FOOTBALL: FIORENTINA

Associazione Calcio Firenze Fiorentina, commonly referred to as simply ACF Fiorentina, is a professional Italian football club from Florence, Tuscany. Founded by a merger in 1926, Fiorentina have played at the top level of Italian football for the majority of their existence; only four clubs have played in more Serie A seasons. After climbing back up the Italian football system in the early 2000s, Fiorentina are currently competing in the 2008-09 Serie A season.

Fiorentina have won Serie A twice, in 1955-56 and again in 1968-69, as well as winning six Coppa Italia trophies. On the European stage Fiorentina won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1960-61, they finished runners-up in the UEFA Cup 1989/90 and also came close to winning the biggest European prize, finishing as runners-up in the European Cup during 1956-57.

Since 1931 the club have played at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, which currently has a capacity of 47,282. The stadium has used several names over the years and has undergone several renovations. Fiorentina are known widely by the nickname Viola, a reference to their distinctive purple colours.

Current squad

As of January 14, 2009^[7]^[8]

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Sébastien Frey
2	DF	Per Krøldrup
3	DF	Dario Dainelli (captain)
4	MF	Marco Donadel
5	DF	Alessandro Gamberini
6	DF	Juan Manuel Vargas
7	MF	Franco Semioli
8	FW	Stevan Jovetic
10	FW	Adrian Mutu
11	FW	Alberto Gilardino
13	GK	Marco Storari (on loan from Milan)
14	DF	Luciano Zauri (on loan from Lazio)
15	DF	Ondrej Mazuch
18	MF	Riccardo Montolivo

No.	Position	Player
19	MF	Massimo Gobbi
20	MF	Martin Jørgensen (vice-captain)
21	DF	Gianluca Comotto
22	MF	Zdravko Kuzmanovic
23	DF	Manuel Pasqual
24	MF	Mario Alberto Santana
25	GK	Vlada Avramov
28	FW	Jefferson
30	MF	Sergio Bernardo Almirón (on loan from Juventus)
32	FW	Emiliano Bonazzoli (on loan from Sampdoria)
34	MF	Nikola Gulan
54	DF	Manuel da Costa
88	MF	Felipe Melo

[edit] Out on loan

Adrian Mutu, current Fiorentina star

No.		Position	Player
		FW	Samuel Di Carmine (on loan at Q.P.R.)
		FW	Stefano Del Sante (on loan at Varese)
		FW	Giacomo Casoli (on loan at Gubbio)
		GK	Edoardo Pazzagli (on loan at Prato)
		FW	Arturo Lupoli (on loan at Norwich City)
		DF	Mateo David Enrique (on loan at Lecco)
		FW	Matthias Lepiller (on loan at K.A.S. Eupen)
		FW	Jan Hable (on loan at Banik Ostrava)
		FW	Papa Waigo (on loan at U.S. Lecce)