Editing ACF Fiorentina (section)

===Cecchi Gori era: from Champions League to bankruptcy===
[[File:Gabriel batistuta.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Gabriel Batistuta]], the most prominent Fiorentina player of the 1990s]]

The first season under Cecchi Gori's ownership was one of stabilisation, after which the new chairman started to sign some good players like [[Brian Laudrup]], [[Stefan Effenberg]], [[Francesco Baiano]] and, most importantly, [[Gabriel Batistuta]], who became an iconic player for the team during the 1990s. In 1993, however, Cecchi Gori died and was succeeded as chairman by his son, [[Vittorio Cecchi Gori|Vittorio]]. Despite a good start to the season, Cecchi Gori fired the coach, [[Luigi Radice]], after a defeat against [[Atalanta B.C.|Atalanta]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/1993/gennaio/04/Fiorentina_caduta_sugli_allori_co_0_9301043372.shtml|title=Archivio Corriere della Sera|access-date=1 July 2009|archive-date=5 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105192108/http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/1993/gennaio/04/Fiorentina_caduta_sugli_allori_co_0_9301043372.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> and replaced him with [[Aldo Agroppi]]. The results were dreadful: Fiorentina fell into the bottom half of the standings and were relegated on the last day of the season.

[[Claudio Ranieri]] was brought in as coach for the 1993–94 season, and that year, Fiorentina dominated [[Serie B]], Italy's second division. Upon their return to Serie A, Ranieri put together a good team centred around new top scorer Batistuta, signing the young talent [[Rui Costa]] from [[S.L. Benfica|Benfica]] and the new world champion Brazilian defender [[Márcio Roberto dos Santos|Márcio Santos]]. The former became an idol to Fiorentina fans, while the second disappointed and was sold after only a season. The ''Viola'' finished the season in tenth place.

The following season, Cecchi Gori bought other important players, namely Swedish midfielder [[Stefan Schwarz]]. The club again proved its mettle in cup competitions, winning the Coppa Italia against Atalanta and finishing joint-third in Serie A. In the summer, Fiorentina became the first non-national champions to win the [[Supercoppa Italiana]], defeating Milan 2–1 at the [[San Siro]].

Fiorentina's 1996–97 season was disappointing in the league, but they did reach the [[UEFA Cup Winners' Cup|Cup Winners' Cup]] semi-final by beating [[AF Gloria Bistrița|Gloria Bistrița]], [[AC Sparta Prague|Sparta Prague]] and Benfica. The team lost the semi-final to the eventual winner of the competition, [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]] (away 1–1; home 0–2). The season's main signings were [[Luís Oliveira]] and [[Andrei Kanchelskis]], the latter of whom suffered from many injuries.

At the end of the season, Ranieri left Fiorentina for [[Valencia CF|Valencia]] in Spain, with Cecchi Gori appointing [[Alberto Malesani]] as his replacement. Fiorentina played well but struggled against smaller teams, although they did manage to qualify for the UEFA Cup. Malesani left Fiorentina after only a season and was succeeded by [[Giovanni Trapattoni]]. With Trapattoni's expert guidance and Batistuta's goals, Fiorentina challenged for the title in [[1998–99 Serie A|1998–99]] but finished the season in third, earning them qualification for the [[UEFA Champions League|Champions League]]. The following year was disappointing in Serie A, but ''Viola'' played some historical matches in the Champions League, beating [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] 1–0 at the old [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]] and [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]] 2–0 in Florence. They were ultimately eliminated in the second group stage.

At the end of the season, Trapattoni left the club and was replaced by Turkish coach [[Fatih Terim]]. More significantly, however, Batistuta was sold to [[A.S. Roma|Roma]], who eventually won the title the following year. Fiorentina played well in [[2000–01 Serie A|2000–01]] and stayed in the top half of Serie A, despite the resignation of Terim and the arrival of [[Roberto Mancini]]. They also won the Coppa Italia for the sixth and last time.

The year 2001 heralded major changes for Fiorentina, as the terrible state of the club's finances was revealed: they were unable to pay wages and had debts of around US$50 million. The club's owner, Vittorio Cecchi Gori, was able to raise some more money, but this soon proved to be insufficient to sustain the club. Fiorentina were relegated at the end of the [[2001–02 Serie A|2001–02 season]] and went into judicially-controlled administration in June 2002. This form of bankruptcy (sports companies cannot exactly fail in this way in Italy, but they can suffer a similar procedure) meant that the club was refused a place in Serie B for the [[2002–03 Serie B|2002–03 season]], and as a result effectively ceased to exist.