Fiorentina in Crisis: A Historic Club Facing the Unthinkable

At the start of the 2025/26 Serie A season, ACF Fiorentina entered the campaign with cautious optimism. Aiming to build on mid‑table stability and push towards European qualification, La Viola instead find themselves staring down one of the most daunting prospects in recent club history: a battle against relegation.

The city of Florence is in a state of shock. La Viola has consistently challenged for Europe and even reached continental finals over the last three years. With the season reaching its halfway point, Fiorentina are facing their most realistic threat of relegation to Serie B in decades. Relegation to the second division would be a colossal blow for one of Italy's most historic clubs.

📉 A Season of Historic Struggles

The numbers for the 2025/26 campaign are grim. Despite a high-profile squad and significant summer investment, the results have been disastrous:

• The Standings: Fiorentina sits in 20th place with just 9 points from 17 matches.

  
  

• The Winless Drought: They went on a staggering 15-match winless run to start the season, which is the worst start in the club's 99-year history.

  
  

• A Brief Flicker of Hope: They finally secured their first league win on December 21, a resounding 5-1 victory over Udinese. However, the optimism was short-lived as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat against Parma on December 27.

Key indicators of their plight include:

• Defensive fragility: One of the league’s leakiest backlines, conceding far more goals than expected.

  
  

• Poor away results: Struggling to grind out points on the road has left Fiorentina firmly in the danger zone.

  
  

• Midfield disconnection: Lacking balance and cohesion between defence and forward players has led to disjointed attacking play and sluggish transitions.

  
  

• Goal droughts: A noticeable lack of cutting edge in the final third has seen chances wasted and leads surrendered. Their talisman, Moise Kean, has failed to reignite his momentum from last season.

🔥 Struggles on the Pitch

Matches that were meant to be statement wins, ones against fellow mid‑table sides, have instead exposed vulnerabilities. Slow starts, second‑half collapses, and ill‑timed defensive lapses have all contributed to a record more reminiscent of a relegation candidate than a club of La Viola's stature. Fiorentina's struggles this season is a shock for Italian football, used to seeing European football from the side based out of Florence.

🌪️ Chaos in the Dugout

The instability on the pitch has been mirrored by a revolving door in the manager's office. Stefano Pioli's second stint at the club lasted just four months as he was sacked after failing to win a single game out of ten. Paolo Vanioli was brought in to stabilise La Viola. After weeks of agonising draws and defeats, he managed to obtain the side's first win this season. While this was a crucial win, Fiorentina have failed to find any tactical consistency under his leadership.

Reports are swirling that former Juventus and Spurs director Fabio Paratici has been offered a five-year deal to overhaul the club's sporting department this January. His first major task? Deciding whether to stick with Vanoli or bring back Pioli, who is remarkably still under contract. Piolo still being under contract represents the shambles of Fioretina's upper management, who are as much to blame for La Viola's troubles as the manager and squad.

🧩 Why is it falling apart?

Analysts point to a "toxic" mix of factors for the decline:

• The "Hollow" Attack: Last season's top scorer, Moise Kean, has struggled immensely, netting only twice in 13 matches. Summer signing Roberto Piccoli and star playmaker Albert Guðmundsson have also failed to replicate their previous form from last season.

  
  

• Defensive Frailty: The departures of Michael Kayode to Brentford and Nico González to Juventus left a void in leadership and defensive structure that hasn't been filled.

  
  

• Psychological Weight: The pressure from the Curva Fiesole has become immense. With parts of the Artemio Franchi closed for renovations, the "home fortress" advantage has vanished, leading to a record-breaking streak of home losses.

  
  

📊 Where They Stand

With Serie A’s relegation format seeing the bottom three teams drop to Serie B, Fiorentina’s position on the table is firmly in the danger zone. They currently sit bottom of the table with just nine points, two points behind newly promoted side Pisa. A prolonged run of bad form and dropped points will most definitely see La Viola relegated to the second division.

🔮 What Lies Ahead

The road ahead is unforgiving. To avoid the unthinkable, relegation for a club with Fiorentina’s history and stature, La Viola need an immediate tactical clarity from the manager and coaching staff and a return to defensive discipline. Additionally, they need more ruthless, clinical finishing in front of goal and for it all to be tied in by leadership from senior and star players.

Success in these areas could pull Fiorentina clear of the drop. Failure to do so could see one of Serie A’s traditional names embroiled in a relegation scrap deep into the spring. Relegation to Serie B will be a stain on La Viola's reputation and will see Italy's romance capital devoid of a top-flight team.