Coppa Italia Final!!

1939-1940

Fiorentina's first experience with the Coppa Final was in 1940. La Viola opened with Cavagnaro Genova-Sestri P. (now F.S. Sestrese Calcio 1919) and walloped them 7-1. Fiorentina followed that up with a trip to the San Siro to face AC Milan in the round of 16 and they managed to tie the home squad 1-1. That year, much like some of the English cups, a tie won the visitor a trip home to replay the match and Fiorentina made no mistake, embarrassing the Milanistas 5-0 at what was then called Stadio Giovanni Berta or the Comunale. The name was changed to Stadio Artemio Franchi in 1991.

As a matter of fact, that first leg against Milan was the last goal scored on la Viola in the tournament as they went on to beat Lazio 4-0 in the Quarters, Juventus 3-0 in the Semis and Genoa 1-0 in the final, again at la Comunale. The winning goal in the final was scored by Mario Celoria in minute 26 and the home squad saw out the result and raised Firenze's first Coppa Italia trophy.

Now, as you know, tactics is not my strong suit and I have no idea how the old formations worked, so I've had to kind of guess at the formation, but the roster was as follows:

GK - Luigi Griffanti
D - Giorgio Da Costa
D - Carlo Piccardi
M - Giacinto Ellena
M - Giuseppe Bigogno
Centrocampista - Gipo Poggi
Ala Destra - Romeo Menti
Centrocampista - Arrigo Morselli
Mezzala - Mario Celoria
Attaccante - Giuseppe Baldini
Attaccante - Giuliano Tagliasacchi

1958

In 1958, the whole Coppa was played in September and the format was completely different, with a group stage followed by single leg Quarter-finals, Semi-finals and the Final. Fiorentina were placed in a group with Siena, Prato and Carbosarda. Wins in the group were awarded 2 points and Fiorentina dominated the group, winning all matches and scoring a perfect 12 points.

I Giornata
Fiorentina 4-0 Carbosarda
Siena 3-2 Prato
II Giornata
Carbosarda 2-1 Prato
Fiorentina 1-0 Siena
III Giornata
Prato 0-1 Fiorentina
Siena 2-0 Carbosarda
IV Giornata
Carbosarda 2-4 Fiorentina
Prato 2-0 Siena
V Giornata
Prato 3-1 Carbosarda
Siena 1-4 Fiorentina
VI Giornata
Fiorentina 4-0 Prato
Carbosarda 0-2 Siena

1. Fiorentina (A) 12
2. Siena (C) 6
3. Prato (B) 4
4. Carbosarda (C) 2

Fiorentina then hosted Padova and beat them 2-1, hosted Bologna and beat them 4-2.

The final was in Roma, with Lazio as the opponent and the Roman squad emerged victorious with a narrowly run 1-0 victory.

Roster

Coach - Lajos Czeizler

GK - Giuliano Sarti
D - Enzo Robotti
D - Sergio Castelletti
D - Giuseppe Chiappella
allenatore - Sergio Cervato
allenatore - Armando Segato
attaccante - Kurt Hamrin
allenatore - Francisco Lojacono
attaccante - Miguel Montuori
centrocampista - Guido Gratton
Ala - Paolo Morosi

1958-59

In 1958-59 the scheduling and the format returned much like the way we see it now, with matches being spread out across the season, no group stages and teams being seeded. Fiorentina played at home in every round, but the final, starting in the round of 16, beating Como 2-0, scraping by Inter 2-1 and outlasting Torino 5-3 .

The final was against that other team from Turin and was quite the barn burner as Juventus and Fiorentina played to a 2-2 tie and only an own goal by Alberto Orzan in the 97th minute gave the Coppa to the Bianconeri.

Roster

Coach - Lajos Czeizler

GK - Giuliano Sarti (Viola from 1954-63)
D - Enzo Robotti (1957-65)
D - Sergio Castelletti (1958-66)
Centrocampista - Dante Micheli
Centromediano - Alberto Orzan (1954-63)
Centrocampista - Rino Marchesi (1960-66 went on to coach for 20 yrs)
Attaccante - Kurt Hamrin (1958-1967 - scoring 150 goals)
Attaccante - Miguel Montuori (1955-1961 - scoring 72 goals)
Allenatore - Dino da Costa
Allenatore - Luigi Milan
Attaccante - Gianfranco Petris

1960-61

The format remained the same for this edition of the tournament and Fiorentina began their participation on the road in the round of 16, in Messina beating the home squad 2-0. They then went to Roma, beating them in a goal-fest 6-4, before coming home to face Juventus, beating the hated ones 3-1.

Fiorentina hosted the final as Lazio came to town and once again hoisted the Coppa, beating Lazio 2-0 with goals from Gianfranco Petris in the 4th minute and the clincher in the 80th minute by Luigi Milan.

Roster

Coach - Nándor Hidegkuti

GK - Enrico Albertosi
D - Enzo Robotti
D - Sergio Castelletti
Libero Piero Gonfiantini - (1955-1966)
Centrocampista - Dante Micheli
Centromediano - Alberto Orzan
Centrocampista - Rino Marchesi
Attaccante - Kurt Hamrin
Allenatore - Dino da Costa
Allenatore - Luigi Milan
Attaccante - Gianfranco Petris

1965-1966

Fiorentina had to start the season's Coppa from the first round, beating Genoa 3-0 on the road, followed up with a 4-1 pasting of Palermo in Florence, a 3-1 victory against AC MIlan at the San Siro in the quarters and a 2-1 squeaker at home against Inter.

The final was then held in Roma and Fiorentina faced Catanzaro. The match was quite close as Kurt Hamrin scored first for la Viola half an hour into the match. Catanzaro was to come out early in the second half to equalize and the tie held through regulation and it was until the 119th minute that Mario Bertini converted a penalty kick to give the Florentine's the Coppa once again.

Roster

Coach - Giuseppe Chiappella

GK 1 Enrico Albertosi
D 2 Giovan Battista Pirovano
D 3 Bernardo Rogora
C 4 Mario Bertini
D 5 Ugo Ferrante
D 6 Giuseppe Brizi
A 7 Kurt Hamrin
C 8 Claudio Merlo
A 9 Mario Brugnera
C 10 Giancarlo De Sisti
A 11 Luciano Chiarugi

1974–75

This tournament's format was much different as teams competed in two group stages with the two winners of the second group stage facing off in the final.

In the first group stage, 7 groups of 5 teams faced off, with the group winners advancing. Fiorentina's first group included Ternana, Foggia, Palermo and Alessandria. Teams played each other once, with 2 points for a win and 1 for a tie.

I Giornata
Alessandria 2-0 Foggia
Fiorentina 1-0 Palermo
II Giornata
Palermo 3-0 Alessandria
Ternana 1-1 Foggia
III Giornata
Alessandria 0-1 Fiorentina
Palermo 0-1 Ternana
IV Giornata
Fiorentina 1-1 Ternana
Foggia 1-0 Palermo
V Giornata
Foggia 1-2 Fiorentina
Ternana 5-0 Alessandria

Fiorentina 7
Ternana 6
Foggia 3
Palermo 2
Alessandria 2

The second group stage saw the 7 group winners and the previous season's Coppa holder, Bologna being split into two groups, with the two group winners advancing to the final. Fiorentina tied Torino with 7 points but advanced due to goal differential.

I Giornata
Napoli 1-0 Fiorentina
Torino 3-0 Roma
II Giornata
Fiorentina 3-1 Torino
Roma 0-0 Napoli
III Giornata
Fiorentina 2-1 Roma
Torino 2-1 Napoli
IV Giornata
Fiorentina 3-1 Napoli
Roma 0-0 Torino
V Giornata
Napoli 0-2 Roma
Torino 1-0 Fiorentina
VI Giornata
Napoli 1-0 Torino
Roma 2-2 Fiorentina

Fiorentina 7 +3
Torino 7 +2
Roma 5 -2
Napoli 5 -3

The final was again held at Stadio Olimpico, against AC Milan and was quite the back and forth affair. Fiorentina started off the scoring in minute 14 with a penalty kick from Gianfranco Casarsa, but Milan answered 6 minutes later with a goal from Alberto Bigon.

The 1-1 scoreline was to last until a few minutes after halftime until current team manager Vincenzo Guerini put Fiorentina back in front (sadly, it was only a few months after that Guerini was involved in a car crash that saw him nearly lose a leg and ended his career at the young age of 22).

Milan answered back by the 65th minute, however, and the goal was particularly painful as it came from former Viola Luciano Chiarugi, who had started his career with the Florentine outfit and spent 7 years with the club, before moving to Milan a few years earlier.

Fiorentina were not to hang their heads and immediately charged back with substitute Paolo Rosi putting Fiorentina ahead to stay only 2 minutes later and Fiorentina raised their 4th Coppa.

Roster

Coach - Mario Mazzoni

Franco Superchi
Bruno Beatrice
Moreno Roggi
Vincenzo Guerini
Ennio Pellegrini
Mauro Della Martira
Domenico Caso
Claudio Merlo
Gianfranco Casarsa
Giancarlo Antognoni
Claudio Desolati

subs
47’ Giuseppe Lelj
47’ Paolo Rosi

1995-1996

It was to be over 2 decades before la Viola returned to the Coppa Final and once again the format had changed, with the Quarter-finals, Semi-finals AND the Final being home and away 2 leg ties. Fiorentina would be the lower seed in every round for the tournament.

Fiornetina started on the road in the second round, beating Ascoli 2-1 and also went on the road for the round of 16, plastering Lecce 5-0.

In the quarters, la Viola faced off against Palermo, beating the Sicilian team 1-0 at the Franchi, and finished them off in Palermo 2-1, for a 3-1 win on aggregate.

The semi-finals saw Inter as the opponent, and la Viola took no time at all to show they were serious as they won in Florence 3-1 and beat Inter at the San Siro 1-0 for a 4-1 win on agg.

Next up on the chopping block for the rampaging Viola were Atalanta and Fiorentina made short work of them, winning in the first leg, 1-0 with a goal from Batistuta and 2-0 in Atalanta, with goals from Amoruso and another from Batigol to chalk up their 5th .

1998–99

Once again the format changed, with all rounds that la Viola participated in, including the Final, being of the 2 leg variety.

Fiorentina beat Padova 3-0 on agg. in the second round, Lecce 5-0 in the round of 16, Atalanta 3-3 in the quarters, advancing on the away goal rule and Bologna 4-2.

The final matched up Fiorentina and Parma and la Viola started off in fine fashion, getting an away goal from Mr. Batistuta in a 1-1 tie, and scored two more, by Řepka and Cois in the return leg, but, sadly, their defense let them down and Parma scored 2 goals as well and the tie ended with Parma raising the cup, in quite the lame fashion, on away goals.

2000–01

This edition was also a 2 leg affair and Fiorentina would make the most of it, scoring 8-1 aggregates against Salernitana, 7-3 against Brescia and 4-2 against AC Milan.

Fiorentina would travel to Parma with a chance to avenge the 1999 result and did so, winning 1-0 in Parma on a goal from Vanoli and a 1-1 tie back in Florence with Nuno Gomes scoring.