Welcome To Parma (Italian League Football Clubs & Teams)

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Product:	Italian League Football Clubs & Teams
Date:	09/12/00 (2 review reads)
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Advantages: Great players

Disadvantages: Under achievers

Veritible arrivistes on the Italian fotballing scene and purveyors of the finest cheese and ham money can buy.

Dubbed the team of the 90s by the Italian press, Parma sprang from nowhere at the start of the last decade and finished it among the elite of Serie A. To date, they boast 9 consecutive top 7 finishes since 1990, 2 domestic cups, 4 European trophies (1993 Cup Winners Cup, 1995 and 99 UEFA Cup and 1994 Super Cup) and a constant presence in one or other of the European club competitions- the only Italian club to do so.

Their beginnings, however, were comparatively humble. Founded as Verdi FC to celebrate the centenary of the great Italian composer's birth in 1913, they spent 3 short lived periods in Serie A before local based dairy giants Parmalat (ownd by Calisto Tanzi) acquire a 45% stake in the club in 1990 and Nevio Scala became coach. Parma made an immediate return to the top flight and qualified for Europe at the first attempt. Star players like Tomas Brolin, Hristo Stoichkov, Faustino Asprilla, Gianfranco Zola, Enrico Chiesa, Juan Veron and (most recently) Hernan Crespo may have come and gone. But Parma remain a top-drawer Italian side and today boast the formidable talents of defensive maestro Fabio Cannavaro, French full back Lilian Thuram, midfield dynamo Dino Baggio, Argentinian ace Ariel Ortega and new signings Matias Almeyda and Sergio Conceicao (both from Lazio), as well as the former Aston Villa striker Savo Milosevic.

Only a brave or foolish man would bet against another tilt at the Italian title by Alberto Malesani's team of all-stars.

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