Nevio Scala’s Parma triumphed under the old Wembley towers, beating Antwerp for the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
Modern day life for Parma is quite the fall from grace after financial collapse and games played out in Lega Pro. The Italian system effectively demotes teams plagued by financial catastrophe right away, rather than the Portsmouth-style humiliation of successive relegation. Readers of a certain age will remember 1993 was the year that saw the Crociati triumph on a radiant Wembley evening, beating Antwerp 3-1 in the European Cup Winner’s Cup.
Nevio Scala’s Parma triumphed under the old Wembley towers, beating Antwerp for the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
Modern day life for Parma is quite the fall from grace after financial collapse and games played out in Lega Pro. The Italian system effectively demotes teams plagued by financial catastrophe right away, rather than the Portsmouth-style humiliation of successive relegation. Readers of a certain age will remember 1993 was the year that saw the Crociati triumph on a radiant Wembley evening, beating Antwerp 3-1 in the European Cup Winner’s Cup.
There is a certain romanticism that Scala was the manager at arguably the height of Parma’s success, exemplified by their eventual triumph in London, and he is now their President in the lower leagues.
In just their second season in European football, Parma triumphed in their first Final over the Belgian side with arguably the harder route to London. They made a relatively short hike to the Wembley towers beating Újpest of Hungary before the likes of Boavista, Sparta Prague and Atletico Madrid.
In the Final, Parma took just 10 minutes to open the scoring, Antwerp keeper Stevan Stojanovic was indecisive in coming for a corner and captain Lorenzo Minotti volleyed home in an almost-karate kick fashion.
While Francis Severeyns equalised just a couple of minutes later for the Belgians, it was the side from Emilia-Romagna that began to dominate the opening half. Eventually Alessandro Melli headed past Stojanovic to make it 2-1. Melli was then denied a superb volley with the flag going up very dubiously for offside.
The Gialloblu largely controlled the tempo for the second half without finding the killer goal. Finally, six minutes from time midfielder Stefano Cuoghi curled past Stojanovic to put the game beyond any doubt, for a surprisingly routine victory in front of 37,000. Parma at the time were just the eighth Italian side to win a European trophy, a feat even more impressive considering their promotion to Serie A had occurred just three years earlier.
The Wembley superiority did not kick-start a multitude of luck for Parma, however. They lost out in the Super Cup to Milan before a year later getting to the Cup Winner’s Cup Final yet again, this time losing out to George Graham’s robust Arsenal side. Eventually Scala left to make way for Carlo Ancelotti and the great Parma side of the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, where a multitude of Serie A stars made their mark at the Stadio Tardini.
However, their pinnacle under Scala as Coach was without doubt their first European silverware on a clear spring night in North London.