SS Lazio

History

Società Podistica Lazio was founded on 9 January 1900 in the Prati district of Rome. Until 1910, the club played at an amateur level until it officially joined the league competition in 1912 as soon as the Italian Football Federation began organising championships in the center and south of Italy, and reached the final of the national championship playoff three times, but never won, losing in 1913 to Pro Vercelli, in 1914 to Casale and in 1923 to Genoa 1893. In 1927, Lazio was the only major Roman club which resisted the Fascist regime's attempts to merge all the city's teams into what would become Roma the same year. The club played in the first organised Serie A in 1929 and, led by legendary Italian striker Silvio Piola, achieved a second-place finish in 1937 – its highest pre-war result.

The 1950s produced a mix of mid and upper table results, with a Coppa Italia win in 1958. Lazio was relegated for the first time in 1961 to Serie B, but returned in the top flight two years later. After a number of mid-table placements, another relegation followed in 1970–71. Back to Serie A in 1972–73, Lazio immediately emerged as surprise challengers for the Scudetto to Milan and Juventus in 1972–73, only losing out on the final day of the season, with a team comprising captain Giuseppe Wilson, as well as midfielders Luciano Re Cecconi and Mario Frustalupi, striker Giorgio Chinaglia, and head coach Tommaso Maestrelli. Lazio improved such successes the following season, ensuring its first title in 1973–74. However, tragic deaths of Re Cecconi and Scudetto trainer Maestrelli, as well as the departure of Chinaglia, would be a triple blow for Lazio. The emergence of Bruno Giordano during this period provided some as he finished League top scorer in 1979, when Lazio finished eighth.

Lazio were forcibly relegated to Serie B in 1980, due to a remarkable scandal concerning illegal bets on their own matches, along with Milan. They remained in Italy's second division for three seasons, in what would mark the darkest period in Lazio's history. They would return in 1983 and manage a last-day escape from relegation the following season. The 1984–85 season would prove harrowing, with a pitiful 15 points and bottom place finish.

In 1986, Lazio was hit with a nine-point deduction (a true back in the day of the two-point win) for a betting scandal involving player Claudio Vinazzani. An epic struggle against relegation followed the same season in Serie B, with the club led by trainer Eugenio Fascetti only avoiding relegation to the Serie C after play-off wins over Taranto and Campobasso. This would prove a turning point in the club's history, with Lazio returning to Serie A in 1988 and, under the careful financial management of Gianmarco Calleri, the consolidation of the club's position as a solid top-flight club.

Colours, badge and nicknames

Lazio's colours of white and sky blue were inspired by the national emblem of Greece, due to the fact that Lazio is a mixed sports club; this was chosen in recognition of the fact that the Ancient Olympic Games and along with it the sporting tradition in Europe is linked to Greece.

Originally, Lazio wore a shirt which was divided into white and sky blue quarters, with black shorts and socks. After a while of wearing a plain white shirt very early on, Lazio reverted to the colours which they wear today. Some seasons Lazio have used a sky blue and white shirt with stripes, but usually it is sky blue with a white trim, with the white shorts and socks. The club's colours have led to their Italian nickname of Biancocelesti.

Lazio's traditional club badge and symbol is the eagle, which was chosen by founding member Luigi Bigiarelli. A symbol of the Roman legions and emperor, it was chosen to represent power and victory; it also identifies the club with its origin city. Lazio's use of the symbol has led to two of their nicknames; le Aquile ("the Eagles") and gli Aquilotti ("the Young Eagles"). The current club badge features a golden eagle above a white shield with a blue border; inside the shield is the club's name and a smaller tripartite shield with the colours of the club.

Stadium

Stadio Olimpico, located on the Foro Italico, is the major stadium of Rome. It is the home of the Italy national football team as well as of both local teams Lazio and Roma. It was opened in 1937 and after its latest renovation in 2008, the stadium has a capacity of 70,634 seats. It was the site of the 1960 Summer Olympics, but has also served as the location of the 1987 World Athletics Championships, the 1980 European Championship final, the 1990 World Cup and the Champions League Final in 1996 and 2009.

Also on the Foro Italico lies the Stadio dei Marmi, or "marble stadium", which was built in 1932 and designed by Enrico Del Debbio. It has tiers topped by 60 white marble statues that were gifts from Italian cities in commemoration of 60 athletes.

During the 1989–90 season, Lazio and Roma played their games at the Stadio Flaminio of Rome, located in the district Flaminio, because of the renovation works carried out at the Stadio Olimpico.

In June 2018, Lazio President Claudio Lotito stated that the Biancocelesti "should be granted the same favour and treatment as Roma – the ability to also build a new stadium. He also added that "Lazio's stadium will be built before Roma's stadium." In June 2019, Lotito was set to present the designs of a potential future stadium for Lazio, named the Stadio delle Aquile. However, this did not occur for reasons unknown, and in July 2021, Lotito pivoted from the creation of the Stadio delle Aquile to the idea of moving the club's home to a renovated Stadio Flaminio.

In October 2022, Lotito provided an update on his Stadio Flaminio project, stating that he is "very attached" to the hope that Lazio will play there again, as having it as their home is "something that evokes our history and our roots." In November 2022, Lotito discussed his plans for the Stadio Flaminio at the 'Sing a Song' charity event at the Auditorium della Conciliazione in Rome. He stated that he "would like to increase the stadium from a capacity of around 18,000 to 45,000" and that "it is a problem" for Lazio to "remain without a stadium of their own."

In September 2024, Lazio made concrete steps in their plans to own and renovate the Stadio Flaminio. The club were looking to team up with a famous company named "Legend" that specializes in building and maintaining sports venues - they would then become the project manager and take care of the ticketing service, merchandising management, retail sales and the search to find a naming sponsor; with Emirates reportedly interested in the project. The total cost of the operation was said to be between €250 and €300 million.

Supporters and rivalries

Lazio is the sixth-most supported football club in Italy and the second-most in Rome; in August 2008 La Repubblica reported that around 2% of Italian football fans supported the club. Historically, the largest section of Lazio supporters in the city of Rome has come from the far northern section, creating an arch-like shape across Rome with affluent areas such as Parioli, Prati, Flaminio, Cassia and Monte Mario.

Founded in 1987, Irriducibili Lazio was the club's biggest ultras group for over 30 years. Its members typically created traditional Italian ultra displays during the Derby della Capitale (Rome Derby), the match between Lazio and their main rivals, Roma. It is amongst the most heated and emotional footballing rivalries in the world, and fan behaviour can result in injury or even death, such as an incident during the 1979–80 season; Lazio fan Vincenzo Paparelli was killed at one of the derby games after being hit in the eye by a distress rocket that was launched by a Roma fan and flew from one end of the stadium to the other. Lazio also have a strong rivalry with Napoli and Livorno, as well as with Pescara and Atalanta. The club also maintains strong competitive rivalries with Fiorentina, Juventus and AC Milan.

Conversely, the ultras have friendly relationships with Inter Milan, Triestina and Hellas Verona. Internationally, Lazio's fans maintain a long-standing strong friendship with the supporters of the Bulgarian club Levski Sofia and as such, Lazio were invited to participate in the 2014 centenary football match honouring the founding of the Bulgarian club.

Far-right politics and Irriducibili ultras

Dubbed "the most right-wing football club in Europe" by author James Montague, SS Lazio has a supporter culture that has been associated with far‑right politics, nationalism and extremist behaviour over several decades; critics have sometimes referred to the club as "SS Nazio".

In the early years of Italian organised supporter culture, before the emergence of modern ultras, Lazio's fanbase included a range of political orientations. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Italian ultra culture began to develop around the country, and groups of supporters at Lazio and other clubs formed with varying ideologies. Lazio had groups such as the Viking among its early supporters in this period.

A marked shift occurred in 1972 with the formation of the Irriducibili, a group that would become the dominant ultra faction within the Curva Nord, the section of Lazio's home ground, the Stadio Olimpico, where the most vocal supporters stand. Over the 1980s and 1990s, the Irriducibili became increasingly prominent, establishing a reputation for organised displays, coordinated chants and intense loyalty to the club, and also for integrating far‑right political symbolism into their activities. In 1987 Fabrizio Piscitelli, known as Diabolik, became a leading figure within the Irriducibili and helped consolidate their influence among Lazio's hardcore supporters.

During the 1990s, the Irriducibili were noted for violent behaviour on and off the terraces, and for the use of fascist salutes, racially abusive chants and antisemitic banners. Incidents attributed to sections of the Lazio support in this era included monkey chants directed at Black players and banners referencing figures such as Serbian paramilitary commander Željko Ražnatović with slogans such as "Honour to the Tiger, Arkan". In 1998, Lazio supporters displayed an openly anti‑Semitic banner during the Derby della Capitale against Roma, reading "Auschwitz is your country, the gas chambers are your home"; in 2000, another banner taunted Roma fans by calling them "Squad of Blacks, terrace of Jews".

Paolo Di Canio, a player associated with Lazio in the mid‑2000s, contributed to the public perception of the club's right‑wing support. In October 2005, he performed a straight‑arm salute, understood as a fascist gesture, to Lazio fans during a derby against Roma; he was fined and suspended by Italian authorities for the act. Di Canio has described himself at times as a fascist in personal statements and written favourably about Benito Mussolini in his autobiography.

Non-ultra Lazio fans

Given the controversial incidents involving Lazio ultras, non-ultra Lazio fans have distanced themselves from the ideology and behaviour of the ultras on several occasions. Furthermore, since the beginning of the 2020s several fan clubs that openly take anti-racist and anti-discriminatory stances have been founded, pointing out the difference between the Lazio ultras and a large portion of the rest of the fanbase. Initiatives have been organised to emphasise there is a different way of supporting the club. An example of such an action was the banner that was unfolded in the Distinti Sud-Est section of the stadium during a Lazio-Empoli game that read: "La Lazio non è razzista, la Lazio è libertà" ("Lazio is not racist, Lazio is liberty"), emphasising the discrepancy between some of the ultras and other Lazio fans. On at least one occasion, a member of one of these Lazio fan groups was attacked by neo-fascist ultras.

Honours

Domestic

Serie A

Winners (2): 1973–74, 1999–2000

Runners-up (7): 1912–13, 1913–14, 1922–23, 1936–37, 1994–95, 1998–99, 2022–23

Serie B

Winners (1): 1968–69

Coppa Italia

Winners (7): 1958, 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2003–04, 2008–09, 2012–13, 2018–19

Runners-up (4): 1960–61, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2025–26

Supercoppa Italiana

Winners (5): 1998, 2000, 2009, 2017, 2019

Runners-up (3): 2004, 2013, 2015

Continental

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

Winners (1): 1998–99

UEFA Super Cup

Winners (1): 1999

Players

Current squad

As of 28 September 2026

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Primavera

As of 2 September 2026

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Other players under contract

As of 2 September 2026

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Out on loan

As of 2 September 2026

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Retired numbers

12 – Since the 2003–04 season, the Curva Nord of Stadio Olimpico, as a sign of recognition, is considered the 12th man on the pitch.

Notable managers

The following managers have all won at least one trophy when in charge of Lazio:

Statistics and records

Ștefan Radu holds Lazio's official appearance record, having played 416 appearances. The record for total appearances by a goalkeeper is held by Luca Marchegiani, with 339 appearances, while the record for most league appearances is held by Aldo Puccinelli with 339.

The all-time leading goalscorer for Lazio is Ciro Immobile, with 206 goals scored, followed by Silvio Piola with 159 goals. Piola, who played also with Pro Vercelli, Torino, Juventus and Novara, is also the highest goalscorer in Serie A history, with 274 goals. Immobile is also the all-time top goalscorer in European competitions, with 26 goals.

Officially, Lazio's highest home attendance is approximately 80,000 for a Serie A match against Foggia on 12 May 1974, the match that awarded to Lazio their first Scudetto. This is also the record for the Stadio Olimpico, including matches held by Roma and the Italy national football team.

Società Sportiva Lazio as a company

In 1998, during Sergio Cragnotti's period in charge as the chairman, Società Sportiva Lazio S.p.A. became a listed company: Lazio were the first Italian club to do so. However, Cragnotti resigned as chairman in 2001, after a "huge hole in the budget" of the club.

Claudio Lotito, the current chairman of Lazio, purchased the club from Cragnotti in 2004, but owned just 26.969% of shares as the largest shareholders at that time. It was followed by banking group Capitalia (and its subsidiaries Mediocredito Centrale, Banca di Roma and Banco di Sicilia) as the second largest shareholders for 17.717%. Capitalia also hold 49% stake of Italpetroli (via Capitalia's subsidiary Banca di Roma), the parent company of city rival Roma (via Italpetroli's subsidiary "Roma 2000"). Lotito later purchased the minority stake from Capitalia.

As of 2018, Claudio Lotito owns just over two-thirds of the shares of Lazio. Lazio is one of only three Italian clubs listed on the Borsa Italiana, the others being Juventus and Roma. In the past, Lazio was the only one with a single primary share holder (Lotito). However, following several capital increases by Roma and Juventus, they also are significantly owned by a shareholder. According to The Football Money League, published by consultants Deloitte, in the 2004–05 season, Lazio was the 20th highest earning football club in the world with an estimated revenue of €83 million; the 2005 ranking of the club was 15th. However, in 2016 ranking (the rank used data in 2014–15 season), Lazio was not in the top 20.

Lazio was one of the few clubs that self-sustain from the financial support of a shareholder, and also consistently make an aggregate profit after every season. Unlike Internazionale, Roma and Milan, who were sanctioned by UEFA due to breaches of Financial Fair Play, Lazio passed the regulations held by the administrative body with the high achievements. Lotito also received a prize that joint awarded by Associazione Italiana Allenatori Calcio and DGS Sport&Cultura, due to Lazio's financial health.

In 2017, the club renewed their sponsorship deal with shirt manufacturer Macron. It was worth €16 million a season, plus variables of about €9 million stemming from league and European competition finishes.