FLORENCE, ITALY – Della Valle family, the owners of Serie A football team ACF Fiorentina, have announced they are putting the club up for sale. The main reason is the fan protests, according to a club statement.
Fashion entrepreneurs Diego and Andrea Della Valle have taken control of ACF Fiorentina since 2002, after the previous ownership bankruptcy. Della Valle family is accepting «serious offers only from those who really mean well for the Viola shirt».
The Della Valle family guided the club up from the fourth division back to the top, after four straight years of finishing in the top five of Serie A, an eighth-place result last month was difficult to accept by the supporters.
Former Fiorentina captain Stefano Pioli was recently appointed to coach the club. Founded for the first time by a merger in 1926, ACF Fiorentina has won two Italian Championships, in 1955–56 and again in 1968–69, as well as six Coppa Italia trophies and one Supercoppa Italiana.
ACF Fiorentina is one of the thirteen European teams that played the finals in all three major continental competitions: the Champions League (1956-1957, the first Italian team to reach the final in the top continental competition), the UEFA Cup Winners (1960-1961 and 1961-1962) and the UEFA Cup (1989-1990).
Since 1931, the club have played at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, which currently has a capacity of 47,000. The stadium has used several names over the years and has undergone several renovations.
ACF Fiorentina new stadium project was unveiled on March 10, 2017. Della Valle family hoped to be playing in by 2021. The first brick for the new stadium was expected to be laid in 2019, but the place where the stadium should arise is currently occupied by the fruit and vegetable market. The city of Florence has promised to move the market, but still could not find a definitive destination.
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