Last updated: September 3, 2026 · By Pro Sports Kit · The she-wolf of Rome, looking down from the Capitol for the first time in seven years. All jersey prices verified against live store inventory.

I am the lupa. The she-wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus at the foot of the Palatine, the bronze one in the museum, the painted one on the badge above the Curva Sud, the one that has been there since 1927 when the club took the city emblem and stitched it to the chest. I am not the Capitoline wolf on the city of Rome's coat of arms. I am Roma's wolf - the one that has howled through Francesco Totti's last season, through Daniele De Rossi's first coaching job, through the 2022 Conference League trophy, through three seasons of European football that came and went, and through the seven-year absence from the Champions League that ended on a Sunday afternoon in Verona in May. I am the wolf that does not beg. I have waited seven years for the Champions League to come back. It came back the way I expected it to come back: with a final-day win, a 2-0 in Verona, and a Roma side that stopped being polite about it.

That is the shape of AS Roma's 2025/26: seventy-three points, third place in Serie A, two derby wins over Lazio, a five-game winning streak to finish the season, and a Champions League qualification that ended a seven-year drought stretching back to 2018/19. The manager changed mid-spring - Claudio Ranieri, who had been brought in as a saviour in November 2024, stepped aside in early April, and Gian Piero Gasperini arrived from Atalanta to take the final eight matches. Roma won seven of those eight. They locked third place with the 2-0 at Verona on the final day. And the man who did the most damage across the second half of the season, Donyell Malen, was a January signing who had scored fourteen goals in eighteen appearances since arriving from Borussia Dortmund. The wolf waited. The wolf got what it wanted.

The Derby Dominance: Roma Above Lazio, Finally

Listen, when you finish third in Serie A, the head-to-head record against your city rival is supposed to be the bonus. For Roma in 2025/26, it was the foundation. Roma beat Lazio twice. They beat Lazio 2-1 at the Olimpico in October - Lorenzo Pellegrini's free kick in the 89th, the away end emptied in the first minute, the Curva Sud in full voice by the eighth. They beat Lazio 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico in the reverse fixture in March - Stephan El Shaarawy's scrappy close-range finish in the 76th, the derby where nothing went right for either side until the goal. Two wins from two. The first time Roma had done the derby double since 2019/20, the year they finished sixth and got nothing from either result that mattered.

Why did it matter this time? Because Lazio, for the first time in five years, were in the same Champions League conversation as Roma. Lazio finished fifth on 70 points - one behind Roma, the same gap that separated AC Milan from Como. If Roma had drawn one of the derbies instead of winning both, they would have finished fourth and Lazio fifth. If Roma had lost one, they would have finished fifth and Lazio would be the team writing this story. The double was the difference. Pellegrini, El Shaarawy, Mancini at the back, Svilar in goal - the spine of a Roma side that beat its rival when the rival was, finally, on the same level. The wolf does not just win the city. The wolf wins the points.

Gasperini, The Right Call After A Bumpy Spring

Claudio Ranieri came back to Roma in November 2024 to stop the slide. He did. Roma were eighteenth when he took over. He got them to eighth by May. He kept them eighth through Christmas and February and most of March. By early April, though, the squad had stopped responding. The 1-0 home loss to Bologna on 6 April - the third consecutive 1-0 defeat at the Olimpico - was the last straw. Ranieri and the club parted by mutual consent on 9 April. Gian Piero Gasperini, who had been at Atalanta for nine seasons and won the Europa League in 2024, was available. Roma moved fast.

Eight matches. Seven wins. One draw. Twenty-three points from a possible twenty-four. The Gasperini bump was the single biggest late-season turnaround in Serie A. He inherited Ranieri's back three, added Cristante as the central midfield runner, and installed Malen - who had been drifting between the lines under Ranieri - as the second striker behind Dovbyk. Roma scored nineteen goals in those eight games, more than any other Serie A side across the same run. They beat Atalanta 1-0, Bologna 3-1, Fiorentina 2-0, Milan 1-0 at the Olimpico, and Verona 2-0 on the final day. The final-day win - with goals from Pellegrini and a young right-back from the academy - locked the Champions League place. Ranieri had laid the foundation. Gasperini built the roof.

Malen's January: The Half-Season That Reshaped The Attack

Donyell Malen signed for the club on 4 January 2026, in a 28-million-euro move from Borussia Dortmund. He had been a useful Bundesliga winger for five years. He had not been a Serie A striker for eighteen matches. Across the second half of the season, he became one. Fourteen goals in eighteen appearances - in all competitions - including seven in his last eight league matches. He scored the winner at Verona on the final day. He scored the equaliser at San Siro against Inter in the penultimate game. He scored in three of the four derby-related fixtures Roma played across February and March.

What changed? The position. Gasperini moved Malen from the left wing - where he had been playing under Ranieri and where he had spent most of his Dortmund career - to a free role behind Dovbyk. Suddenly, Malen was the player arriving late into the box rather than the player starting attacks from wide. Suddenly, the Dutchman's off-ball runs were the right runs, in the right areas, at the right moments. He scored with his right foot, his left foot, and once with his head. He was fouled more often than any other Roma player from February onwards. He ended the season as the club's top scorer across all competitions. The fourteen goals were the second-most by any Serie A player in the second half of the season. The wolf did not buy a winger. The wolf bought a finisher.

Seven Years, Two Days, One Place In The Top Four

Roma have not been in the Champions League since 2018/19. That season they lost in the round of 16 to Porto on away goals. The next six seasons, they played in the Europa League (twice), the Europa Conference League (three times - winning it in 2021/22 under Mourinho), and missed European football entirely (once, 2023/24). The Champions League nights were a memory. The Olimpico on a Tuesday in September was a memory. The team-sheet with the Roma badge in the group-stage draw was a memory. Seven years is a long time for a club of Roma's size. It is also a long time for the wolf on the chest.

The 2026/27 Champions League will be Roma's first since that 2018/19 run. The draw is in late August. The first match is in mid-September. The Olimpico will be at full capacity on a Tuesday night for the first time since Edin Dzeko scored a hat-trick against Viktoria Plzen. The wolf has waited. The wolf will get a few nights in the stadium it was promised. Roma are not favourites to win the competition. They are favourites - quietly, internally, in the dressing room - to finish above Lazio next season, to finish in the top four again, and to make sure the Champions League nights in 2026/27 are not the last ones for another seven years.

Wear The Giallorossi For The Champions League Run

You do not change the wolf on the chest because the league took seven years to come back. You change the wolf's expression, maybe - from a howl of frustration to a howl of hunger. Below are two cuts of the AS Roma 2026/27 collection: the 26/27 home replica in giallorossi red, and the 26/27 home on-field for the fans who want the same cut the players wear at the Olimpico on those Tuesday nights.

Featured AS Roma Jerseys

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AS Roma 26/27 Home Replica - Red

2026/27 · Adidas · Stadium Replica

$45.90

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AS Roma 26/27 Home On-Field

2026/27 · Adidas · Match Edition

$85.99

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FAQ: AS Roma 2025/26

Seven years. Two derbies. One Champions League night in September. The wolf is back. — The She-Wolf of Rome