Not many Italian sides can say that they have played in all four top-flight divisions in the country, have been re-founded twice, and have won trophies domestically and in Europe. Drama seems to constantly follow Parma and the 2020/21 seasons in no different with the club battling against relegation from Serie A.
Name: Parma Calcio 1913, formally known as Parma Football Club (1913-2004) and Parma Football Club SpA (2004-2015)
Nicknames: The Crusaders, The Yellow and Blues, The Duchy Men and The Emilians
Founded: December 16th 1913
Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini. Capacity: 22,359
Noteworthy Former Players: Alessandro Lucarelli (whom the club retired the No.6 shirt in honour of), Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Lilian Thuram, Juan Sebastian Veron, Gianfranco Zola and Hernan Crespo.
Manager: Roberto D'Aversa. Born in Stuttgart, Germany, D’Aversa began his career at AC Milan but never played a game for the first team. D’Aversa was a journeyman midfielder, playing for 15 clubs between 1994-2013. The majority of D’Aversa’s career was spent outside of Serie A and he never reached 100 league games for any of his club.
D’Aversa made his step into management with the last club he played for, Virtus Lanciano. D’Aversa spent 2-years at the club between 2014-2016 and left with a win ratio of just 23.19%. D’Aversa took control of Parma in 2016 and guided the club to promotion to Serie B in his very first season and the very next season they earned promotion to Serie A. D’Aversa was sacked by the club in August 2020 following a run of poor form that left the club battling relegation, but in January 2021 he was rehired. During his first spell with Parma, D’Aversa had a win ratio of 42.38%.
Parma first made it into the second tier of Italian football back in 1929 but continued to get relegated and promoted through the lower divisions all the way through to 1990 when they finally made it into Serie A. The club took to life in the top-flight like a duck to water, finishing 6th, 6th, 3rd, 5th, 3rd, 5th, 2nd, 5th, 4th, 5th, and 4th in their opening 11 seasons.
The club won its first Coppa Italia title in 1992 and have won it twice since (1999 & 2002). Parma claimed the Cup Winners Cup in 1993, beating Royal Antwerp in the final and finished runners-up in the competition next season to Arsenal. In 1995, Parma won the UEFA Cup where they met fellow Italians Juventus in the final. In 1999, Parma returned to the final of the UEFA Cup, claiming their second title at the expense of Marseille. Despite their success both domestically and abroad, the Serie A title alluded Parma during the 1990s.
The club have gone through lots of financial troubles during the 2000s and have had to reform on two separate occasions and had to work their way back up to Serie A from Serie D.
Parma currently sit second from bottom in Serie A after 23-games and scoring has been a real issue for the club this season. However, the recent occasions of 35-year-olf Graziano Pelle and 19-year-old Joshua Zirkzee will surely add some much-needed quality up-front and could make the difference between Serie A and Serie B football next season.
As things stand, Parma are 6pts from safety and in the midst of a poor run of form, but a 2-2 draw with Udinese last time out did put an end to their losing streak.