Giallorossi

Giallorossi is the nickname for the Italian football club A.S. Roma. Associazione Sportiva Roma (BIT: ASR, LSE: 0MT1; Rome Sport Association), commonly referred to as Roma, is an Italian professional football club based in Rome. Roma participates in the top-tier of Italian football.

Roma play their home matches at the Stadio Olimpico, a venue they share with city rivals Lazio. With a capacity of over 72,000, it is the second-largest of its kind in Italy, with only the San Siro able to seat more.

The club’s home colours are carmine red and golden yellow, which gives Roma their nickname “I Giallorossi” (“The Yellow and Reds”). These colours are often combined with white shorts. Their club badge features a she-wolf, an allusion to the founding myth of Rome.

Roma’s colours of carmine red with a golden yellow trim represent the traditional colours of Rome, the official seal of the Comune di Roma features the same colours. The gold and the purple-red represent Roman imperial dignity. White shorts and black socks are usually worn with the red shirt, however in particularly high key matches, the shorts and socks are the same colour as the home shirt. Roma’s away kit is traditionally white, with a third kit changing colour from time to time.

A popular nickname for the club is “i lupi” (“the wolves”) – the animal has always featured on the club’s badge in different forms throughout their history. The emblem of the team is the one which was used when the club was first founded. It portrays the female wolf with the two infant brothers Romulus and Remus, illustrating the myth of the founding of Rome, superimposed on a bipartite golden yellow over maroon red shield. In the myth from which the club takes their nickname and logo, the twins (sons of Mars and Rhea Silvia) are thrown into the river Tiber by their uncle Amulius. A she-wolf then saved the twins and looked after them. Eventually, the two twins took revenge on Amulius before falling-out themselves – Romulus killed Remus and was thus made king of a new city named in his honour, Rome.

Roma is the fifth-most supported football club in Italy – behind Juventus, Internazionale, A.C. Milan and Napoli – with approximately 7% of Italian football fans supporting the club, according to the Doxa Institute-L’Espresso’s research. Historically, the largest section of Roma supporters in the city of Rome have come from the inner-city, especially Testaccio.

The Curva Sud of the Stadio Olimpico is controlled by more right-wing groups, including A.S. Roma Ultras, Boys and Giovinezza, among others. However, the oldest group, Fedayn, is apolitical, and politics is not the main identity of Roma, just a part of their overall identity. Besides ultras groups, it is believed Roma fans support the left as opposed to Lazio supporters, which are notoriously proud of their right-wing affiliation.

The most known club anthem is “Roma (non-si discute, si ama)”, also known as “Roma Roma”, by singer Antonello Venditti. The title roughly means: “Roma is not to be questioned, it is to be loved” and it is sung before each match. The song “Grazie Roma”, by the same singer, is played at the end of victorious home matches. The main riff of The White Stripes’ song “Seven Nation Army” is also widely popular at matches.

In Italian football, Roma is a club with many rivalries; first and foremost is their rivalry with Lazio, the club with whom they share the Stadio Olimpico. The derby between the two is called the Derby della Capitale, it is amongst the most heated and emotional footballing rivalries in the world.

Against Napoli, Roma also compete in the Derby del Sole, meaning the “Derby of the Sun”. Nowadays, fans also consider other Serie A giants like Juventus, Milan and Internazionale among their rivals, as these four compete for the top four spots in the league table to secure a spot in the UEFA Champions League.