Fiorentina celebrates 100 years with legends, music and fireworks after painful defeat

For a few hours on Saturday night, the result on the scoreboard gave way to a century of memories.

Fiorentina marked its 100th anniversary at the Stadio Artemio Franchi with former players, youth teams, music, lights and fireworks, bringing together different generations of the club in front of more than 23,000 supporters.

The celebrations had begun earlier in the day at Viola Park, Fiorentina’s training centre outside Florence, where more than 200 former players, coaches and officials gathered for a centenary lunch before travelling to the stadium. A few days earlier, more than 15,000 people marched through the city center to commemorate the club’s foundation.

Among the most anticipated returns were Gabriel Batistuta and Manuel Rui Costa, two of the defining figures of Fiorentina’s 1990s teams. Their reunion and embrace at the Franchi drew one of the strongest reactions from the crowd. Rui Costa’s appearance was particularly significant: it was his first return to Florence in 25 years.

The long list of former Viola figures also included Francesco Toldo, Luca Toni, Adrian Mutu, Franck Ribéry, Alberto Gilardino, Borja Valero, Giuseppe Rossi, Angelo Di Livio, Dunga, Sébastien Frey, Giampaolo Pazzini, Giancarlo De Sisti and Luciano Chiarugi.

Former coaches Claudio Ranieri and Cesare Prandelli received warm applause when they appeared, while former women’s captain Alia Guagni was among the players representing Fiorentina’s more recent history.

From disappointment to celebration

The atmosphere, however, was inevitably shaped by what had happened immediately before the show.

Fiorentina lost 3-0 at home to newly promoted Frosinone in their second Serie A match of the season. Antonio Raimondo scored twice and Gabriele Bracaglia added the other goal, turning what had been planned as a celebratory match into a difficult evening for the current team.

It was Fiorentina’s second heavy defeat in as many league matches. Fabio Grosso’s side had opened the 2026-27 Serie A season with a 4-0 loss away to Roma on 24 August.

After two rounds, Fiorentina therefore remain without a point or a goal, having conceded seven.

The contrast was difficult to ignore: some of the club’s most celebrated players were sitting in the stands while the present-day side struggled on the pitch.

Once the match was over, however, attention returned to the anniversary.

Hundreds of boys and girls from Fiorentina’s youth teams came onto the pitch as part of the evening programme. Former players then paraded across the field, accompanied by music, videos recounting the club’s history, lighting effects and fireworks.

The crowd also applauded a video message from Edoardo Bove and paid tribute to former captain Davide Astori, who died in 2018. Supporters again remembered Astori during the match in the 13th minute, referring to the shirt number that Fiorentina retired after his death.

A century of Fiorentina

The evening was designed less as a celebration of trophies than as a reunion of generations, while the whole city had been joining in the celebrations in the preceding days.

Founded in Florence in 1926, Fiorentina has become one of the city’s strongest symbols of collective identity. The return of players from different eras — from the teams of the 1960s to the Batistuta and Rui Costa years and more recent sides — turned the Franchi into a meeting place between the club’s past and present.

That past provided the emotion on Saturday night.

The present offers a much more difficult picture. Two matches into the new Serie A season, Fiorentina have suffered two defeats, conceded seven goals and scored none.

For one evening, the lights, music and familiar faces allowed the Franchi to look back over 100 years of Viola history. From the next match onwards, the focus will return firmly to the team on the pitch.

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