Lazio competed for honours in the 1930’s, coming close to winning the Scudetto in ’36-37 as well as finishing as runners-up in the prestigious Europa Cup, losing out in the final to the Hungarian team of Ferencvaros. Part of that Lazio side was arguably the greatest Italian striker of all time, the man that with 143 goals (with the biancocelesti jersey) to his name boasts a club-record that will be very hard to beat: Silvio Piola. There was also the outstanding goalkeeper Uber Gradella, as well as many others.

During that era Lazio was a multi-sporting club and it’s worth remembering that together with new foundations, extraordinary results achieved and the moments of great glory, there were some illustrious champions and personalities. Amongst these, there was none other than the future King of Italy, Umberto II, that represented S.S.L. Escursionismo, the hiking club, whereas Fausto Coppi wore the biancocelesti colours for the cycling club. The paths of several Olympic champions and war heroes all passed through Lazio and many streets have since been named in their honour throughout the Italian capital.

The first title for the football club however only arrived in 1958. Coached by Fulvio Bernardini (the first player from Rome to represent the Italian national team) and inspired by the courageous goalkeeper and skipper Bob Lovati, Lazio defeated Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia final thanks to a single goal scored by Prini.

The second victory arrived 13 years later, winning the 1971 Coppa Delle Alpi. From there, the Lazio side that would win the Scudetto just a few years later began to take shape. That memorable year was 1974 and Maestrelli’s men, just 2 years after making their return to Serie A and after just missing out on the title the year before, were crowned Champions of Italy following a stunning season. The formation has gone down in club legend: Pulici, Petrelli, Martini, Wilson, Oddi, Nanni, Garlaschelli, Re Cecconi, Chinaglia, Frustalupi, D’Amico. The coach was Maestrelli and the president Umberto Lenzini.

The years following the Scudetto triumph were characterised by several difficulties and tragedies. From missing out on playing in the European Cup because of the incidents on the pitch and in the stands during the match the year before with English side Ipswich, to the illness and passing away of Scudetto winning coach Maestrelli. Chinaglia’s move to the USA, the tragic death of Luciano Re Cecconi (he staged a robbery in a friend’s jewellery store…), the betting scandal that interrupted Lazio’s golden era, the death of the Lazio fan Paparelli in the stands, the difficulties in gaining promotion back into the top flight and the play-outs to avoid dropping into Serie C because of the second betting scandal of that era. Nonetheless, all of these were tests that strengthened the club’s immense bond with the fans, some of the most passionate and supportive in Europe.

Better times were to come however and with the arrival of Gian Marco Calleri as president, Lazio made its return to Serie A with the legendary coach Eugenio Fascetti. Calleri’s presidency managed to put the club back on track before being sold to Sergio Cragnotti. With Sergio Cragnotti, from Rome and a Lazio fan, history would soon be made.

Lazio immediately reached some important milestones: 5 consecutive European finishes, with a second place finish in the 1994/95 season, two third place finishes in 1993/94 and 1995/96, a fourth place finish in 1996/97 and a fifth place finish in 1992/93. In 5 seasons, captain Beppe Signori was top of the scoring charts 3 times.

In the 1997/98 season, with the appointment of new coach Sven Goran Eriksson and the arrival of players such as Mancini, Jugovic and Almeyda, Lazio ended their trophy drought and lifted the Coppa Italia in front of its fans on the 29th of April 1998, seeing off AC Milan in the final over two legs. Eriksson’s men came close to success on the European front too, only to lose out to Inter in the UEFA Cup final in Paris.

The following season, Lazio strengthened with the addition of more international players such as Vieri, Salas, Mihajlovic, Stankovic and immediately added another trophy to the honours’ list: the biancocelesti defeated Italian Champions Juventus 2-1 in Turin to win the Italian Super Cup (played between the winners of the Coppa Italia and the Scudetto).

Quoted on the Italian Piazza Affari stock market in May 1998, Società Sportiva Lazio S.p.A., soon established itself as one of the major clubs in Italy and abroad. Lazio also triumphed in the last edition of the European Cup Winners’ Cup held in Birmingham, defeating Real Mallorca 2-1, at the end of a thrilling season which saw Lazio at the top of the Serie A table for long spells and narrowly missing out on the title by a single point on the final round of the season.

Lazio went into the 1999/2000 season, the club’s centenary, without striker Vieri, but reinforcements arrived in the form of Veron, Sensini, Simeone and Simone Inzaghi. Later on in December, Fabrizio Ravanelli would also join from Olympique de Marseille.

The season started with a bang and with another European triumph: on the 27th of August, and at the majestic setting of Montecarlo, Eriksson’s men won the UEFA Super Cup after beating Manchester United, the winners of the 1998/99 Champions League.

Centenary celebrations started on the 9th of January 2000 with a spectacular party at the Olympic Stadium. Throughout an intense and exciting season, Lazio battled right until the end on all 3 fronts, triumphing on 2 of them.

Having seen Champions League dreams dashed in the quarter finals by Claudio Lopez’s Valencia, Lazio won their second ever Scudetto on the final day of the Serie A season. After a truly pulsating final day, in which Juventus lost at Perugia amidst heavy downpours which threatened to stop the match at the end of the first half, 80 thousand Lazio fans, following 45 nerve-wracking minutes at the Olympic Stadium in the wake of the win over Reggina, could finally go wild with celebrations and shout out: CHAMPIONS OF ITALY!

Three days later in Milan, a goalless draw against Inter was enough to add the Coppa Italia after a 2-1 victory in the first leg and meant that Lazio ended the season with 3 trophies.

The 2000-2001 season for the Italian champions started with another piece of silverware on the 8th of September 2000, beating Inter at the Olympic Stadium in Rome in the Italian Super Cup in a 4-3 thriller. The latest 2 signings of the Cragnotti era, Hernan Crespo and Claudio Lopez, both stood out in what was Lazio’s seventh trophy in 3 years under Eriksson / Cragnotti.

During the course of the season, though, Lazio changed coach: after 3 and half years of triumphs, Lazio and Eriksson both agreed to go their separate ways on friendly terms. On the day of the club’s 101st birthday, and during moving and spectacular celebrations, thousands of biancocelesti fans gave another great club character and man with a big heart a brilliant reception. That man was Dino Zoff, who left his role as Club Vice President, a role which he had only just taken up and showing his love for the club, accepted the call to take over as first team coach. Under the former Italy number one, Lazio finished in third place and booked its place in the Champions League.

For the 2002-2003 season, Roberto Mancini made his return to the club, this time as coach, and inherited a group of players determined to bounce back. The club however was hit by major economic problems and it was only thanks to a new corporate group that took over from the Cragnotti family, forced to leave their role in charge of the club after their food company’s default, that Lazio was able to survive as Mancini and his men qualified for the Champions League and came a whisker away from reaching the UEFA Cup final.

In his second season in charge Mancini led Lazio to silverware by winning the Coppa Italia despite the economic problems that continued to surround the club, forcing it into the sales of Conceiçao and Stankovic who were sold to raise funds in January halfway through the season. After knocking out Modena, Parma and Milan (with a 2-1 victory in Milan and a 4-0 win in Rome), Lazio defeated Juventus 2-0 at home and 2-2 in Turin in the final over two legs. The date was the 12th of May 2004, and 30 years after winning the club’s first Scudetto, Lazio lifted the 4th Coppa Italia in the club’s history.

Once again, and reminiscent of the 1970s, the triumphs were followed by problems off the pitch and Lazio were at risk, but were saved once more by the love of its people and fans that came together en masse to buy shares and taking to the streets to raise awareness of the concerning situation at the capital club.

The 2004/05 season started with the arrival of a new majority shareholder at the club. On the 19th of July 2004, Claudio Lotito became the new President of S.S.Lazio following the resignation of Ugo Longo, a former lawyer to the Cragnotti family who had overseen the testing transition phase.

The leadership of the club is currently in the hands of Claudio Lotito, who has brought financial stability back to the club by renegotiating the debt with the tax authorities and instilling cost-efficient policies and increasing revenue. Another move was the creation of direct subsidiary S.S. Lazio Marketing & Communication that manages the S.S. Lazio SpA brand.

On the field, the club were back in the Champions League in 2007-08 after a third place finish in Serie A and won the Coppa Italia in 2008-09 and the Italian Super Cup in Beijing against a star studded Inter in August 2009.

In May 2013, the club and its fans experienced the ultimate satisfaction, as Lazio lifted their sixth Coppa Italia following an epic derby with city rivals Roma. Senad Lulic scored the game’s only goal for Petkovic’s men, sparking wild celebrations at the Olimpico and in the streets of the capital for the biancocelesti faithful.

Lazio’s history, over 100 years long, continues day by day, in the club headquarters and offices, in the fields of all sports, with great stars and young prospects. A labyrinth of stories and lives all intertwined as one. Forza Lazio, the future is now!