One of the most popular football clubs in Italy is Associazione Calcio Firenze Fiorentina, commonly known as Fiorentina. The professional football club is based in Florence, Tuscany, Central Italy.
The club’s history
Fiorentina’s nicknames are La Viola (The Purple One), I Viola (The Purples/The Violets) and I Gigliati (The Lilieds), which reference the club’s distinctive purple colors. The club is owned by Italian-American businessman Rocco B. Commisso and Firenze Viola, while the team is coached by Vincenzo Italiano.
The club was established in August 1926 through a merger. Local noble and politician Luigi Ridolfi initiated the merger of two older Florentine clubs, CS Firenze and PG Libertas to form Fiorentina. According to Ridolfi, the purpose of the merger was for Florence to produce a strong club to rival clubs from the Northwest region of the country that dominated the Italian Football Championship.
The Viola gained promotion to the top flight of Italian football in 1931 after spending three seasons in the lower leagues. To compete with the best clubs in Serie A, Fiorentina signed a few players, such as Uruguayan Pedro Petrone, to help strengthen the squad. The acquisition helped the club finish fourth after a superb season.
However, Fiorentina was relegated the following year due to unforeseen circumstances. The club, fortunately, gained promotion back to Serie A in 1933. The club won its first trophy in 1941 when it lifted the first Coppa Italia but failed to build on its success during the 1940s due to World War II.
The Viola lifted the Italian Championships twice in 1955–56 and 1968–69. In the 1956–57 European Cup, Fiorentina lost to Real Madrid and finished runners-up. The club has also won six Coppa Italia trophies and one Supercoppa Italiana. It also clinched the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1960–61 and finished runners-up the following year.
Fiorentina lost the final of the 1989–90 UEFA Cup to Juventus after losing the first leg in Turin and playing a daw in the second leg in Avellino. The club has participated in the Serie A for the majority of its existence. The club occupied the fifth spot on the list of clubs that have played in more Serie A seasons.
The club plays its home games at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. The stadium was opened in 1931, originally named after Giovanni Berta, a prominent fascist, before it was changed. It has a capacity of 43,147. Fiorentina was refounded on 1 August 2002 following bankruptcy and was named as A.C. Fiorentina e Florentia Viola.
How much did Fiorentina spend on salaries in the 2021-2022 season and who is the highest-paid player at Fiorentina?
In the 2021-2022 season, ACF Fiorentina recorded a total gross salary of €55,590,000 or €1,069,038 per week.
As of June 1, 2022, 24-year-old Serbian center-back, Nikola Milenkovic is the highest-paid footballer at Fiorentina with an annual gross salary of €4,630,000 or €89,038 per week.
In the table below, the salary of ACF Fiorentina players is listed from the highest paid to the least paid. Note that the players’ bonuses and other incentives are not included since they are not made public.
ACF Fiorentina Player Salaries 2020
| Player Name | Age | Weekly Salary | Contract Expiration |
| Nikola Milenkovic | 24 | €89,038 | 2023 |
| Álvaro Odriozola | 26 | €86,346 | 2022 |
| José Callejón | 34 | €78,269 | 2022 |
| Lucas Torreira | 25 | €74,038 | 2022 |
| Krzysztof Piatek | 26 | €74,038 | 2022 |
| Nicolás González | 23 | €61,731 | 2026 |
| Giacomo Bonaventura | 32 | €53,462 | 2022 |
| Gaetano Castrovilli | 24 | €49,808 | 2024 |
| Alfred Duncan | 28 | €46,346 | 2024 |
| Cristiano Biraghi | 29 | €42,692 | 2024 |
| Aleksandr Kokorin | 30 | €41,923 | 2024 |
| Arthur Cabral | 23 | €41,923 | 2026 |
| Jonathan Ikoné | 23 | €41,923 | 2026 |
| Matija Nastasic | 28 | €39,423 | 2023 |
| Sofyan Amrabat | 25 | €36,923 | 2024 |
| Erick Pulgar | 28 | €32,115 | 2023 |
| Bartlomiej Dragowski | 24 | €28,462 | 2023 |
| Youssef Maleh | 23 | €25,000 | 2024 |
| Riccardo Saponara | 30 | €24,615 | 2022 |
| Lucas Martínez Quarta | 25 | €24,615 | 2025 |
| Riccardo Sottil | 22 | €21,346 | 2026 |
| Igor | 23 | €17,308 | 2024 |
| Lorenzo Venuti | 26 | €14,231 | 2024 |
| Pietro Terracciano | 31 | €10,769 | 2023 |
| Aleksa Terzic | 22 | €7,308 | 2024 |
| Antonio Rosati | 38 | €5,385 | 2022 |
