A brief history of Torino

Dag Jenkins
Sep 10
5 min read

The game of football arrived in Turin in the late 19th century, introduced by English and Swiss industrialists.

In 1887 Torino FCC were formed and played in pink while in 1889 Nobili Torino appeared. In 1891 these two clubs merged into Internazionale Torino and played in black and white and in 1894 were joined by Torinese. In 1900 Torinese took over the other two and played in orange and black, their original colours.

An important development came on December 3, 1906. In the Voigt beerhall an alliance was formed between Torinese and some dissidents from Juventus, led by Alfredo Dick, whereby Foot Ball Club Torino were officially formed.

Torino's first game was against Pro Vercelli away and ended 3-1 to the Granata.

In 1912 Vittorio Pozzo joined the Torino staff.

The 1920's saw the first competitive side. Torino won the Scudetto in 1927 but it was taken away from them due to alleged match fixing (The Allemandi Case). They won it again in 1928 and this was officially their first league title. The manager was Tony Cargnelli and their star players were Adolfo Baloncieri, Gino Rossetti and Julio Libonatti (top scorer with 35 goals).

The 1930's were up and down but in the second half of the decade Torino improved with a 3rd place in 1936 and 2nd in 1939. In 1936 they also won their first Coppa Italia.

The 1940's were Torino's golden era. Before and after the war the Granata won five consecutive league titles (1943, '46, '47, '48 and '49). In 1943 they also won the Coppa Italia becoming the first club to win the double. At one point they had ten players on the field for the Italian national side. The managers were Leslie Lievesley, Mario Sperone, Luigi Ferrero and Antonio Janni while in those years it was common to have technical directors who were Ernő Erbstein and then Roberto Copernico. The team captain was Valentino Mazzola and the classic line-up was: Bacigalupo, Ballarin, Maroso, Grezar, Rigamonti, Castigliano, Menti, Loik, Gabetto, Mazzola, Ossola.

The dominance of the Grande Torino was tragically interrupted by a plane crash. On May 4 1949 the team were returning from a friendly in Lisbon when their flight crashed into the basilica on the Superga hill above Turin. The whole squad was killed plus directors and journalists.

The years following the air disaster were difficult. In the 1950's their highest position was 7th and their lowest 17th. In 1959 they were relegated. Toro came straight up again and in the 1960's finished 12th, 10th twice, 8th, 7th five times, 6th and 3rd (1964-65). In 1968 however, they won their 3rd Coppa Italia, under manager Edmondo Fabbri.

In the 1970's there were good years again. In 1971 Toro won their 4th Coppa Italia. In the league, after 2nd, 6th, 5th and 6th places, in 1975-76 the Granata won the Scudetto again. The manager was Gigi Radice and the team included: Luciano Castellini, Roberto Mozzini, Renato Zaccarelli, Patrizio and Claudio Sala, Eraldo Pecci and the attacking duo Francesco "Ciccio" Graziani and Paolo Pulici. It was followed by two 2nd places, 4th and a 3rd.

The 1980's were average. Toro finished 9th three times, 8th, 7th, 5th, 4th and 2nd (1984-85). In 1982 they reached the Coppa Italia final but lost to Inter 1-2 on aggregate while in 1987 they reached the UEFA quarter-finals (Swarovski Tirol 1-2). In 1989 however, they were relegated to Serie B.

They were promoted immediately under Eugenio Fascetti and the 1990's started well before deteriorating. In the early 90's Toro finished 5th, 3rd, 9th, 8th and 11th. In 1991 they won the Mitropa Cup and in 1993 their 5th Coppa Italia, under Emiliano Mondonico. In 1992 they reached the UEFA Cup final but lost to Ajax on away goals. In 1996 however they were relegated and only came back up in 1999 only to go straight down again.

The 2000s were equally difficult. Toro spent five years in Serie B and five in A (with a highest position of 11th). The club also had financial difficulties.

In 2012 Toro were promoted, under Gian Piero Ventura, and then spent a stable decade in the top flight albeit mediocre with 16th places twice, 12th, 9th three times and 7th twice.

The current decade has continued in a similar fashion with the Granata either struggling or hovering around mid-table (17th, 11th, 10th twice and 9th). In 2024-25 they finished 11th. A far cry from the glory years of the 1940's and 1970's.

For the 2025-26 season their head coach is former Lazio, Marco Baroni.

Torino's colours are "Granata", maroon. Originally, they played in orange and black but these were considered too similar to those of the enemy Hapsburgs. The legend goes that maroon was chosen in honour of the "Brigata Savoia" who two centuries earlier had helped liberate Turin.

Torino's symbol is a bull, the rampant bull which is the symbol of the town of Turin.

Torino's first ground was the Umberto I Velodrome followed by several other locations. In 1926 the Filadelfia stadium was built and Toro played there until 1959. They then alternated between the "Fila" and the Comunale stadium where they finally moved in 1963-64 (shared with Juventus). From 1990 to 2006 they played in the Stadio delle Alpi built for Italia '90 (again shared). In 2006 they moved to the Olympic stadium built for the Winter Games. From 2016 it is known as the Grande Torino.

Torino have had 29 presidents of the club. Worth mentioning are, the first Franz Schoenbrod, Alfredo Dick (1907-08), Conte Enrico Marone Cinzano (first silverware), Ferruccio Novo (Grande Torino), Orfeo Pianelli (1963-82 with 1976 Scudetto) to current owner Urbano Cairo at the helm since 2005.

Torino's legends are obviously the Grande Torino and the 1976 Scudetto winning team. Other great players include: Giorgio Ferrini, Lido Vieri, Luigi Meroni, Dennis Law, Leo Junior, Enzo Francescoli, Abedi Pelé, Beppe Dossena, Martín Vásquez, Luca Marchegiani, Gianluigi Lentini, Vincenzo Scifo, Pasquale Bruno, Walter Casagrande, Marco Ferrante and Andrea Bellotti.

The top five in number of appearances are: Giorgio Ferrini 566 (1959-75), Paolo Pulici 437 (1967-82), Renato Zaccarelli 413 (1974-1987), Claudio Sala 360 (1969-1980) and Lido Vieri 357 (1958-1969).

Top seven goal scorers are: Paolo Pulici 172, Julio Libonatti 157, Gino Rossetti II 144, Guglielmo Gabetto 127, Marco Ferrante 125, Valentino Mazzola 123 and Francesco Graziani 122.

Torino are estimated to have about 452,000 supporters. In Turin they have more fans than Juventus but obviously that changes when you leave the Piedmontese capital.

The historic Torino curva is the Maratona. The fan groups have been Club Fedelissimi (1951), Ultras Granata (1969), Granata Korps (1981), Viking (1985). The main rivals are obviously Juventus followed by Sampdoria, Atalanta, Verona and to a lesser extent Lazio, Roma, Inter, Milan and Bologna. Friendly relationships are with Fiorentina, Alessandria, Ascoli, Nocerina, Manchester City, Athletic Bilbao, Corinthians, River Plate, Benfica and more recently Chapecoense who in 2016 suffered a similar tragedy to Superga.

Famous Torino fans include; Bettino Craxi, Nicola Mancino, Gian Carlo Caselli, Piero Chiambretti, Jimmy Ghione, Simona Ventura and Willie Peyote.

Sources

Wikipedia