S.S. Lazio
(Italian: Società Sportiva Lazio SpA) is an Italian football
club based in Rome. They are known as the biancocelesti. They
play in light blue shirts, with white shorts and socks.
The club was founded on January 9th 1900 as Società Podistica
Lazio. The name Lazio was taken from the Latin word "Latium",
that means "wide", meeting the aim of the founders to symbolize
something that includes Rome, but which is not limited to Rome
(in fact, Lazio is the name of the region where Rome lies). The
sky blue and white strip colours were inspired by the Greek flag
and the country which gave birth to Olympic tradition. At the
very beginning of his history, the club ran a number of
different sporting activities and, from 1902, the club started
the football section.
The club did not join the league competition until 1913. They
made the national decider a number of times but lost, often
heavily - 9-1 on aggregate to Casale in 1914 and 6-1 on
aggregate to Genoa 1893 in 1923.
The club played in the first Serie A, but their highest pre-war
finish was second in 1937. Post-war the club continued to fail
in the league, but did win the Coppa Italia in 1958. However,
they had to wait until 1974 for their first scudetto.
However, when Sergio Cragnotti became president of the club, he
was prepared to invest long-term in new players for the club. In
1993 Lazio finished fifth in Serie A, fourth in 1994, second in
1995, third in 1996, and fourth again in 1997 before winning the
scudetto for the second time in 2000. They had Coppa Italia
victories in 1998, 2000 and 2004 and they also won the last UEFA
Cup Winners' Cup in 1999. But after a financial scandal which
invested Cragnotti and his foodstuff multinational Cirio, Lazio
was controlled in 2004 by a bank pool, in order to be sold to
enterpreneur Claudio Lotito, who is the current team owner. The
new season for Lazio brought away several strong team players,
who were sold to make up the big deficit that regarded the team,
which is quoted at the Piazza Affari Italian stock market.
During this summer, former 36-years old Lazio star Paolo Di
Canio accepted to join his favourite team one more time, giving
up a much more worthwhile contract from his previous team
Charlton Athletic.
The club plays at the 82,656 seater Stadio Olimpico, shared with
A.S. Roma. The two teams play one another each year in the Rome
derby, a fiery, emotional match often marked with tension and
fights in the stands.
Famous Lazio players include Alen Boksic, Giorgio Chinaglia,
Paul Gascoigne, Silvio Piola, Giuseppe Signori, Pavel Nedved,
Juan Sebastian Veron, Paolo Di Canio, Jaap Stam, Angelo Peruzzi,
Hernán Crespo, Dino Baggio, Roberto Mancini and Alessandro
Nesta.
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