Parma CalcioParma Calcio 1913 was founded in July 1913 as Verdi Foot-Ball Club, its name honouring the centenary of the birth of composer Giuseppe Verdi, who was born in the province of Parma; the club adopted yellow and blue colours drawn from the city's coat of arms. Later that same year, a group of players broke away to form a parallel club, Parma Foot-Ball Club, wearing white shirts with a black cross - the origin of the team's popular nickname "Crociati" (Crusaders), still used today alongside "Gialloblu."
For most of its history the club played in Italy's lower divisions, only reaching Serie A for the first time in the 1989-90 season, after dairy company Parmalat, led by Calisto Tanzi, became majority shareholder in 1987. The financial backing allowed Parma to sign top players such as Faustino Asprilla, Hristo Stoichkov, Gianfranco Zola and Hernán Crespo, while goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, Italy's future long-serving national keeper, came through the club's youth academy.
Under coach Nevio Scala, Parma enjoyed the most successful period in its history. In 1992 the club won its first major trophy, the Coppa Italia, beating Juventus. The following year it triumphed in the Cup Winners' Cup, defeating Belgian side Royal Antwerp 3-1 in the Wembley final, and a few months later beat AC Milan in the European Super Cup final. In 1995 Parma won its first UEFA Cup, again eliminating Juventus in the final, and in 1999, now under coach Alberto Malesani, claimed the trophy a second time, thrashing Olympique de Marseille 3-0 in the final. Parma are thus two-time winners of the UEFA Cup and one-time winners of both the Cup Winners' Cup and the European Super Cup.
Despite these successes, Parma have never won the Italian league title - their closest attempt came in the 1996-97 season, when they finished runners-up. The club has, however, won the Coppa Italia three times (1992, 1999, 2002) and the Supercoppa Italiana once (1999), which at its peak placed it among Italian football's so-called "Seven Sisters."
The collapse of parent company Parmalat pushed the club into bankruptcy in 2004, and further financial trouble led to it being refounded from scratch in 2015 as Parma Calcio 1913, starting again in Italy's lowest league division. After three consecutive promotions, the club returned to Serie A in 2018. Since 2020, Parma has been owned by American businessman Kyle Krause, and continues to play its home matches at the Stadio Ennio Tardini.