management

Presidential history

Roma have had numerous presidents over the course of their history, some of which have been the owners of the club, others have been honorary presidents. Currently Franco Sensi is the chairman, with his daughter Rossella Sensi in place as honorary president.^[27] Here is a complete list of Roma presidents from 1927 until the present day.^[27]

Name Years Italo Foschi 1927–1928 Renato Sacerdoti 1928–1934 Vittorio Scialoja 1934–1936 Igino Bettini 1936–1941 Edgardo Bazzini 1941–1943 Pietro Baldassarre 1943–1949 Pier Carlo Restagno 1949–1952 Romolo Vaselli 1952 Pier Carlo Restagno Renato Sacerdoti 1952–1953 Renato Sacerdoti 1953–1958 Anacleto Gianni 1958–1962

Name Years Francesco Marini-Dettina 1962–1965 Franco Evangelisti 1965–1968 Francesco Ranucci 1968–1969 Alvaro Marchini 1969–1971 Gaetano Anzalone 1971–1979 Dino Viola 1979–1991 Flora Viola 1991 Giuseppe Ciarrapico 1991–1993 Franco Sensi Pietro Mezzaroma 1993 Franco Sensi 1993–present Rosella Sensi (Honorary president) 2004–present

Managerial history

Roma have had many managers and trainers running the team during their history, here is a chronological list of them from 1927 onwards.^[12]

Name Nationality Years William Garbutt 1927–1929 Guido Baccani 1929–1930 Herbert Burgess 1930–1932 Lászlo Barr 1932–1933 Lajos Kovács 1933–1934 Luigi Barbesino 1934–1938 Guido Ara 1938–1939 Alfréd Schaffer 1939–1942 Géza Kertész 1942–1943 Guido Masetti 1943–1945 Giovanni Degni 1945–1947 Imre Senkey 1947–1948 Luigi Brunella 1948–1949 Fulvio Bernardini 1949–1950 Adolfo Baloncieri 1950 Pietro Serantoni 1950 Guido Masetti 1950–1951 Giuseppe Viani 1951–1953 Mario Varglien 1953–1954 Jesse Carver 1954–1956 György Sarosi 1956 Guido Masetti 1956–1957 Alec Stock 1957–1958 Gunnar Nordahl 1958–1959 György Sarosi 1959–1960 Alfredo Foni 1960–1961 Luis Carniglia 1961–1963 Naim Krieziu 1963 Alfredo Foni 1963–1964

Name Nationality Years Luis Miró 1964–1965 Juan Carlos Lorenzo 1965–1966 Oronzo Pugliese 1966–1968 Helenio Herrera 1968–1970 Luciano Tessari 1970 Helenio Herrera 1971–1972 Tonino Trebiciani 1972–1973 Nils Liedholm 1974–1977 Gustavo Giagnoni 1978–1979 Ferruccio Valcareggi 1979–1980 Nils Liedholm 1980–1984 Sven-Göran Eriksson 1984–1986 Angelo Sormani 1986–1988 Nils Liedholm 1988 Luciano Spinosi 1988–1989 Gigi Radice 1989–1990 Ottavio Bianchi 1990–1992 Vujadin Boškov 1992–1993 Carlo Mazzone 1993–1996 Carlos Bianchi 1996 Nils Liedholm 1996 Ezio Sella 1996 Zdeněk Zeman 1997–1999 Fabio Capello 1999–2004 Cesare Prandelli 2004 Rudi Völler 2004 Luigi Del Neri 2004–2005 Bruno Conti 2005 Luciano Spalletti 2005–present

Club statistics and records

Francesco Totti holds Roma's official appearance record, having made 496 (as of March 2008) appearances in all competitions, over the course of 15 seasons from 1992 until the present day.^[28] He also holds the record for Serie A appearances with 388, as he passed Giacomo Losi on March 1, 2008, during a home match against Parma. ^[29]

Including all competitions, Francesco Totti is the all-time leading goalscorer for Roma, with 188 goals since joining the club, 151 of which were scored in Serie A (another Roma record).^[28] Roberto Pruzzo, who was the all-time topscorer since 1988 comes in second in all competitions with 136. In the 1930–31 season, Rodolfo Volk scored 29 goals in Serie A over the course of a single season, not only was he the league's topscorer that year, but he set a Roma record for most goals scored in a season, which still lasts today.^[28]

The first ever official game participated in by Roma was in the Italian Football Championship of 1928–29, the predecessor of Serie A, against Livorno; Roma won 2–0.^[30] The biggest ever victory recorded by Roma was 9–0 against Cremonese during the Serie A season of 1929–30.^[28] The highest defeat Roma have ever suffered is 7–1, this has happened three times; first against Juventus during 1931–32, then against Torino in 1947–48 and most recently against Manchester United in 2006–07.^[28]

Colours, badge and nicknames

Roma's colours of maroon red with a golden yellow trim represents the traditional colours of the Eternal City, the official seal of the comuni features the same colours.^[31] The gold symbolizes God in Roman Catholicism,^[32] while the maroon represents imperial dignity.^[33] White shorts and black socks are usually worn with the maroon red shirt, however in particularly high key games the shorts and socks are the same colour as the home shirt.^[34]

The kit itself was originally worn by Roman Football Club; one of the three clubs who merged to form the current incarnation in 1927.^[35] Because of the colours they wear, Roma are often nicknamed i giallorossi meaning the yellow-reds.^[36] Roma's away kit is traditionally white, with a third kit changing colour from time to time.

A popular nickname for the club is i lupi (the wolves), the animal has always featured on the club's badge in different forms throughout their history. Currently the emblem of the team is the one which was used when the club was first founded. It portrays the female wolf with the two infant brothers Romulus and Remus, illustrating the myth of the creation of Rome,^[37] superimposed on a bipartite golden yellow over maroon red shield.^[38]

In the myth from which the club take their nickname and logo, the twins (sons of Mars and Rhea Silvia) are thrown into the River Tiber by their uncle Amulius, a she-wolf saved the twins and looked after them.^[37] Eventually the two twins took revenge on Amulius, before falling out themselves; Romulus killed Remus and as thus was made king of a new city named in his honour, Rome.^[37]

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor[39]
1970–1971	Lacoste	None
1972–1976	None
1977–1979	Adidas
1979–1980	Pouchain
1980–1981	Playground
1981–1982		Barilla (Pasta)
1982–1983	Patrick
1983–1986	Kappa
1986–1991	NR
1991–1994	Adidas
1994–1995	Asics	Nuova Tirrena (Insurance)
1995–1997		INA Assitalia (Insurance)
1997–2000	Diadora
2000–2002	Kappa
2002–2003		Mazda (Automobile)
2003–2005	Diadora
2005–2006		Banca Italease (Banking Group)
2006–2007		None
2007–	Kappa	WIND (Telecommunication)

Supporters and rivalries

Roma is the fourth most supported football club in Italy with around 6% of Italian football fans supporting the club (according to the Doxa Institute-L'Expresso’s research of April 2006).^[40] Historically the largest section of Roma supporters in the city of Rome have come from the inner-city and south parts, which is the working-class area of the city, especially Testaccio.^[4]

The traditional ultras group of the club was the politically left-leaning Commando Ultrà Curva Sud^[41] commonly abbreviated as CUCS; this group was founded by the merger of many smallers groups and was considered one of the most historic in the history of European football.^[41] However, by the mid-1990s CUCS had been usurped by rival factions and ultimately broke up. Since that time, the Curva Sud of the Stadio Olimpico has been controlled by more right-wing groups;^[41] AS Roma Ultras, Boys, Giovinezza and others. The oldest group Fedayn is apolitical however and politics is not the raison d'être of Roma, just a part of their overall identity.

The club anthem and motto is La Roma non si discute, si ama^[42] by local singer Antonello Venditti. The title roughly means "Roma is not discussed, it is loved" and is sung before each match, the song Grazie Roma, by the same singer, is played at the end of victorious home games. Recently, the main riff of The White Stripes song Seven Nation Army has also become widely popular at games.^[43]

In Italian football Roma are a club with many rivalries; first and foremost is their rivalry with Lazio, the club who they share the Stadio Olimpico stadium with. The derby between the two is called the Derby della Capitale, it is amongst the most heated and emotional footballing rivalries in the world. A Lazio fan, Vincenzo Paparelli was killed at one of the derby games during the 1979–80 season after being hit in the eye by a flare thrown by a Roma fan.^[44]

A second extreme incident happened during the Rome derby in 2003, when it was called off after Roma ultras spread untrue rumours that a child had been killed by police during the game.^[45] The game was called off but there was trouble on the streets outside of the stadium, with battles between police and ultras in which 150 police officers were injured, as well as a number of tifosi; nobody was killed.^[45] With Napoli, Roma also compete in the Derby del Sole rivalry meaning the "Derby of the Sun"; the two cities are within close proximity to each other and the two clubs are the most successful in Central and Southern Italy.^[46] The fans also consider Juventus, AC Milan and Inter amongst their rivals.^[41]