Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Torino Calcio
Torino Calcio is one of the most popular Italian football clubs, based in Turin. Torino are nicknamed I Granata (the Garnet Reds) from the colour of the team shirts, or Il Toro (the Bull), from the abbreviation of the team name, that is also the city name of Turin in Italian language. The club was known as A.C. Torino until 1970.
The club was founded in 1890 as Internazionale Torino, becoming FC Torino in 1906. They were denied their first Championship by the outbreak of World War I and lost their second chance in 1926-27 due to an alleged irregularity. Torino won its first scudetto, the Italian Championship, the following year and, between 1942 and 1949, won other five scudetti led by its captain, midfielder Valentino Mazzola.
On May 4, 1949, all but one player (who was out for an injury) of the legendary "Grande Torino" (Great Turin), sometimes considered one of the best teams to play in Serie A, were killed when their plane crashed into the hills of Superga, on the outskirts of Turin. The club never recovered, after a decade of mediocre seasons they were relegated in 1959, although they returned to Serie A within a year.
By the early Sixties and until the late Eighties, Torino has always got good results in Serie A, including another Scudetto in the 1975-76 season. Since the end of the Eighties, they have rotated between Serie A and Serie B, the top two divisions with little success, except a Coppa Italia in 1993 and a Mitropa Cup win in 1991.
But in its worse seasons too, Torino has often reached good results in epic matches (the so-called "derbies") against the other Turin team, Juventus.
Since 1990 the club have played in the 69,040 capacity Stadio Delle Alpi, shared with Juventus, the stadium is unpopular with the fans and clubs. Prior to 1990 the clubs shared the Stadio Comunale for thirty years, Torino moving there from the Stadio Filadelfia, the home of the "Grande Torino". Torino will open a new, smaller ground of its own, Stadio Grande Torino (ex stadio comunale), in 2006.
Noted past players include Valentino Mazzola (captain of the "Grande Torino"), Giorgio Ferrini , Gigi Meroni , Francesco Graziani , Paolino Pulici (three times Serie A best scorer), Leovegildo Lins Gama, nicknamed Junior (one of the players in the Brazilian national team of the 1980s), Roberto Cravero , Gianluigi Lentini and Enzo Scifo.
League Champions - 7 times: 1928, 1942-43, 1945-46, 1946-47, 1947-48, 1948-49, 1975-76 (plus once in 1927, "scudetto" never awarded to any other team)
Italian Cup - 5 times: 1935-36, 1942-43, 1967-68, 1970-71, 1992-93. Runners-up 9 times.
Serie B Champions - 3 times: 1959-60, 1989-90, 2000-01.
UEFA Cup Runners up 1991-92
Mitropa Cup Winners 1990-91
External links
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