Parma

Parma [ˈparma]  listen  (Emilian: Pärma) is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its prosciutto (ham), cheese, architecture, music and surrounding countryside. It is home to the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world. Parma is divided into two parts by the stream of the same name. The district on the far side of the river is Oltretorrente. Parma's Etruscan name was adapted by Romans to describe the round shield called Parma.

The Italian poet Attilio Bertolucci (born in a hamlet in the countryside) wrote: "As a capital city it had to have a river. As a little capital it received a stream, which is often dry".

History

Prehistory

Parma was already a built-up area in the Bronze Age. In the current position of the city rose a terramare The "terramare" (marl earth) were ancient villages built of wood on piles according to a defined scheme and squared form; constructed on dry land and generally in proximity to the rivers. During this age (between 1500 BC and 800 BC) the first necropolis (on the sites of the present-day Piazza Duomo and Piazzale della Macina) were constructed.

S.S.D. Parma Calcio 1913

Società Sportiva Dilettantistica Parma Calcio 1913, commonly referred to as Parma, is an Italian football club based in the city of Parma that currently competes in Serie D, the fourth tier of Italian football. Founded as Parma Foot Ball Club in December 1913, the club plays its home matches in the 22,352-seat Stadio Ennio Tardini, often referred to as simply Il Tardini, from 1923. It traditionally plays attractive football and develops players through the club's academy.

Although Parma never won a domestic league title and never competed for major trophies until the 1990s, it won three Coppa Italia, one Supercoppa Italiana, two UEFA Cups, one European Super Cup and one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Financed by Calisto Tanzi, the club won these eight trophies between 1992 and 2002, a period in which it achieved its best ever league finish – as runners-up in the 1996–97 season – and threatened the dominance of the league's established powers: Juventus, Milan and Internazionale, the only Italian sides to have had more success in European competition than Parma.

Serie A

Serie A (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsɛːrje ˈa]), also called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since the 1929–30 season. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new league, the Lega Serie A, was created for the 2010–11 season. Serie A is regarded as one of the best football leagues in the world and it is often depicted as the most tactical national league. Serie A is the world's second strongest national league according to IFFHS and has produced the highest number of European Cup finalists: Italian clubs have reached the final of the competition on a record twenty-six different occasions, winning the title twelve times. Serie A is ranked 4th among European leagues according to UEFA's league coefficient behind La Liga, Bundesliga and Premier League, which is based on the performance of Italian clubs in the Champions League and the Europa League during the last five years. Serie A led the UEFA ranking from 1986 to 1988 and from 1990 to 1999.

Football Weekly

Football Weekly is a podcast about football, hosted by The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom. Originally provided weekly (as its name suggests), its popularity led to a mid-weekly spinoff, Football Weekly Extra. Football Weekly airs on Mondays during the European football season, after the weekend's fixtures, while Football Weekly Extra airs on Thursdays. During the Euro 2008, World Cup 2010, Euro 2012 and World Cup 2014 tournaments the podcast aired daily.

It is presented by James Richardson, who is joined by various Guardian journalists and correspondents, most regularly Barry Glendenning. Despite being an English production, the show takes a notably Eurocentric view of world football matters. Particular emphasis is placed on the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga.

Origin and listening figures

The podcast began on 11 May 2006 as The World Cup Show, produced daily throughout the 2006 World Cup, and returned during the season under its new name on 29 August 2006, due to popular demand.