After a turbulent past, is this Parma’s new dawn?

Serie A is about to embrace one of its most beloved clubs. Parma are back in the big time.

After three seasons in Serie B, the former European Cup Winners’ Cup and two-time Uefa Cup winners will host Fiorentina on Saturday on their return to Italy’s top flight.

This is great news not only for their fans, but also for for lovers of 1990s nostalgia. Parma’s revival brings back memories of iconic kits and legendary stars such as Gianfranco Zola, Faustino Asprilla, Hristo Stoichkov, Lilian Thuram, Gigi Buffon, Hernan Crespo and Fabio Cannavaro.

Parma have been here before, but this time there is optimism they are in Serie A to stay.

It was the great Arrigo Sacchi who helped kickstart Parma’s rise. They were a third-tier club when he arrived as coach in 1985. In his first season, they won promotion to Serie B. In his second, they knocked AC Milan out of the Coppa Italia and almost won promotion to Serie A. In the process, he developed young players such as Mario Bortolazzi, Walter Bianchi and Roberto Mussi before taking them to Milan with him in 1987 when offered the job by Silvio Berlusconi.

But the so-called Miracle of Parma was born in 1989 with the arrival of manager Nevio Scala and Parma-born owner Callisto Tanzi, the latter overseeing the rapid rise of the club – and its vertical fall into insolvency.

Thanks to their entertaining style of play and the endless flux of money from dairy giant Parmalat, the Crusaders won one Coppa Italia, one Cup Winners’ Cup, one Uefa Cup and a European Super Cup between 1992 and 1995.

“Before Scala and sporting director Giambattista Pastorello joined the club, Parma were known for developing and selling young players,” former club captain Lorenzo Minotti told BBC Sport.

“Arrigo Sacchi’s tenure was emblematic. He took Mussi, Bianchi and Bortolazzi to the Rossoneri, too. Their presence changed our ambitions and mentality: from a small club we turned into one with an attacking identity, capable of reaching three consecutive European finals.

“We faced Juventus seven times in 1994-95. They won the league title, beating us in the head-to-head matches and the Coppa Italia by a very thin margin.

“We took home the Uefa Cup instead. You need to take several steps to win a Scudetto, and maybe we were not quite there.”

After two years with a young Carlo Ancelotti in the dugout, Parma enjoyed domestic and European glory under Alberto Malesani: his 3-4-2-1 formation brought a Uefa Cup and Coppa Italia double in 1999, as well as the Italian Supercup.

The closest they came to a Scudetto, however, was finishing second in 1996-97 with that star-studded side including Buffon, Thuram, Nesta, Cannavaro, Zola, Chiesa and Crespo.

Parma won the Coppa Italia again in 2002 – but then the Italian justice system revealed a 14 billion euro hole in Parmalat’s books and forced the company into bankruptcy in 2004.

The club which emerged from that financial disaster was a pale copy of the one it had been.

Tommaso Ghirardi’s takeover in 2007, which brought many to hope for a bright future, was just the beginning of a new sporting drama.

In 2015, after a series of fiscal irregularities, the club went bankrupt again.

Parma reformed again, starting in the fourth tier. Three successive promotions followed, and they were in Serie A by 2018. They lasted three years before relegation back to Serie B.

Amid all that drama, one important thing had changed. Kyle J Krause, a US businessman with interests in retail, logistics, tourism, sport, wine, real estate and agriculture, had taken over the club in September 2020.

The American tycoon’s recipe has been simple: steady and targeted investments.

Experienced players were brought in, such as Franco Vazquez and the returning Buffon, plans were made to revamp the training centre in Collecchio, and to develop the club’s Stadio Tardini home into a 21,000-seat stadium. The owner is looking to build for the long term.

Head coach Fabio Pecchia has been shaping and guiding the project during the past two years.

A former assistant to Rafa Benitez at Napoli, Real Madrid and Newcastle, Pecchia suffered Serie B play-off agony 14 months ago as Cagliari beat Parma in the semi-finals.

That disappointment laid the foundation for clinching promotion in May.

“I have watched some Parma games and I have seen a very balanced team. Now it’s me who’s learning from him,” said Benitez.

“We wanted a manager who could work with young players, while offering a dominating and brave style of play,” Parma sports director Mauro Pederzoli said. “Fabio is exactly that.”

As he started his journey with the Gialloblu three years ago, Pederzoli was given three tasks to fulfil: develop competitive young players, implement an entertaining style of football and clinch Serie A promotion.

“The club has never changed its attitude and goals, even during some difficult moments we have faced, and this is what brought us here,” he added.

The strategy has worked: Parma won the Serie B title boasting the division’s third-youngest squad.

Captain Enrico Delprato, strikers Dennis Man, Valentin Mihaila, Adrian Benedyczak and brilliant playmaker Adrian Bernabe all arrived in 2021; all have extended the contracts they signed on arrival, as have Simon Sohm and Angel Bonny.

Those talents have closed the circle. In May 1990, Parma clinched their first ever Serie A promotion with a 2-0 win against Reggiana in the Derby dell’Enza, named after the river which separates the two provinces.

In May 2024, the Gialloblu once again ended a triumphant season on a high against their old rivals, completing the campaign with 21 wins, 11 draws and just four defats.

Fans hope it will be the beginning of a new story, this time without the financial catastrophes that left deep scars.