Gianfranco Zola member of sports team Parma Calcio 1913
Parma
In 1993, Zola left Napoli and joined fellow Serie A side Parma for ₤13 million, due to the poor economic situation of the Neapolitan club. He was initially accused of betraying the club by the fans, although Zola denied this, noting that Corrado Ferlaino had also been forced to sell other important Napoli players such as Jonas Thern, Ciro Ferrara and Daniel Fonseca, in order to overcome the club's debts. With Parma, he established himself as one of the league's top players, and he achieved notable domestic and European success; he came close to winning another Serie A title, in particular during the 1994–95 season, in which he scored 19 goals in a close fought title-race with rivals Juventus, although he ultimately failed to do so. In his first season, he scored 18 league goals, and with the club, he won the UEFA Super Cup in 1993, and the UEFA Cup in 1995 with Parma, and he also reached the final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1994, as well as the finals of the Italian Cup and the Italian Super Cup in 1995. It was with the blue and yellow club that he cemented his reputation as one of the best and most talented creative players in Italy, along with Roberto Baggio and Alessandro Del Piero.During the 1995–96 season, Zola initially experienced competition in the team with Bulgarian forward Hristo Stoichkov, who played the same tactical role as Zola; as a result, Zola would begin to be deployed in the starting eleven with less frequency, losing his place in the squad, despite scoring 10 league goals. During the following season, manager Carlo Ancelotti came to see Zola as a "square peg" unable to fit into his rigid 4–4–2 system upon his arrival at the club in 1996. Zola was played out of position in a left midfield role, scoring only 2 goals, as Ancelotti preferred to play Hernán Crespo and Enrico Chiesa up-front. Zola became frustrated of playing in this role and ultimately made himself available for a transfer, moving to Premier League side Chelsea in November 1996. In total, Zola made 102 league appearances with Parma, scoring 49 goals.
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