AS RomaAS Roma was founded on 7 June 1927 through the merger of three Roman clubs – Roman FC, SS Alba-Audace and Fortitudo-Pro Roma – on the initiative of Italo Foschi, who became the new club's first president. The merger was intended to give the Italian capital a strong side capable of competing with the wealthier clubs from the north of the country, while local rival SS Lazio stayed out of the arrangement, shaping the capital's derby rivalry from the very start. Roma adopted the city's red-and-yellow colours, giving rise to the nickname Giallorossi, and a crest featuring the Capitoline Wolf nursing Romulus and Remus, referencing the legend of Rome's founding.
The club has won the Italian championship three times – in 1941–42, 1982–83 and 2000–01 – and lifted the Coppa Italia on nine occasions. In 1961, Roma claimed its first European trophy, beating England's Birmingham City 4-2 over two legs in the final to win the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the forerunner of the UEFA Cup. Fans then waited more than six decades for the next European success, a period that included the club's only-ever relegation to Serie B, in the 1950–51 season.
The breakthrough came on 25 May 2022 in Tirana, when José Mourinho's Roma beat Dutch side Feyenoord 1-0 in the final of the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League. The only goal of the match, scored in the 32nd minute, came from Nicolò Zaniolo, giving the club its first trophy since 2008 and its first European title since 1961. For Mourinho personally, it was his fifth European trophy won with four different clubs — a feat unmatched by any manager in football history.
For more than two decades, the club's symbol was Francesco Totti, who spent his entire career at Roma, scoring 307 goals in 786 appearances to become the club's all-time top scorer and record appearance holder — a captain so closely identified with the city itself that he became known to fans as its eternal symbol. Roma's home since 1953 has been the Stadio Olimpico, Italy's second-largest stadium after Milan's San Siro, shared with local rivals SS Lazio, against whom the club contests one of Italian football's fiercest rivalries, the Derby della Capitale.
