A.S. Roma (Associazione Sportiva Roma) is a Italian football club. Nicknamed the giallorossi, it plays in Serie A. Roma's home uniforms are dark red shirts with dark yellow borders, white shorts and black socks.

The emblem is the Capitoline she-wolf lactating twins, symbol of Rome, superimposed a bipartite golden-yellow over red shield; official colors are the same as those of Rome, red for imperial dignity, gold for the Christian God.

The current stadium is the 82,656 seater Stadio Olimpico , which is shared with S.S. Lazio. The two teams compete against one another each year in the Rome derby, a major and emotional event in Italian football.

Club history

A.S. Roma was founded in July 1927, when Rome already had three teams in the Italian football league - Alba, Fortitudo and Lazio. The Fascist regime's idea at the time was to merge all the Rome clubs into one which the many newly-arrived immigrants could identify with, Lazio considered very much a patrician club of the Roman social elite, and strong enough to challenge the northerners. Lazio refused even a meeting but Alba, Pro Roma, Fortitudo and Roman attended and Roma was formed. Roma was named after the city and with the red and yellow strip of the Roman club. The initial stadium was Motovelodromo Appio. They took part in their first league in the 1929-30 season.

A.S. Roma won their first scudetto in the 1941-42 season. The second was won in the 1982-83 season and the third in 2000-01. They were runners-up in 1930-31, 1935-36, 1980-81, 1983-84, 1985-86, 2001-02 and 2003-04. They were relegated only once, at the end of the 1950-51 season.

The club has won the Coppa Italia seven times: 1963-64, 1968-69, 1979-80, 1980-81, 1983-84, 1985-86, and 1990-91, and the UEFA Cup (Fairs Cup) once in 1960-61, defeating Birmingham City. In 1984, A.S. Roma lost the final match of the European Cup, played in Rome, against Liverpool F.C., after a penalty shootout.

Current first team squad

As of March 2005

Team honors

• Italian League Champions (Scudetti) 3 1941-42 1982-83 2000-01
• Italian Cup 7 1963-64 1968-69 1979-80 1980-81 1983-84 1985-86 1990-91
• Italian SuperCup 1 2000-01
• UEFA Cup 1 1960-61
• Anglo-Italian Cup 1 1971-72

Notable players

• Aldair (1990-2003)
• Amadeo Amadei
• Gabriel Batistuta (2000-2002)
• Cafu (1997-2003)
• Antonio Cassano (2001-)
• Cristian Chivu (2003-)
• Bruno Conti
• Paulo Roberto Falcão
• Giuseppe Giannini (1981-1996)
• Vincenzo Montella (1999-)
• Hidetoshi Nakata (2000-2001)
• Emerson (2000-2004)
• Roberto Pruzzo
• Angelo Sormani
• Francesco Totti (1993-)
• Rudi Völler (1987-1992)

Coaches

• Sven-Göran Eriksson (1984-1987)
• Fabio Capello (2000-2004)
• Cesare Prandelli (2004)
• Rudi Völler (2004)
• Luigi Del Neri (2004-2005)
• Bruno Conti (2005-)

External links

• Official Site
• Roma Caput Mundi (News site)
• AS Roma News (FC Italia)
• AS Roma Addict (unofficial site)