Torino FC

Torino Football Club, known to fans as Toro, is one of Italy's historic football institutions. Based in Turin, Piedmont, the club competes in Serie A, the top tier of Italian football. Founded in 1906 as Foot-Ball Club Torino, they have won seven league titles, most famously during the Grande Torino era of the 1940s when the team dominated Italian football. Their most recent Serie A championship came in 1976. Torino have also lifted the Coppa Italia five times and claimed the now-defunct Mitropa Cup in 1991. The club's home matches are played at Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, originally built for the 1934 World Cup and later renamed in honor of the Grande Torino squad. Their maroon kits and rampant bull emblem reflect the city's traditional symbol, earning them the nickname Il Toro. The Derby della Mole against city rivals Juventus is one of Italy's fiercest local derbies.[edit]

Torino FC was born on December 3, 1906, when a group of dissidents from Juventus merged with the football section of Società Sportiva Valentino. The club quickly made its mark, winning its first Scudetto in 1928. But the defining chapter came in the 1940s under the presidency of Ferruccio Novo. The Grande Torino team, built around captain Valentino Mazzola, won five consecutive Serie A titles from 1943 to 1949, playing a fluid, attacking style that captivated the country. Seven players from that side formed the backbone of the Italian national team. Then came May 4, 1949. The plane carrying the squad back from a friendly in Lisbon crashed into the Superga hill, killing all 31 people on board. The tragedy devastated Italian football and left Torino in mourning for decades. The club rebuilt but never fully recaptured that golden era. They won the Scudetto again in 1976 under Luigi Radice, thanks to the goals of Paolo Pulici and Francesco Graziani, and added the Coppa Italia in 1993. Financial troubles led to bankruptcy in 2005, but the club was refounded immediately and has remained in Serie A ever since, consistently finishing in mid-table.[edit]