Parma never won the Italian championship, but during its heyday, it managed to grab two UEFA Cups and one Cup Winners’ Cup within six years.
In the 90’s Italian teams dominated European competitions, as in their 21 appearances in finals (four UEFA Cup finals played between Italian clubs during this period) won 13 trophies. The traditional powerhouses Milan, Juventus, and Inter were the main protagonists, but they were soon joined by Parma, who were promoted to Serie A for the first time in 1990. In its very first year in Serie A Parma managed to win its way into the UEFA Cup, finishing 6th ahead of Juventus and Napoli. Their European journey in 1992 stumbled at the first hurdle, getting knocked out of the UEFA Cup by CSKA Sofia. Despite being favored after a goalless draw in Bulgaria, back in Italy, a late goal from Veliyan Parushev left them out as it made the score 1-1. That year Parma also missed out on European qualification in the league, finishing 7th. However, the following season they were Italy’s representative in the Cup Winners’ Cup.
You see, they managed to win the Coppa Italia which was the first title in their history. Their run had started by eliminating Palermo in the second round. After a 0-0 draw at the Ennio Tardini stadium, they won 2-1 in Sicily with Belgian center-back Georges Grun putting them ahead in the first minute of the match and Alessandro Melli giving them the lead in the 84th minute. It was much the same story in their duel with Fiorentina in the round of 16. A goalless draw at home and qualification at the Artemio Franchi with Swedish striker Tomas Brolin scoring in a 1-1 draw. Genoa in the quarter-finals proved to be an easier opponent. Parma won 2-0 at home thanks to goals from Lorenzo Minotti and Tarcisio Catanese, and in their second encounter, they came through victoriously (2-1) again, with Melli completing the comeback (his side had equalized after Gianluca Signorini’s own goal) to seal qualification.
At the semi-finals, the 1991 Italian champions and 1992 Champions League finalists Sampdoria were awaiting. A goal from Brolin saw Parma win 1-0 at home and stayed upright at the Luigi Ferraris, taking qualification to extra time. Melli equalized on 97 minutes and gave them the lead six minutes later with a well-taken penalty stroke before Pietro Vierchowod made it 2-2 on 120 minutes. In the final against Juventus, the predictions didn’t give Parma much luck, but they turned it around. They lost 1-0 from Roberto Baggio’s penalty in Turin and in the second game, they surprised everybody by winning 2-0 with goals from Melli (he was the top scorer of the competition with 5 goals) and Marco Osio.
Nevio Scala was the man behind all these successes and the work he did from the bench has continued to produce great results. The Italian coach wanted to play attacking football and with the acquisition of Colombian striker Faustino Asprilla, Parma in 1993 significantly increased their scoring tally. They finished 3rd in Serie A behind Milan and Inter and they excelled in Europe by winning the Cup Winners Cup. They knocked out Ujpest of Hungary in the first round by beating them 1-0 in Italy with a goal from Asprilla and in the second game they drew 1-1 with Grun opening the scoring. In the round of 16 Boavista drew white at the Ennio Tardini so Parma had to beat them 2-0 in Portugal with an own goal from Antonio Nogueira and a goal from Melli to qualify.
In the quarter-finals against Sparta Prague it was the same but in reverse, after a 0-0 draw in the Czech Republic Melli and Asprillia gave Parma a 2-0 win. The ultimate test was against Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals. Thanks to Asprilla’s two goals, Parma came away from Madrid victorious (2-1) and despite being beaten 1-0 at home, they advanced to the final. They were opposed by Antwerp from Belgium at Wembley and the first few minutes of the match were thrilling. The Italians took the lead in 9 minutes through captain Lorenzo Minotti, but they were equalized by Francis Severeyns two minutes later. Melli put them back in front in 30 minutes and Stefano Cuoghi in 84 minutes completed their first European triumph with the final score being 3-1.
Offensive reinforcements continued with the acquisition of Gianfranco Zola from Napoli, while there was also defensive fortification with the arrival of Argentine Roberto Sensini from Udinese. Indeed, it was his goal that paved the way to the UEFA Super Cup win. Parma had been beaten 1-0 at home by European champions Milan in the first leg, but they won 2-0 at the San Siro with Sensini giving them the lead and Massimo Crippa winning them the trophy in extra time. That was their only title of the season although they came close to defending their Cup Winners’ Cup crown. They knocked out Degerfors in the first round by beating them 2-1 in Sweden with two goals from Asprilla and 2-0 in Italy with two goals from Brolin, who gave them a 90-minute winner in a 1-0 away win over Maccabi Haifa in the first leg of the next round.
The Israelis proved to be tough nuts and won by the same score at the Ennio Tardini, taking the match to extra time and finally to the penalty shootout where they were eliminated 3-1. Parma even took down Ajax who a year later would become the team that would terrorize all of Europe on their way to winning the Champions League. Their paths crossed in the quarter-finals with the Italians taking a 0-0 draw in Amsterdam and winning 2-0 at home with Minotti and Brolin scoring the goals. Benfica beat them 2-1 in Lisbon in the semi-finals. Zola’s goal proved decisive, as Sensini’s goal in the second game and the final 1-0 was enough to qualify for the final. At the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Parma faced Arsenal, but after Alan Smith’s 20-minute goal, the Italians could not recover and were beaten 1-0.
In 1994 they were 5th in the league, but in 1995 they were the team that Juventus was ahead of in every competition except the UEFA Cup. The Bianconeri returned to the top of Serie A for the first time since 1986, leaving Lazio and Parma 10 points behind, beating the latter (1-0 and 2-0) in the Coppa Italia final. In Europe, however, things were different. The Gialloblu (Parma’s nickname) in the first round despite losing 1-0 to Vitesse in Holland won 2-0 at home with two goals from Zola and qualified. Next up for them was AIK who they beat 1-0 in Stockholm thanks to Asprilla and 2-0 at the Ennio Tardini with goals from Minotti. Their clash with Athletic Bilbao in the round of 16 was a delight, as they lost 1-0 in Spain and won 4-2 in the return leg with their new signings leading the way. Dino Baggio who came from Juventus and Fernando Couto who had been acquired from Porto.
The Italian midfielder scored twice after Zola opened the scoring to make it 3-0 and the Portuguese center-back killed off any appetite for a comeback for the Basque side by breaking through their goal a few minutes after they had reduced the deficit to 3-1. Zola’s well-taken penalty kick and the 1-0 win for Parma over Odense in the first leg of the next round was enough to earn them a place in the semi-finals, as they drew 0-0 in the Denmark return leg. Leverkusen, although leading in the first game, were unable to cut off their path to the final. Parma responded through Baggio and Asprilla and left Germany with a 2-1 win. In their second match, the Colombian scored two goals and Zola completed the triumphant qualification which came with a score of 3-0. In the final against Juventus, Baggio stole the spotlight. His lone goal gave Parma a 1-0 win at the Ennio Tardini, and he equalized to 1-1 at the Stadio delle Alpi in the 53rd minute, securing their first UEFA Cup.
Scala’s tenure ended in 1996 with a 6th place finish in the Campionato in a points race that saw Lazio 3rd with 59, Fiorentina 4th with the same haul, Roma 5th with 58, and Parma below them with the same points. His replacement was Carlo Ancelotti. Under his guidance the Gialloblu in 1997 made their best-ever run in Serie A and lost the title to Juventus, who collected two points more. They went from -13 on matchday 13 to -3 on matchday 27, but afterwards were beaten 2-0 at home by Udinese and found themselves at -6. The 1-1 home draw with Milan before their visit to Turin took them from -4 back to -6, and the 1-1 draw in Week 32 with the Bianconeri effectively put them out of contention with two games remaining.
In 1998 Parma made their first and only appearance in the Champions League and won two games in the group stage of the competition, beating Galatasaray 2-0 at the Ennio Tardini with goals from Sensini and Hernan Crespo and also prevailing 1-0 against the 1997 European champions Dortmund with a goal from Crespo. Their nine points (they drew three and lost one in the other games) were not enough to qualify, as the Germans took the first place in their group and with it the ticket to the quarter-finals, collecting 15 points. In the league again Parma finished 6th with 57 points with Roma finishing 4th with 59, Fiorentina 5th also with 57, and Lazio 7th with 56.
Ancelotti left to take over Juventus and Alberto Malesani took his place and made the most of the young stars that had emerged over the previous two years. With the then 21-year-old Gianluigi Buffon under the posts, Fabio Cannavaro, Lilian Thuram, Sensini, Antonio Benarrivo, and Paolo Vanoli in defense, Diego Fuser, Baggio, Juan Sebastian Veron and Alain Boghossian who had just arrived from Sampdoria, Mario Stanic and Stefano Fiore in midfield and Crespo, Enrico Chiesa, Abel Balbo and Asprilla, who had since returned from Newcastle, in attack, Parma in 1999 went on to win the UEFA Cup and the Coppa Italia, while finishing 4th in one of the most competitive leagues ever held in Italy.
Their European campaign started in Istanbul with a 1-0 defeat to Fenerbahce in the first round. Qualification came with a 3-1 win at the Ennio Tardini with Saffet Akbas’ own-goal opening the way, Crespo making it 2-0, and Boghossian setting up the final score. In the second round, they drew 1-1 in Poland against Wisla Krakow with Chiesa opening the scoring and in the second game they won 2-1 with Fiore scoring and Bogdan Zajac’s own goal. In the third round, Balbo’s goal in the 1-1 draw with Rangers in Glasgow gave them a qualification lead which they sealed with a 3-1 win at home thanks to goals from Balbo, Fiore, and Chiesa. In the quarter-finals, Bordeaux learned the hard way not to mess with Parma. The French side won 2-1 in the first leg, but the Italians unleashed a 6-0 massacre in the second leg.
In the first match Crespo’s goal in 85 minutes looked like it would be decisive, but it turned out not to be particularly necessary. In the return leg the Argentine scored twice as did Chiesa and with Sensini and Balbo each finding the back of the net once, Parma made the 1999 French champions look like they didn’t know where to hide. In the semi-finals, they were opposed, as in the Cup Winners’ Cup six years ago, by Atletico Madrid who had no better luck. With two goals from Chiesa and one from Crespo, Parma thrashed the Rojiblancos 3-1 at the Vicente Calderon stadium and beat them (2-1) in their second encounter as well, with Balbo and Chiesa scoring. With the momentum they had gained, they destroyed Marseille in the final held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. The French could not keep up with Parma’s pace and by conceding goals from Crespo, Vanoli and Chiesa were beaten 3-0 without putting up any resistance.
Two weeks earlier Parma had celebrated the Italian Cup against Fiorentina. By the time they got there they had eliminated Genoa in the round of 32 by beating them 3-0 (Boghossian, Balbo, Crespo) and 1-0 (Asprilla), Bari in the round of 16 with a 2-1 win (Asprilla and Luigi Garzya’s own goal) and a 0-0 draw, Udinese in the quarter-finals with a 4-0 win (Veron, Crespo two goals, Balbo) after a 3-2 defeat (Balbo, Crespo) and Inter in the semi-finals with 2-0 (Veron, Balbo) and 2-1 (Chiesa, Veron) wins. In the first final the Viola drew 1-1 at the Ennio Tardini with Gabriel Batistuta equalizing on 81 minutes after Crespo’s goal. Crespo opened the scoring at the Artemio Franchi and after Fiorentina had turned it around Veron equalized 2-2 to give the title to the Gialloblu, who had more away goals.
In the league they achieved impressive victories such as a 4-0 win over champions Milan and 4-2 and 3-1 away wins against Juventus and Inter respectively. However, the fact that they had suffered five defeats in the last nine rounds sent them to the 4th place with 55 points behind 3rd place Fiorentina who had 56, and ahead of Roma, Juventus, and Udinese who had 54 each. Malesani kept the team at the same level for another two years (he was sacked in January 2001 after repeated disagreements with the management over the sale of the club’s best players). Parma may have given Veron to Lazio but with the additions of Ariel Ortega from Sampdoria and Marcio Amoroso from Udinese, who in truth didn’t perform well, Parma was 5th in 2000 and played an extra game for Champions League qualification with Inter who was 4th due to a tie.
The Nerazzurri won easily 3-1, but they fell to the same fate as their opponents who were eliminated by Glasgow Rangers in the qualifying stage of the competition the year before. Parma also sold Crespo to Lazio for a then world record fee of €56.2 million, but in 2001 they were 4th in Serie A and lost the Coppa Italia to Fiorentina. They were again eliminated in the Champions League qualifiers with Lille leaving them out of the group stage, and financial problems that later dropped them to the minor leagues saw them finish 10th in the Campionato in 2002. Even so, they still managed to win the Cup. They lost 2-1 in the first final to Juventus, to whom they had given Buffon and Thuram, but Hidetoshi Nakata’s goal in 90 minutes was manna from heaven as they won 1-0 at the Ennio Tardini thanks to a goal from Brazilian left-back Junior to deny the Vecchia Signora the double.
This is Parma’s last title to date. They may not have been able to surpass Juventus and Milan, who dominated Serie A in the 1990s by winning eight titles, and gone downhill when Lazio and Roma found the opportunity to top the table at the beginning of the 21st century, but the three European titles in their trophy cabinet it’s some kind of compensation. After all, the only Italian teams with more are Milan with nine, Juventus with six, and Inter also with six.
