti also went on to captain the side – and star striker Alessandro Melli, with players such as Tomas Brolin, Claudio Taffarel and Georges Grun.
Serie A and Scala's success (1990–1994)
Parma's first ever game in Serie A was a 2–1 defeat at home to Turin giants Juventus, which was followed by an inaugural Serie A victory 15 days later: 1–0 victory over Diego Maradona's Napoli. Parma ended their first ever season in Serie A in sixth place, which meant they qualified for the UEFA Cup. However, the 1991–92 season saw Parma exit the UEFA Cup to CSKA Sofia in the first round despite the notable additions of Antonio Benarrivo and Alberto Di Chiara, each of whom were full-backs that would go on to appear for Italy. The club had more success on the domestic front, where they finished sixth in the league – lack of a prolific scorer costing Parma the chance to fight Torino for third – and prevailed in the Coppa Italia final against Juventus. Losing the away leg 1–0, Parma managed to secure their first ever major trophy when they won the home leg 2–0 with a goal from Alessandro Melli on the stroke of half-time before Marco Osio struck on the hour mark. In 1991, Parmalat acquired the football club outright.
Parma's squad was further improved by the summer arrival of Colombian striker Faustino Asprilla and they managed a first major international trophy in 1993 when an early volley from captain Lorenzo Minotti from a corner, an Alessandro Melli header and a late Stefano Cuoghi strike helped Parma to a 3–1 victory in the Cup Winners' Cup over Belgian side Royal Antwerp at Wembley Stadium in England on 12 May 1993. They also managed a record high finish of third place, but slipped to defeat in the 1992 Supercoppa Italiana against A.C. Milan. The following season, the club were successful in the European Super Cup; winning an all Italian final against AC Milan. Having lost the first leg at home by a single goal to nil, victory was nonetheless secured after goals from new players Nestor Sensini and Massimo Crippa. The same season, however, they lost the Cup Winners' Cup 1–0 in the final against Arsenal and slipped to 5th in the league due to a leaky defence, despite new signing Gianfranco Zola scoring eighteen league goals as part of Parma's three-pronged forward line, alongside Brolin and Asprilla.
More international fame (1994–1998)