World Football Club Crests

Rarely is the essential transience of football so evident as when the fates of teams like Parma are discussed. This little North Italian club from the Emilia-Romagna region managed, during a 25-year period, to make their debut in Serie A, become Italian Cup holders, win four European titles, own some of the world’s best players – and go bankrupt twice.

It took the club 77 years before they got to Serie A for the first time in 1990. Led by the coach Nevio Scala, and assisted by funds from the dairy giant Parmalat, the team were a surprise package with their sixth-place finish in the league. With that the club began a run of success, which culminated in European Cup finals and a runners-up place in Serie A. In April 2004, the story of this upstart team suffered a proper setback when the club went bankrupt.

The club was re-formed, and although they were without an owner for almost three years they managed, with relatively modest means, to retain a place in Serie A until the spring of 2008. Their subsequent stay in Serie B lasted only one year, and having re-established themselves in Serie A, Parma spent the five following seasons fighting for a place in the top half of the league. But instead of playing in Europe after securing their sixth place in 2014, Parma faced another financial crisis. Unpaid taxes triggered the collapse. Within the space of a couple of months, the club was banned from Europe, had points deducted in the league and changed owner twice. Nothing helped, the debts grew and in March 2015 Parma declared bankruptcy for the second time in 11 years.

That summer, Parma made a fresh start in Serie D, the Italian fourth division, with fixtures against village clubs like Clodiense instead of their old rivals Juventus. After a number of seasons of hard battling, they were promoted in 2017/18 to Serie A, ready to take on the best in Italian football once again.

CLUB: Parma Calcio 1913

NICKNAMES: I Crociati (the Crusaders), I Gialloblù (the Yellow and Blues), I Ducali (the Dukes) and Gli Emiliani (the Emilians)

FOUNDED: 1913

STADIUM: Stadio Ennio Tardini, Parma (22,352 capacity)

HISTORIC PLAYERS: Luigi Apolloni, Tomas Brolin, Gianfranco Zola, Hernán Crespo and Alessandro Lucarelli

1970–2000 and 2001–2004. Believe it or not, Parma has been re-formed more than twice, including in 1970, when the Serie D club AC Parmense took over the bankrupt club Parma FC’s licence in the Italian league. With this, Parma AC saw the light of day along with this new club crest. The blue and yellow stripes were taken from Parma’s town crest, which features a blue cross against a yellow background.

2000–2001. As a stage in a PR plan, Parma introduced a new emblem in 2000. They borrowed and modified the cross from the town crest, and the bull is an homage to Torello de Strada, a mayor of Parma in the 13th century. The supporters criticised this new logo and it was changed after one season.

2004–2013. After Parmalat’s crash and the club’s bankruptcy, the team was reshaped as Parma FC. This crest, virtually identical to the earlier one apart from the initials, would represent the club for nine years.

2013–2014. In spite of a turbulent history, Parma managed to celebrate their centenary with this anniversary emblem and by achieving a sixth-place finish in Serie A in the spring of 2014. But their joy was short-lived: the day after securing this place, the club was banned from Europe.

2014–2015. This emblem was designed during the wait for a new owner. The crest would accompany the team to the grave with their bankruptcy of 2015.

2015–2016. When the classic Parma began again in Serie D, it was with a new name and a new emblem, which had been chosen after a poll among the fans. The traditional symbols – the cross, the colours and the year of the club’s founding – were retained.

2016–present. One year after the bankruptcy, the club paid a little over £200,000 for the right to use this crest again, plus their old homepage and earlier social media accounts. Even if the shield is the same as before, the name at the top is different.

I Crociati (the Crusaders) have endured some seasons in recent years. In happier times, Gianfranco Zola lifts the UEFA Cup in triumph in 1995.