History of SS Lazio
The primary colour of sky blue was chosen as a tribute to ancient Greece and pays homage to the advent of the modern Olympic Games.
In 1907, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) sponsored a Roman championship called I Categoria, which Lazio won, defeating early rivals Virtus in the final.
In the summer of 1932, Barbuy was replaced by an Austrian coach, Karl Stürmer, and he led the club to their first eve win in a Rome Derby, beating the giallorossi 2–1 at home.
Ferraris had arrived from Roma, where he had played over 200 games, while Piola went on to become a legend of Lazio, the highest goalscorer in Serie A history and, in 1938, he also became a World Cup winner with the Italy national team.
The following year, the Serie A returned to its usual format and Lazio duly finished tenth, a mediocre season, albeit ahead of Roma, who narrowly avoided relegation.
First, the club had topped their group of four, consisting of Palermo, Napoli and rivals Roma, before eliminating Marzotto and Juventus on the road to the final, where they met Fiorentina.
Led by coach Fulvio Bernardini, Lazio beat la Viola 1–0 with a goal from striker Maurilio Prini, who had ironically just left Fiorentina.
Their coach of the day was an Argentine, Juan Carlos Lorenzo, and Lazio's tight defence ensured a credible eighth-place finish in 1964 with a paltry 21 goals scored and a stingy 24 conceded.
They took to the field in the 1972–73 season with a team comprising English-born captain Giuseppe Wilson in defence, Luciano Re Cecconi and Mario Frustalupi in midfield, Renzo Garlaschelli and Giorgio Chinaglia up front, and coach Tommaso Maestrelli.
The tragic deaths of Luciano Re Cecconi and scudetto-winning trainer Tommaso Maestrelli, in addition to the departure of Chinaglia in 1976, would be a triple blow for Lazio.
In 1986, Lazio was hit with a nine-point deduction (a true deathblow back in the day of the two-point win) for a betting scandal involving one player, Claudio Vinazzani.
Lazio won the Supercoppa Italiana twice and defeated 1999 Champions League winners Manchester United in 1999 to win the UEFA Super Cup.
[5] Lazio began the decade brightly by winning the Supercoppa Italiana and finishing in third place in the league, but the departure of manager Sven-Göran Eriksson accelerated the decline of the club.
With money running out, or wasted on transfer flops such as the Spaniard Gaizka Mendieta for £28 million from Valencia, Lazio missed out on the all-important qualification for the UEFA Champions League in 2001–02, finishing in a disappointing sixth-place.
That summer, 36-year-old former Lazio star Paolo Di Canio accepted to join the club he supported as a youth, taking a 75% pay cut.
The 2005–06 season saw Lazio lose veterans such as Fernando Couto, Paolo Negro and Giuliano Giannichedda who were let go by the club, among other things, to lower its salary expenditure.
The 2005–06 season under the coaching of Delio Rossi saw the club compete beyond all expectations with a team which blends remaining veterans such as Angelo Peruzzi and midfield fan favourites Fabio Liverani and Ousmane Dabo with an infusion of motivated players with lower salary demands.
