Zebre Parma

www.zebreparma.it

Originally founded in 1973 as an invitation-only club reserved for the best players of the Italian league and the best foreign players of the European championships by Renato Tullio Ferrari - first president - assisted by the then captain of the national team Marco Bollesan, the Zebre have carried out their competitive activity in especially in the North-West of Italy. In 23 years, 25 matches were organized against prestigious international clubs with a high number of victories. The victory against the Barbarians in Brescia is memorable, while the last match played by the Zebre in the form of an invitational club dates back to 1996.
On 7 June 2012 the Italian Rugby Federation took over the ownership of the name "Zebre" for the new federally managed franchise based in Parma which took part in the Celtic championship and the European cups against the most important teams of Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Italy and from 2017 also South Africa.
In the summer of 2014, on the eve of the third season of Guinness PRO12, the suffix "Rugby" was added next to the name Zebre.
From 2015 to 2017 the Zebre Rugby have lived two seasons of competitive and corporate activity under the direction of a pool of individuals with the support of the Italian Rugby Federation. In the 2015/16 season the bianconeri obtained 8 victories by qualifying for the 2016/17 EPCR Champions Cup, the most prestigious European club cup.
In the summer of 2017 the management of the franchise completely returned to the Italian Rugby Federation which set up the new company Zebre Rugby Club which participated in the Guinness PRO14 - in the new format with the introduction of two South African teams - and in the EPCR Challenge Cup. The Zebre Rugby have introduced their new multicolor zebra color to be able to represent the colors of all the clubs of the Italian movement in Europe and South Africa.
The 2017/18 season - the first of current head coach Michael Bradley - is, together with the 2015/16 season, the most successful in the club's history, with 8 overall victories between the Celtic championship and the Challenge Cup, including 7 in Guinness PRO14 (record of the Zebre Rugby).
In June 2021 the Guinness PRO14 announced the new formula and the new name for the next seasons. Starting from the 2021/22 season, the Celtic championship has given way to the newborn United Rugby Championship (abbreviated “URC”), the prestigious international tournament that embraces the best 16 teams from Italy, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and South Africa.
Same story, new name: the United Rugby Championship is a fast-growing tournament in terms of commercial opportunities and media visibility. The URC de facto inherits the tradition of the Celtic championship that has seen the Zebre participate since 2012, raising the level of performance and competitiveness of the then Guinness PRO14 to an even higher standard.