Foundation , Roma captain during their formative years in Rome in honor of Roma's 98th anniversary AS Roma was founded in the spring of 1927 when Italo Foschi The purpose of the merger was to give the Italian capital a strong club to rival that of the more dominant
Northern Italian clubs of the time. The only major Roman club to resist the merger was
Lazio because of the intervention of the army General Vaccaro, a member of the club and executive of
Italian Football Federation (FIGC). All three founding clubs were
relegated, but the fascist-aligned FIGC bet over the capacity of the new team to give a stronger representation to the capital of Italy, and they were awarded a
wild card for the , the Serie A forerunner. The club played its earliest seasons at the Motovelodromo Appio stadium, before settling in the working-class streets of
Testaccio, where it built an all-wooden ground Campo Testaccio; this was opened in November 1929.
First title victory and decline After a slump in league form and the departure of high key players, Roma eventually rebuilt their squad, adding goalscorers such as the Argentine
Enrique Guaita. Under the management of
Luigi Barbesino, the Roman club came close to their first title in
1935–36, finishing just one point behind champions
Bologna. Roma returned to form after being inconsistent for much of the late 1930s. Roma recorded an unexpected title triumph in the
1941–42 season by winning their first title. The 18 goals scored by local player
Amedeo Amadei were essential to the
Alfréd Schaffer-coached Roma side winning the title. At the time, Italy was involved in
World War II and Roma were playing at the
Stadio Nazionale PNF. In the years just after the war, Roma were unable to recapture their league stature from the early 1940s. Roma finished in the lower half of Serie A for five seasons in a row, before eventually succumbing to their only ever relegation to
Serie B at the end of the
1950–51 season, around a decade after their championship victory. Under future
Italy national team manager
Giuseppe Viani, promotion straight back up was achieved. A few years later, Roma won their first
Coppa Italia trophy in 1963–64 after defeating
Torino 1–0. Their lowest point came during the 1964–65 season, when manager
Juan Carlos Lorenzo announced the club could not pay its players and was unlikely to be able to afford to travel to
Vicenza to fulfil its next fixture. Supporters kept the club going with a fundraiser at the Sistine Theatre and bankruptcy was avoided with the election of a new club president
Franco Evangelisti. Their second Coppa Italia trophy was won in 1968–69, when it competed in a small, league-like system.
Time of mixed fortunes from the 1970s to the 1990s with the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in
1960–61 Roma were able to add another cup to their collection in 1972, with a 3–1 victory over
Blackpool in the
Anglo-Italian Cup. During much of the 1970s, Roma's appearance in the top half of Serie A was sporadic. The best place the club were able to achieve during the decade was third in
1974–75. Former
Milan player
Nils Liedholm was the manager at the time, with players such as
Bruno Conti,
Agostino Di Bartolomei,
Roberto Pruzzo and
Falcão. The second
scudetto did not elude Roma for much longer. In
1982–83, the Roman club won the title for the first time in 41 years, amidst celebrations in the capital. The
following season, Roma finished as runners-up in Italy Roma's successful run in the 1980s would finish with a runners-up spot in
1985–86 The same season, the club won its
seventh Coppa Italia In the
2001–02 Serie A, Roma ended as runners-up to Juventus by one point. The club also re-capitalized several time in 2003–04 season. In November 2003, €37.5 million was injected by "Roma 2000" to cover the half-year loss and loss carried from previous year. and again on 30 June for €44.57 million. Through stock market, a further €19.850 million of new shares issued, and at the year end, the share capital was €19.878 million, which was unchanged . The following season also saw the departure of
Walter Samuel for €25 million and
Emerson for €28 million, which decreased the strength of the squad. The
Giallorossi finished in eighth place, one of the worst of recent seasons. , with the
2007–08 Coppa Italia On 9 July 2006, Roma's Francesco Totti,
Daniele De Rossi and
Simone Perrotta were part of the Italy national team which defeated
France in the
2006 FIFA World Cup Final. In the
Calciopoli scandal of 2006, Roma were not one of the teams involved. After punishments were issued, Roma was re-classified as runners-up for
2005–06, the same season they finished second in the Coppa Italia losing to Internazionale. Meanwhile, in the UEFA Champions League during both of these seasons, they reached the quarter-finals before going out to
Manchester United. In the
2008–09 Champions League, Roma reached the knockout stage ahead of
Chelsea in their group, thus finishing for the first time in their history as winners of the group stage. However, they lost to
Arsenal in the knockout stage on penalty kicks. After a disappointing start to the
2009–10 season,
Claudio Ranieri replaced
Luciano Spalletti as head coach. At the time of the switch, Roma lay bottom of the Serie A table after losses to Juventus and
Genoa. Despite this setback, Roma went on unbeaten streak of 24 matches in the league – with the last of the 24 being a 2–1 win over rivals Lazio, whereby they came from 1–0 down at half-time to defeat their city rivals after Ranieri substituted both Totti and De Rossi at the interval. The
Giallorossi were on top of the table at one point, before a loss to Sampdoria later in the season. Roma would finish runners-up to Internazionale yet again in both Serie A and the Coppa Italia. During the 2000s, Roma had finally recaptured the
Scudetto, two Coppa Italia trophies, and their first two Supercoppa Italiana titles. Other notable contributions to the club's history have included a return to the Champions League quarter-finals (in the
2006–07 and
2007–08 editions) since 1984, six runners up positions in the league, four Coppa Italia finals and three Supercoppa finals – marking Roma's greatest ever decade.
American ownership and Pallotta era In the summer of 2010, the Sensi family agreed to relinquish their control of Roma as part of a debt-settlement agreement, ending their reign that had begun in 1993. Until a new owner was appointed, Rosella Sensi continued her directorial role of the club. Following a series of poor results that saw Roma engage in a winless streak of five consecutive matches,
Claudio Ranieri resigned as head coach in February 2011, and former striker
Vincenzo Montella was appointed as caretaker manager until the end of the season. It was also during this season that Roma icon Francesco Totti scored his 200th Serie A goal against
Fiorentina in March 2011, becoming only the sixth player to achieve such a feat. , the
top goalscorer and the player with the
most appearances player in Roma's history On 16 April 2011, the takeover contract was closed with an American investment group led by
Thomas R. DiBenedetto, with
James Pallotta, Michael Ruane and Richard D'Amore as partners. DiBenedetto became the 22nd president of the club, serving from 27 September 2011 to 27 August 2012 and was succeeded by Pallotta. The new intermediate holding company, NEEP Roma Holding, was 60% owned by American's "AS Roma SPV, LLC" and the rest (40%) was retained by the creditor of Sensi,
UniCredit. In turn, NEEP owned all shares held previously by Sensi (about 67%) with the rest free float in the stock market. UniCredit later disinvested NEEP Roma Holding to sell to "AS Roma SPV, LLC" and Pallotta. The new ownership hired
Walter Sabatini as director of football and former
Spanish international and
Barcelona B coach
Luis Enrique as manager. Signings included attacking midfielder
Erik Lamela from
River Plate and forward
Bojan from
Barcelona, as well as
Dani Osvaldo and
Miralem Pjanić. On the pitch, the team were eliminated from
2011–12 UEFA Europa League play-off round by
Slovan Bratislava. In 2012, Pallotta became the new president. The 2012–13 pre-season started with the hiring of former manager
Zdeněk Zeman. He was sacked on 2 February 2013, while the team ended up in sixth place in Serie A, and lost 1–0 to rivals Lazio in the
Coppa Italia final. It was the first time that Lazio and Roma clashed in the Coppa Italia final. As a result, Roma missed out on European competition for the second-straight season. coaching Roma in 2014 On 12 June 2013,
Rudi Garcia was appointed the new manager of Roma. He won his first ten matches (an all-time Serie A record) including a 2–0 derby win against Lazio, a 3–0 victory away to Internazionale and a 2–0 home win over title rivals Napoli. During this run, Roma scored 24 times while conceding just once, away to Parma. The club earned 85 points and finished second to Juventus, who won the league with a record-breaking 102 points. In 2014–15, Roma finished second behind Juventus for the second consecutive season after a poor run of form in 2015. At the end of season, the club was sanctioned for loss making and breaking
UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations, being punished with a fine of up to €6 million and a limited squad for UEFA competitions. Ahead of the 2015–16 season, Roma acquired
Bosnia international,
Edin Džeko, from
Manchester City on a €4 million loan with an €11 million option to buy clause, which was activated. On 13 January 2016, Garcia was sacked after a run of one win in seven Serie A matches.
Luciano Spalletti was subsequently appointed manager of Roma for his second spell. On 21 February, Totti publicly criticised Spalletti due to his own lack of playing-time since returning from injury. Consequently, Totti was subsequently dropped by Spalletti for Roma's 5–0 win over
Palermo, with the decision causing an uproar among the fans and in the media. After their initial disagreements, Spalletti began to use Totti as an immediate impact substitute, and he contributed with four goals and one assist after coming off the bench in five consecutive Serie A matches. Spalletti was able to lead Roma from a mid-table spot to a third-place finish in
Serie A, clinching the
UEFA Champions League play-off spot. During the summer of 2016, Roma lost midfielder Miralem Pjanić to rivals Juventus to improve its financial position. On 27 April 2017, Roma appointed
sporting director Monchi, formerly of
Sevilla FC. On 28 May that year, on the last day of the
2016–17 season, Totti made his 786th and final appearance for Roma before retiring in a 3–2 home win against
Genoa, coming on as a substitute for
Mohamed Salah in the 54th minute and received a standing ovation from the fans. The win saw Roma finish second in Serie A behind Juventus.
Daniele De Rossi succeeded Totti as club captain and signed a new two-year contract. Roma playing in the
UEFA Champions League group stage match against
Chelsea On 13 June 2017, former Roma player
Eusebio Di Francesco was appointed as the club's new manager, replacing Spalletti, who had left for Internazionale. Roma again lost a key player during the summer transfer window, with Mohamed Salah joining
Liverpool F.C. for a fee of €39 million (£34m). Several new players joined the club, including a club-record deal of up to €40 million for
Sampdoria striker
Patrik Schick. In the
2017–18 UEFA Champions League Roma were drawn against FC Barcelona in the quarter-finals, being defeated 4–1 away in the first leg but winning 3–0 in the second to advance on away goals to the semi-finals for the first time since
1984. Roma then lost to Liverpool, the team that had defeated them in the
1984 European Cup Final 7–6 on aggregate. Roma ended the 2017–18 season in 3rd place on 77 points, qualifying for the following season's Champions League. In the summer of 2018, Roma were busy in the transfer market, in large parts thanks to the €83 million they received from reaching the Champions League semi-finals, as well as selling goalkeeper
Alisson for a world record €72 million including bonuses to Liverpool. Roma spent €150 million to sign the likes of Shick, Nzonzi, Pastore, Kluivert, Defrel and more, while selling their two starting midfielders from the previous season, Nainggolan and Strootman. The 2018–19 season saw the club eliminated against Porto 4–3 on aggregate in the Champions League round of 16; Di Francesco was sacked and replaced by Claudio Ranieri who served as caretaker manager. The following day, sporting director Monchi stepped down due to disagreements with Pallotta; the club president disputed his account In Monchi's two years at the club, he spent £208 million on 21 signings, while when he left, 12 of his signings remained at the club. Under Ranieri, Roma failed to qualify for the Champions League, finishing 6th.
Friedkin era and European success In December 2019, AS Roma SPV LLC was in final negotiations to sell the team for $872 million, to American businessman
Dan Friedkin, however negotiations stalled during the
COVID-19 pandemic. On 6 August 2020, Friedkin signed the preliminary contract to agree to pay $591 million to Pallotta, the main shareholder of Roma.
Paulo Fonseca, who was hired as manager in 2019, left two years later and was replaced by fellow Portuguese
José Mourinho. On 25 May 2022, he led Roma to win the inaugural edition of
UEFA Europa Conference League, defeating
Feyenoord in the
final. In September 2024 it was reported that club owners are interested in purchasing the
Premier League club of
Everton. Club owners claim, it will not effect Roma. In July 2025, Roma's majority owners, The Friedkin Group, launched
Pursuit Sports, a dedicated multi-club management vehicle to oversee their football properties, including
Roma and
Everton. Pursuit Sports is led by CEO Dave Beeston and is intended to provide strategic, data-driven support across the clubs while maintaining their individual identities. == Club identity ==