ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as simply Fiorentina, is a professional Italian football club from Florence, Tuscany. Founded by a merger in 1926 (refounded in 2002), Fiorentina have played at the top level of Italian football for the majority of their existence; only four clubs have played in more Serie A seasons.
Fiorentina have won two Italian Championships, in 1955–56 and again in 1968–69, as well as winning six Coppa Italia trophies and one Italian Super Cup. On the European stage, Fiorentina won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1960–61 and lost the final one year later. They finished runners-up in the 1956–57 European Cup, losing against Real Madrid, and also came close to winning the UEFA Cup, finishing as runners-up in the 1989–90 season.
Since 1931, the club have played at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, which currently has a capacity of 47,282. The stadium has used several names over the years and has undergone several renovations. Fiorentina are known widely by the nickname Viola, a reference to their distinctive purple colours.
Nigel de Jong (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈnɑjdʒəl də ˈjɔŋ]) (born 30 November 1984) is a Dutch footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Manchester City and the Netherlands national football team. He joined the Ajax youth academy as a youngster and worked his way through the ranks to make the first team at age 17. Two years later, he made his international debut and won a 2010 World Cup runner-up medal.
De Jong moved on from Ajax in 2006 to join Hamburg in search of first team football and then moved to Manchester City in January 2009 for an estimated £18 million and has since become an important part of City's holding midfield. A tireless grafter, he has garnered a reputation of being a combative and feisty player in his performances, a reputation that has earned him nicknames such as "The Terrier" and "Lawnmower".
On 19 October 2002, de Jong made his debut for the Ajax first team. He scored his first goal of his senior career on 18 February 2003 in a 1–1 draw against Arsenal in the Champions League. He became a first team regular the following season, in which Ajax won the Eredivisie title. In 2004–05, his last full season in Amsterdam, de Jong was named Ajax Player of the Season. After a period when he appeared regularly in midfield and defence, he found himself sitting on the bench more often than being in the starting line-up. On 7 December 2005, it was announced that de Jong did not wish to extend his contract with Ajax, which was due to end in July 2006.
Gabriel Omar Batistuta (born 1 February 1969), nicknamed Batigol, is a former professional footballer. The prolific Argentine striker played most of his club football at Fiorentina in Italy, and is the tenth top scorer of all-time in the Italian Serie A league, with 184 goals in 318 matches. On the international level, he is Argentina's all-time leading goal scorer, with 56 goals in 78 national team matches, and represented his country at three World Cups. In 2004, he was named in the FIFA 100 list of the "125 Greatest Living Footballers". With an all-round game with clinical finishing, heading and free-kick taking abilities, he is known as one of the most complete strikers of his generation.
When his club Fiorentina was relegated to Serie B in 1993, Batistuta stayed with the club and helped it return to the top-flight league a year later. A popular sporting figure in Florence, the Fiorentina fans erected a life-size bronze statue of him in 1996, in recognition of his performances for Fiorentina. He never won the Italian league with Fiorentina, but when he moved to Roma in 2000, he finally won the Serie A championship to crown his career in Italy. He played his last professional season in Qatar with Al-Arabi before he retired in 2005.
Fernando José Torres Sanz (Spanish pronunciation: [ferˈnando ˈtores]; born 20 March 1984), nicknamed El Niño (The Kid in Spanish), is a Spanish footballer who plays for Chelsea and the Spain national team as a striker.
Torres started his career with Atlético Madrid, progressing through their youth system to the first team squad. He made his first team debut in 2001 and finished his time at the club having scored 75 goals in 174 La Liga appearances. Prior to his La Liga debut, Torres played two seasons in the Segunda División for Atlético Madrid, making 40 appearances and scoring seven goals. He joined Premier League club Liverpool in 2007 after signing for a club record transfer fee. He marked his first season at Anfield by being Liverpool's first player since Robbie Fowler in the 1995–96 season to score more than 20 league goals in a season. Torres became the fastest player in Liverpool history to score 50 league goals after scoring against Aston Villa in December 2009. He left the club in January 2011 to join Chelsea for a record British transfer fee of £50 million, which also made him the most expensive Spanish player in history.