Under manager Gennaro Gattusa, Lazio have won six of their first seven matches in the Italian Serie A, marking the best league start in the history of the Roman club. The team has climbed to the top of the table, yet the on-pitch success is not matched by the atmosphere in the stands.
The stands at Rome's Olimpico are almost empty for Lazio's home matches. Fans have been organising a boycott of home fixtures for months, demanding the departure of the club's president and owner, Claudio Lotito. Support for the players and coach is not in question, but fans have stated they do not wish to back the current club leadership.
The consequences of the boycott are also visible in the sales of season tickets. Lazio had almost 30,000 season ticket holders last season, while only around 4,500 season tickets have been sold this season. This is the worst result since Lotito took over the club in 2004.
Organised fans from the Curva Nord announced during the summer that they would not buy season tickets or attend home matches, with the exception of the city derby against Roma. They stated they would continue to follow the team on the road, and away sections at Lazio's matches across Italy are regularly sold out. Before certain home fixtures, they organised gatherings and followed the team bus to the stadium, but then did not enter the stands. The same thing happened before the match against Parma.
The conflict between Lazio fans and Lotito has lasted for years. Fans blame him for insufficient investment in the team, the sale of key players, a lack of ambition and the way he manages the club. They are particularly dissatisfied with the fact that Lazio has been without European competition for two consecutive seasons, and were angered by the ban on registering new players during last summer's transfer window due to the failure to meet the financial criteria of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). Lotito took over Lazio 22 years ago, and cites the club's financial stability as one of his greatest achievements.
In January, an online petition against Lotito was launched, signed by more than 45,000 people. In the petition, fans stated that the president had robbed them of the right to dream of great success over the years. Lazio sporting director Angelo Fabiani publicly asked fans to temporarily suspend the boycott, stating that he experiences the empty Olimpico as a defeat. Organised fans responded that they had nothing to negotiate a truce about and that they no longer wanted that president. They emphasised that they were delighted with the top position and wanted the team to keep winning, but that their decision was unrelated to sporting results.
