History of ACF Fiorentina

The first football society was founded in 1898 and was known as "Florence Football Club", an English name. This was common in that period as football was still very much an English game. This club was aristocratic. In 1902 a group of young people (among them Italo Capanni, Mario Meloni and a young man by the name of Galluzzo, who would in the future have a relative play for Fiorentina) founded another team, "Itala F.C.". The grounds were located in the Campo di Marte area. A year later in 1903, another club appeared, "Club Sportivo Firenze", initially dedicated only to cycling and other minor sports, but later including football. In 1908 a group of people including Oreste Gelli founded "Firenze Football Club", that played their matches at grounds called Prato del Quercione, at Parco delle Cascine. Finally, in 1910 "Palestra Ginnastica Fiorentina Libertas" (already founded in 1877 for other sports) was born from an internal split in "Firenze Football Club". The two clubs soon became rivals as they also shared the home ground divided only by a rope held by some wooden stakes. The members of Libertas were often referred to as "ghiozzi rossi", because they frequently had to jump into the ditch that bordered the field to pick up the ball. The word "ghiozzi" derives from a type of fish in the Florence area, and "rossi" referring to their scarlet shirts. They were evicted from Cascine and went to a new ground in Via Bellini, which opened on 22 April 1922.

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Despite the foundation of many of clubs in Florence at this time, there were only two strong challengers: "Club Sportivo Firenze" and "Palestra Ginnastica Libertas". However, neither of them were able to challenge the bigger Italian clubs at the time. Out of necessity, the two clubs started to think about a merger, which would have been a big sacrifice for their identities, but the only way to have a strong enough club, both financially and in terms of quality. It's important to point out that this event was made easier by the rising fascist regime, which didn't like divisions in Italian cities, even in sport. In fact, many football clubs born in that period, such as Ambrosiana, Napoli, Roma and, of course, Fiorentina, were the result of mergers between existing urban clubs. In Fiorentina and Roma's case, the main authors of these mergers were Luigi Ridolfi Vay da Verrazzano and Italo Foschi, both provincial fascist leaders, while for Ambrosiana-Inter, the request was brought forward by Benito Mussolini himself.

On 3 July 1926 (7 July according to some sources) "PGF Libertas Firenze" played their last official match (last match of "Campionato Nazionale di II Divisione") against Prato with the following line-up: Sbrana, Farina, Posteiner, Barigozzi, Magnifico, Salvatorini, Mazzacurati, Focosi, Csapkay, Segoni II, Baldini. The final score was 1–1, with goals from Miliotti for "Lanieri" team and by Baldini for Florence side. The final standings saw Libertas reach the renewed "Second division" as reformed by FIGC

Thanks to PGF Libertas final position, Fiorentina could enter the new championship of "Prima Divisione" ("First Division"), the present-day Serie B.

Fiorentina was founded on 26 August 1926. The first chairman was the Marquis Luigi Ridolfi Vay da Verrazzano, who held that position for about fifteen years. The first trainer was Károly Csapkay.

The first match played by Fiorentina was against Signa, a small club from a nearby town which they lost 2–1. La Nazione, a Florence newspaper, stated: "Il debutto della squadra fiorentina che dovrà fra breve iniziare il campionato di prima divisione non è stato felice. I concittadini sono stati battuti da Le Signe per 2-1. L'A.C. Fiorentina ha avuto il torto di cominciare un po' tardi gli allenamenti della squadra. Ma la colpa non crediamo debba ascriversi del tutto gli intendimenti dei dirigenti del nuovo sodalizio calcistico...'"

First kit

Initially the club colours were white and red, the traditional colours of Florence. The home shirt were half red and white, while shorts and socks black. But in 1929 a mistake during the washing of a set jerseys given to Fiorentina by Colligiana meant the red dye ran into the white, creating a shade of purple. The colour was greeted well by the fans of the team, and it became the official team colour.

Three days after the defeat against "Le Signe", Fiorentina played another friendly against Sampierdarenese, drawing 2–2. The line-ups were:

• 1st half: Serravalli, Posteiner, Bargioni, Salvatorini, Segoni, Tuti, Focosi, Nichel, Bolteni (Wolk), Baccilieri, Bandini
• 2nd half: Sbrana, Posteiner, Benassi, Salvatorini, Longoni, Carulli, Baldini, Nichel, Bolteni (Wolk), Baccilieri, Bandini.

The team was admitted in group C (year 1926–27), and played its first match in an official competition on 3 October 1926, in a home match against the rival Pisa, ended with a victory for 3–1.
That championship for the yet "white-red" team was not that brilliant: they finished 6th over 10 teams; but it was a key season to settle the team
Among the players, one emerged more than others: Bolteni, that at the end of the season had scored 12 goals, becoming top scorer. In reality, his real name was Rodolfo Volk, born 1906, a blond man from Fiume who, enlisted in the military service, couldn't play without an authorization of authorities, which didn't grant the permission. He was therefore constrained to play with a fake name. Volk would become later an idol for Roma's fans.

The next year the team, always in "Prima Divisione", moved to easier Girone Sud ("Group South") reaching the second place at the end of the season only behind Bari. Fiorentina had won several matches: 3–0 against Tivoli, 5–1 against Savoia from Torre Annunziata, 8–0 against Tivoli (second leg), 1–1 against Taranto, 4–1 against Savoia (second leg). Despite seeming regular, the last match became object of inquest by FIGC. La Nazione stated: "possiamo dire che effettivamente, qualcosa di irregolare vi è stato nella disputa del match e si auspica un'inchiesta da parte della Federazione, che metta in chiaro le cose". The next verdict issued by FIGC was:

• Savoia would have offered money to Fiorentina to declare forfeit;^{[clarification needed]}
• Fiorentina had not charged the fact, with the discriminating of refusing the offer;^{[clarification needed]}
• Savoia would have reiterad the offer during the kick off, so that Savoia'd won the match;^{[clarification needed]}
• Fiorentina would have accepted to don't cash the federal indemnity, thus Savoia would commit to don't declare forfeit against Bari;^{[clarification needed]}
• Fiorentina did not charge the unfair behaviour of its manager;
• Fact's liability was to be assumed by Savoia's and Fiorentina's managers;
• Luigi Ridolfi and councillor Gino Agostini had to be excluded.

The provisions were those:

• Unfit for team's directors (Ridolfi and Agostini too);
• No points for teams regarding that match
• Sanction of 4500 liras for Savoia, 1000 liras for Fiorentina;

Last match against Bari was pivotal for the standing; Fiorentina played away and lost 5–3. During the match there were a lot of accidents, Fiorentina's player were abused and menaced by Bari's fans. The society made a claim but was repealed and they had to make with second place.