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Review of stadio olimpico torino

Torino FC could have been a much bigger club than ...

Torino FC could have been a much bigger club than they are today. In the 1940s, Grande Torino were considered one of the world s best teams. With players like Valentino Mazzola, Mario Rigamonti and Guglielmo Gabetto, they won five consecutive League titles between 1943 and 1949. (In the two seasons spanning 1944 and 1945, the league was suspended because of the Second World War). Grande Torino were also the first to win the Italian double when they secured the league and cup in 1943. During this period, the core of the Italian national side was made up of Torino players. Indeed on one occasion the Italian national team took to the field with 10 Torino players.
But just as the team looked set to continue on their successful path, tragedy intervened. On 4 May, 1949, on the way back from a friendly in Lisbon, the team s plane crashed. Flying blind due to a heavy fog, the plane crashed straight into La Superga, a church in Turin. No one in the plane survived. Not only the entire squad, but both coaches, the team masseur, three journalists and two other passengers died. In all, 31 people lost their lives in the disaster.
Torino were forced to start from scratch, a laborious task that also entailed the club s first demotion to Serie B in 1959. Since then Torino have experienced both triumphs and misfortunes. The league title in 1976 and cup successes in 1968, 1971 and 1993 proved that the club was back in business. But on 9 August, 2005, Torino Calcio declared bankruptcy after years of financial mismanagement. Thanks to the new owner, Urbano Cairo, the club was able to start up again in Serie B and regain their old titles and thereby their history. In recent years, Torino have bounced back and forth between Italy s top two divisions, seemingly far removed from the club s erstwhile greatness.

CLUB: Torino FC
NICKNAMES: Il Toro (the Bull) and I Granata (the Clarets)
FOUNDED: 1906
STADIUM: Stadio Olimpico, Turin (28,140 capacity)
HISTORIC PLAYERS: Julio Libonatti, Lido Vieri, Giorgio Ferrini, Paolo Pulici and Marco Ferrante

As Torino were reigning Serie A champions, this 1976 club crest combines the iconic raging bull and the Scudetto winners tricolore shield.