SS Lazio

SS Lazio

Società Sportiva Lazio was founded on January 9, 1900, in the Prati district of Rome, by a group of young athletes led by the army captain Luigi Bigiarelli. The founders chose sky blue and white as the club's colours as a deliberate tribute to Greece, the birthplace of the Olympic Games that inspired the club's foundation. Lazio was conceived from the outset as a multi-sport entity, and that broad sporting identity remains part of its character today. In Rome, Lazio occupies a distinctive position as the older of the city's two great rival clubs — though their status has often been complicated by the city's other great institution — and the club draws its core support from a different social and geographical demographic than their rivals, creating one of European football's most intense derby relationships. The Derby della Capitale between Lazio and Roma is among the most ferociously contested matches on the Italian football calendar. On the domestic stage, Lazio have won two Serie A titles — in 1974 and in 2000 — and both remain landmarks in Italian football. The 2000 Scudetto, secured in the final minutes of the final day of the season, is remembered as one of the most dramatic title races in Serie A history. Lazio also hold seven Coppa Italia titles and five Supercoppa Italiana crowns. The 1990s were the most decorated decade in the club's history: they reached the UEFA Cup final in 1998, won both the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Super Cup in 1999, and then claimed their second and most recent league title in 2000. That late-1990s squad, assembled under president Sergio Cragnotti and coached initially by Sven-Goran Eriksson and later Dino Zoff, featured some of the most expensive and gifted players of the era: Pavel Nedved, Juan Sebastian Veron, Marcelo Salas, Christian Vieri, and the deadly Swedish striker Henrik Larsson for a brief period. The talismanic figure of that generation and of modern Lazio history is Ciro Immobile, the Neapolitan striker who won the European Golden Shoe in 2020, breaking Gerd Müller's record with 36 Serie A goals in a single season, and who became the club's all-time leading scorer. Lazio share the magnificent Stadio Olimpico with Roma. Located in the Foro Italico on the northern bank of the Tiber river, the Olimpico has a capacity of 70,634 and serves as the national stadium of Italy. Originally opened in 1937, it has been renovated multiple times and hosts the Italy national team for major international fixtures. In the dugout, Simone Inzaghi — himself a former Lazio player — managed the club with considerable distinction from 2016 to 2021, guiding them back to the Champions League and winning the Coppa Italia in 2019, before departing to become one of Europe's most successful coaches at Inter Milan. Under subsequent managers, Lazio have continued to compete for European spots, and the club's current ambitions under the ownership of Claudio Lotito — who has controlled the club since 2004 — remain focused on maintaining top-six status in Serie A and periodic European competition, while working toward the long-term goal of a new, dedicated stadium.