On Wednesday, Fiorentina will face West Ham United in Prague in the UEFA Europa Conference League Final.
This’ll be I Viola’s fifth appearance in a European Final, but first for 33 years.
📰 Table Of Contents
Read all about the history of West Ham United in European Finals here.
Fiorentina 0-2 Real Madrid: European Cup Final 1957
Back in 1956/57, just the second-ever edition of the European Cup was taking place, with 22 domestic champions all competing.
Having won their very first Serie A title the previous year, Fiorentina were flying the flag for Italy, making their debut in UEFA competition.
Fulvio Bernardini’s team narrowly beat IFK Norrköping in the first round, swatted aside Grasshoppers 5-3 on aggregate before a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Crvena zvezda.
Maurilio Prini’s 88th minute winner in Belgrade proving decisive over two legs.
Against a star-studded, all-conquering Real side, that would win the first five European Cups, Fiorentina were beaten 2-0 in Madrid; Alfredo Di Stéfano converting a penalty before Paco Gento secured the win shortly after.
In the subsequent 66 years, I Gigliati have only featured in the Champions League on four occasions, losing to Celtic in the 1970 quarter-finals before being beaten by Bayern Munich in the round of 16 four decades later.
Fiorentina 4-1 Rangers: Cup Winners’ Cup Final 1961
Fiorentina beat Rangers at Ibrox in the first leg of the Cup Winners’ Cup final thanks to a Luigi Milan double 👏#OnThisDay in 1961 📅
Rangers-Fiorentina 0-2 (Milan 12′, Milan 88′)#ForzaViola 💜 #Fiorentina pic.twitter.com/qWISQLrpiW— ACF Fiorentina English (@ACFFiorentinaEN) May 17, 2021
Four years later, Fiorentina featured in the very first edition of the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.
Despite the name, I Viola qualified as Coppa Italia runners-up because the side who beat them in that final, Juventus, had also won the league title, thereby entering the European Cup instead.
Just ten teams featured in the inaugural Cup Winners’ Cup, with many clubs unconvinced by the potential of the competition.
So, Fiorentina began in the quarter-finals, smashing FC Luzern 9-2 before seeing off GNK Dinamo Zagreb, winning 3-0 in Florence, meaning a 2-1 defeat in Yugoslavia was enough to see them advance.
In the final itself, Nándor Hidegkuti’s team would face Scottish Cup winners Rangers, who’d become the first British club to reach a major continental final.
Luigi Milan was very much the hero, scoring both in a 2-0 first leg victory at Ibrox, before breaking the deadlock at home ten nights later, with Kurt Hamrin wrapping up a 4-1 aggregate win.
This triumph 62 years ago remains Fiorentina’s greatest in European football, but will that change in this week’s Europa Conference League Final?
Fiorentina 1-4 Atlético Madrid: Cup Winners’ Cup Final 1962
🗓🔙 Tal día como hoy…
El 5.9.1962 el Atleti ganó en Stuttgart su 1ª competición europea: la Recopa de Europa Ese dia se disputó la repetición de la final (3-0 ante la Fiorentina, goles de Jones Mendonça y Peiró) ya que la primera en (Glasgow, 10.5.62) acabó en empate 1-1. pic.twitter.com/hRE1lRUfxG
— Peña Atleti Internacional – Oficial (@ATMinter) September 5, 2020
The following season, having won both the inaugural Cup Winners’ Cup and Coppa Italia, Fiorentina were targeting more silverware.
As mentioned, only ten clubs entered the first edition of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1960, but this number was up to 23 the following season, with clubs from Spain, France, Portugal, Netherlands and many more debuting.
First up, the holders hammered Rapid Wien 9-3, Aurelio Milani with a hat-trick in Austria, and then produced comeback victory over Dynamo Žilina, losing 3-2 in Czechoslovakia before a 2-0 victory at home.
Now led by new manager Ferruccio Valcareggi, I Gigliati swatted aside Újpest in the semis, to set up a final meeting with Copa del Generalísimo winners Atlético Madrid.
As they’d done 12 months earlier, Fiorentina would return to Glasgow, this time with Hampden providing a neutral venue.
Atleti took an early lead through Joaquín Peiró, only for Kurt Hamrin to equalise soon after, meaning, with the tie finishing 1-1, a replay was required.
The main problem was that UEFA could not find a date, with the 1962 World Cup in Chile right around the corner, so, a whole 118 days later, the replay would take place in Stuttgart.
Safe to say, it was not worth that wait for Fiorentina, demolished 3-0 by Atleti at Neckarstadion, thereby failing to retain their title.
Fiorentina 1-3 Juventus: UEFA Cup Final 1990
After featuring in three European Finals in the space of just six seasons, it then took Fiorentina 28 years to get back there again.
Before 1989, I Viola’s record in the UEFA Cup was frankly miserable, losing six of eight ties, their two wins both coming in first round ties against Turkish clubs, beating Eskişehirspor in 1972 and Fenerbahçe 12 years later.
At the end of the ‘89 season, Fiorentina came seventh, above Roma on goal difference, but, under old-school Serie A rules, a play-off was required to determine who would qualify for Europe.
At a neutral venue in Perugia, Roberto Pruzzo was the only scorer, meaning it was delight for I Gigliati.
Fiorentina supporters were then less pleased a few weeks later when they were drawn against Atlético Madrid in the first round, facing the side who’d beaten them in that most-recent final appearance.
Atleti then won the first leg 1-0 at Estadio Vicente Calderón but, a week later, Renato Buso was the only scorer at Stadio Renato Curi, meaning a penalty shootout was required.
The hosts missed two of their five spot-kicks, but Atlético missed three of their four meaning, to the delight of the home crowd, the Italian side advanced, banishing the ghosts of the ‘62 final.
I Viola then ousted Sochaux on away goals, narrowly beat Dynamo Kyiv 1-0, overcoming Auxerre 2-0 before another away goals victory, this time edging out Werder Bremen in the semi-finals.
The following night, Juventus got past Köln, setting up a first-ever all-Italian final in European Football history, although the next decade would produce three more UEFA Cup Finals featuring two Serie A outfits.
This final would see Fiorentina take on their biggest rivals Juve, a hatred, to put it succinctly, based on local patriotism due to Italy’s north-south divide.
So, Juventus’ triumph in this final did not go down well in Florence, with la Vecchia Signora winning the first leg 3-1 at Stadio Grande Torino, before finishing the job with a goalless draw in Avellino two weeks later.
A few months after this, Fiorentina supporters were rioting in the streets after their talisman Roberto Baggio had been sold to Juve for a then world-record fee of 25 billion lire, about £8 million.
Now featuring in a first European Final for 33 years, Fiorentina fans will be desperate for a much happier outcome.
