History of Parma Calcio 1913

Il Crociato then spent another five seasons in Serie C, where they finished second place on two occasions before gaining promotion once again in 1953–54 with the help of the prolific Czechoslovakian left-winger Július Korostelev, who scored 15 of the side's 45 goals.

The stars of this era were Paolo Erba, who was named the capocannoniere, the league's top scorer, in 1956–57, and Ivo Cocconi, who set the club's appearance record, playing 308 times.

Maldini-led Parma beat Triestina 3–1 after extra time in a play-off match, thanks to two goals from a young Carlo Ancelotti, who moved to Roma that summer after his starring role.

The disappointment led to the departure of cult hero Barbuti, a striker who scored 37 league goals in 98 appearances in just three years for the club and was loved by the fans for his tireless running, goalscoring record and manic celebrations in front of – and sometimes in — the Curva Nord at the Stadio Ennio Tardini.

Parma's first season back in Serie B was a successful one, missing out on promotion to Italy's top tier by just three points and eliminating AC Milan from the Coppa Italia, a result that convinced their owner, Silvio Berlusconi, to hire Sacchi as the new manager of the Rossoneri.

[11] Scala's Parma led Serie B at the half-way mark and, despite the distress of a stadium disaster in a home match against Reggina in January and the death of owner Ernesto Ceresin in February seeing the Ducali fall to eighth, a late run of form and victory on the final day against old Derby del Grana rivals Reggiana with goals from fan favourite and right winger[11] Marco Osio and forward Alessandro Melli meant Parma secured a historic promotion to Serie A on 27 May 1990.

[12] After Parma's promotion, Calisto Tanzi increased his stake in the ownership of the club to 45% with the purchase of the deceased Ceresin's sons' shares and named Giorgio Pedraneschi as president.

[12] However, the 1991–92 season saw Parma exit the UEFA Cup to CSKA Sofia in the first round despite the notable additions of Antonio Benarrivo and Alberto Di Chiara, each of whom were full-backs that would go on to appear for Italy.

[11] The club had more success on the domestic front, where they finished sixth in the league – lack of a prolific scorer costing Parma the chance to fight Torino for third – and prevailed in the Coppa Italia final against Juventus.

Ancelotti and Tanzi immediately overhauled the team that summer, signing Hernán Crespo, Enrico Chiesa and Zé Maria and selling Stoichkov, Couto, Inzaghi and Di Chiara.

[12] As the new leadership continued to make changes to the team, Zola, who had scored 49 goals in 102 league games for Parma, was sold to Chelsea for £4.5M in November 1996 as he was incompatible with the formation switch from 4–4–2 to 3–5–2, a decision Ancelotti has since expressed his regret over.

[11][14][15] However, the side packed full of stars were guided to the club's best ever league finish under Ancelotti in 1997: second place and only two points behind champions Juventus, who converted a dubiously awarded penalty against Parma in a 1–1 draw in May.

As a result, Parma made their first appearance in the Champions League, but having beaten Widzew Łódź to qualify for the group stages, further qualification and a quarter-final was in part denied by a Borussia Dortmund side led by Nevio Scala.

[16] On 14 April 1999, Parma and Fiorentina played out a 1–1 draw in the first leg of the Coppa Italia final with Crespo opening the scoring before compatriot Gabriel Batistuta equalised late on.

Crespo capitalised on an early defensive error by the French defence to open the scoring, before a well-placed Paolo Vanoli header before half-time and an Enrico Chiesa volley secured the triumph.

The UEFA Cup win was later tainted by the release of footage showing Fabio Cannavaro receiving injections of neoton, raising suspicions that he was doping, although these claims have never been proved true.

[19] However, once more the winning players from the previous season were sold to raise money: Fabio Cannavaro went to Internazionale when he was club captain,[11] Marco Di Vaio to Juventus[20] and Johan Micoud to Werder Bremen and Parma slipped to an early season defeat in Tripoli to Juventus in the 2002 Supercoppa Italiana, but the depleted squad managed to finish above expectations in fifth place with the goals supplied by Adrian Mutu and Adriano in an attacking 4–3–3 formation, making up for the departure of Marco Di Vaio, and defensive solidity provided by Daniele Bonera and Matteo Ferrari.

Prandelli's departure as manager preceded the 2004–05 season,[17] as did the decision to revert to the club's traditional colours: white shirts again being adorned by black crosses, replacing the yellow and blue hoops associated with Parmalat's ownership.

Although Parma reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, they plummeted to their lowest finish since promotion fifteen years earlier, appointing and relieving Silvio Baldini of his duties in the space of a few months and hiring Pietro Carmignani.

[11][13][17][26] The Emilian outfit ended the following season with a finish in tenth place, but the Calciopoli scandal saw their official position changed to seventh and assured them a return to the UEFA Cup.

Parma's stay in Serie B started badly under Luca Cagni, who was sacked six games into the season and replaced by Francesco Guidolin who guided the club to joint top at the half-way mark and a second-place finish, ending the season unbeaten at home and fired on with goals from Alberto Paloschi and Cristiano Lucarelli, finally securing promotion back to Serie A with a 2–2 draw on 16 May 2009 with two games left to play.

[11] Although Parma's form dropped off in the new year, despite the re-signing of fans' favourite Hernán Crespo they did manage to finish eighth in the final standings, narrowly missing out on qualification for the UEFA Europa League, just three points behind rivals Juventus.

[34] Parma started the 2010–11 season poorly and lay in sixteenth position at the Christmas break despite an unlikely return to form for Hernán Crespo who had scored eight goals,[35] as pressure on Marino from the boardroom grew.

[36][37][38] However, Marino's time in charge ended on 3 April, when he was sacked by President Tommaso Ghirardi after a disappointing home defeat to rock-bottom Bari, which saw Parma fall within two points of the relegation zone with seven matches to go.

Parma Calcio 1913, was formed in July 2015, taking its name from the year of foundation of the predecessor club and beating off competition from a rival to secure a place in the 2015–16 Serie D under article 52 of N.O.I.F.