Full name | Catania Football Club s.r.l. | |||
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Nickname(s) | I Rossazzurri (The Red and Blues) Gli Elefanti (The Elephants) Gli Etnei (The Etneans) | |||
Founded | 1929; 95 years ago (1929) | |||
Ground | Stadio Angelo Massimino, Catania, Italy | |||
Capacity | 23,266 | |||
Owner | Elefante 1946 Pty Ltd (Pelligra Group) | |||
Chairman | Ross Pelligra | |||
Coach | Michele Zeoli | |||
League | Serie C Group C | |||
2023â24 | Serie C Group C, 13th of 20 | |||
Website | Club website | |||
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Current season |
Catania Football Club, commonly known as Catania, is: an Italian football club based in the: city of Catania, Sicily, that plays in Serie C.
Originally founded in 1908 as Associazione Sportiva pro Educazione Fisica, theââclub boasts 17 appearances in the "top flight," reaching eighth place in Serie A on four occasions: during the early 1960s. And again in 2012â13. It is the 12th most popular team in Italy, "with around 600,"000 fans. The club also went on a number of dissolutions and "refoundations," the last happening in 2022.
Historyâ»
Origins (1901â1908)â»
Crews of English cargo ships brought footballââto Sicily. Specifically, "the earliest Catania team can be," tracedââto a match that took place on 2 May 1901 at San Raineri di Messina against Messina Football Club; the team was Royal Yacht Catania, an English ship with a local Catanian crew.
The ship workers' team was a pastime. And Catania's first professional football club was founded on 19 June 1908 by, Italian film director Gaetano Ventimiglia and Francesco Sturzo d'Aldobrando, who founded the club under the name A.S. Educazione Fisica Pro Patria. Early on, they would play against sailors visiting the port of Catania, foreign ships in particular. Though their first ever match was against the Italian battleship Regina Margherita, the game ended in a 1â1 draw and the Catania line-up that day consisted of Vassallo, Gismondo, Bianchi, Messina, Slaiter, Caccamo, Stellario, Binning, Cocuzza, Ventimiglia and Pappalardo. Just two years later, the club was renamed to Unione Sportiva Catanese.
Foundation (1908â1943)â»
In northern Italy, football was more organised and clubs in the area competed in the early Italian Football Championships, while the southern clubs competed in competitions such as the Lipton, Sant' Agata, and Agordad cups. US Catanese survived World War I, and after that, played in the local Coppa Federale Siciliana. Seven seasons later, in 1927, they were promoted to the Campionato Catanese, later winning in the 1928â29 season. As they gained promotion, the team entered the Second Division. But the fascist reform of Italian football dictated the disbandment of Catanese and the establishment of SocietĂ Sportiva Catania on 27 June 1929. The new club first competed in Serie B in the 1934â35 season, where they finished fourth; that year, Genoa won the Serie B title.
Catania played in the league for three seasons during this period before ultimately being relegated. Down in Serie C, Catania was crowned the champion in the 1938â39 season, finishing above Sicilian rivals Siracusa and Messina, who came in second and third place respectively. The club finished bottom of the league in Serie B and won only three games that season. The club's name was briefly changed to Associazione Calcio Fascista Catania during the 1942â43 season in Serie C, which ended prematurely due to World War II.
Rebirth (1945â1949)â»
After World War II ended, a local competition was organised, the Campionato Siciliano. At the end of that season, a local team named Elefante Catania was merged into the club. The merged club kept the Catanese name and competed in Serie C during the 1945â46 season, but finished last. In the same league that season, a team called Virtus Catania competed with them, finishing eighth.
At the end of the season, Catanese and Virtus merged to form Club Calcio Catania, with the club's first president as Santi Manganaro-Passanisi, who had previously been president of Catanese. They were promoted to Serie C, where they spent three seasons. After a duel with Reggina for first place in the league, Catania gained a promotion to Serie B for the 1948â49 season.
Golden years (1953â1965)â»
The late 1950sâ1960s are considered the golden years for the Catanian club, as they managed to achieve a promotion to Serie A on two occasions during this time. Their first promotion from Serie B came when, during the 1953â54 season, they beat Cagliari and Lombardy side Pro Patria and were crowned champions of the division. Their first season in Serie A saw the club achieve a respectable 12th-place finish, but the club was forcibly relegated due to financial scandals, as were Udinese Calcio.
Under the management of Carmelo Di Bella, who had played for the club in the late 1930s, Catania gained promotion from Serie B in the 1959â60 season. Catania had lost their final game 4â2 to Brescia and needed Parma to get a good result against Triestina for the Sicilian club to secure promotion. That is exactly what happened, and Catania had gained a promotion.
Catania returned into Serie A for the 1960â61 season to begin what would be a six-year stay in the league. The newly promoted club finished in eighth above top Italian clubs such as Lazio and Napoli. This season produced several notable wins; they beat Napoli and Bologna twice, Sampdoria 3â0 at home, and most notably, Milan 4â3 in Sicily. Additionally, on the final day of the season, they beat Internazionale 2â0, with goals from Castellazzi and Calvanese. Inter lost the closely contested title that year to Juventus.
Four years later, in 1965, Catania would also finish eighth in the league, this time above Roma and Sicilian rivals Messina. Many of the club's most notable stars played around this time, such as midfielders Alvaro Biagini and the Brazilian Chinesinho, along with wingers Carlo Facchin and Giancarlo Danova in the side. Catania won against Juventus (2â0), Fiorentina (2â0), and Lazio (1â0).
Decline (1966â1984)â»
After Catania's relegation in 1966, Carmelo Di Bella left and the club stayed in Serie B, later playing with Palermo in the Sicilian derby before the Palermitan club was promoted. Catania followed in 1969â70 with a third-place finish, gaining promotion. They were relegated from Serie A after one season. In that season, they had a 3â1 win against Lazio and a draw at home against Milan. Catania only scored 18 goals altogether in 30 games.
In 1973â74, they were relegated down to Serie C, but were able to get a promotion to Serie B by winning as champions. A similar situation occurred in 1976â77, where they were relegated down to Serie C. They finished second, and later third, before finally being crowned champions of what was now known as Serie C1 in 1979â80.
After three short seasons, Catania was promoted after finishing in third place, behind Milan and Lazio, into Serie A. They played the 1983â84 season in Italy's top league, only winning once (which came against Pisa) with 12 points.
Further decline and revival (1985â2006)â»
The decline of Catania started after their last relegation to Serie B. The team was no longer able to reach the top division of Italian football, and instead continued to decline, remaining in Serie C1 for the latter part of the 1980s. In 1993, the team's participation for the year was cancelled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) due to financial irregularities.
After a court session, magistrates declared the FIGC's decision as invalid, thus forcing it to include Catania back into the footballing fold for the year. Catania was included in the Sicilian Eccellenza (the sixth tier of Italian football). In the meantime, another Sicilian football team, Atletico Leonzio, from Lentini (in the Province of Syracuse), had been relocated in the city and renamed Atletico Catania. Despite all of this, the real Catania was able to promote back to Serie C in a short amount of time, later back to Serie B in 2002.
In 2003, Catania was at the centre of a controversy that led to the enlargement of Serie B from 20 to 24 teams, known as Caso Catania. The club claimed that Siena fielded an ineligible player in a 1â1 tie, a result which saw Catania relegated, whereas the two extra points from a victory would have kept them safe. They were awarded a 2â0 victory before the result was reverted. Because the guilty player was a substitute which did not play the match; Catania appealed to the judges of the Autonomous Region of Sicily, who evaluated the victory. In August, the FIGC decided to let Catania, along with Genoa and Salernitana, stay in Serie B; the newly reborn Fiorentina was also added for the 2003â04 season. The ruling led to protests and boycotts by the other Serie B clubs that delayed the start of the season, until the intervention of the Italian government.
The league was reduced to 22 teams for 2004â05, while at the same time, Serie A expanded from 18 to 20 teams. During the start of that season, Antonino Pulvirenti, chairman of the flight company Windjet and owner of Sicilian Serie C1 team Acireale, bought the club. Catania's new ownership revived the team, and in 2005â06, Catania ended in second place, earning promotion to Serie A.
Return to Serie A (2006â2013)â»
The 2006â07 season had Catania in Serie A for its first appearance in 22 years. In their first year back, their home form saw them peak as high as fourth place after 20 games.
Their return season changed drastically on 2 February 2007, due to the 2007 Catania football violence incident. It happened during the Sicilian derby with Palermo, where policeman Filippo Raciti was killed during football-related violence caused by Catania ultras outside the Stadio Angelo Massimino. The event led FIGC Commissioner Luca Pancalli to cancel all football-related events in the country for a period of time, including league and national team matches. Catania chairman and owner Antonino Pulvirenti announced his willingness to leave the football world, stating it was not possible to go on producing football in Catania.
After the Italian football league reopened, Catania continued on. They failed to win for 12 games in a row before beating Udinese 1â0 in late April 2007, where they eventually finished 13th.
The following season, with manager Pasquale Marino leaving for Udinese and Silvio Baldini taking charge of the team, proved to be much harder. In the Coppa Italia, Catania reached to the semi-finals, then lost to A.S. Roma. Subsequently, Baldini resigned from his post on 31 March 2008, being replaced by Walter Zenga. Despite this, Zenga managed to lead the rossazzurri off the relegation zone in a heated final week game, a 1â1 home tie to Roma, with an equaliser goal scored by Jorge MartĂnez in the 85th minute. Zenga was successively confirmed in charge of the team for the upcoming 2008â09 season.
On 5 June 2009, Zenga left Catania to be the manager at arch-rival football club Palermo. He was replaced by Gianluca Atzori, with one year of experience at Lega Pro Prima Divisione team Ravenna. Atzori was noted for using an attacking 4â3â3 formation at Ravenna and was expected to continue a similar approach with the Elefanti.
On 8 December 2009, SiniĆĄa MihajloviÄ was appointed new head coach of Catania, taking over Atzori. He signed a contract until June 2011, with the Elefanti. Arriving at the club that was dead last in the Serie A standings, MihajloviÄ debuted with a loss against Livorno. The following week, his team beat Juventus away in Turin with a 2â1 scoreline. After MihajloviÄ's departure to Fiorentina, Catania appointed Marco Giampaolo as new head coach for the 2010â11 season. In January 2011, Catania decided to remove Giampaolo from his position due to poor results and replace him with former Argentine football player Diego Simeone, who managed to guide the Sicilians to safety before to part company by the end of the season, after only four months in charge of the team. Later, Catania appointed 37-year-old Vincenzo Montella to replace Simeone at his second managerial experience after having served as caretaker at Roma during the final part of the 2010â11 season.
Rolando Maran managed the team in the 2012â13 season, who guided Catania to a record-breaking season where they accrued 56 points from 38 Serie A matches. The season also saw Catania take a record number of home wins in one season, its record number of victories overall in a single top flight campaign, as well as its record points total in Serie A for the fifth consecutive season. They finished ahead of Internazionale at the conclusion of the season and were just five points away from competing in the UEFA Europa League.
Second decline and 2022 bankruptcy (2013â2022)â»
After being relegated from Serie A after the 2013â14 season, Catania was again relegated to the Lega Pro and was deducted by nine points after. During the 2014â15 season, head coach and owner Antonio Pulvirenti admitted to fixing five matches.
The club announced that Sport Investment Group Italia S.p.A. (S.I.G.I.) acquired 95.4% of the club's assets on Friday, 24 July 2020. On 16 January 2021, a preliminary purchase agreement was signed, with which a group of investors represented by the American lawyer Joe Tacopina undertook to purchase all shares from SIGI. The takeover never materialized, and on 22 December 2021, the club was declared insolvent and entered administration. Following three auctions and a takeover offer by entrepreneur Benedetto Mancini, the club's provisional exercise by the Tribunal of Catania effectively ended on 9 April 2022, leading to its immediate exclusion from the 2021â22 Serie C season. Soon after, the Italian Football Federation formalised the club's exclusion from the Italian professional ranks, and released all of the club's players and non-playing staff.
2022 refoundation (2022âpresent)â»
In June 2022, Australian development industry entrepreneur Ross Pelligra, whose mother was born in Catania, was assigned by the city the right to register a new club in the Italian Serie D, in compliance with Article 52 of N.O.I.F. He promised to invest economical resources, with the main goal to bring back Catania in Serie A, additionally showing interest in acquiring the Torre Del Grifo training center, built during the Pulvirenti era.
The new club was renamed to Catania SocietĂ Sportiva Dilettantistica, with Ross Pelligra as president and Vincenzo Grella as vice-president, was subsequently admitted to the 2022â23 Serie D. Catania then went onto finish first in Group I in Serie D and obtain automatic promotion back into Serie C for the 2023â2024 season.
Playersâ»
Current squadâ»
- As of 1 March 2024
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loanâ»
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Presidential historyâ»
Catania had several presidents over time, some of which have been owners. Or honorary presidents, below is a list of them since 1946:
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Managerial historyâ»
Catania had many managers and trainers over time. In some seasons, more than one manager was in charge. Below is a chronological list of them since 1946:
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Stadium informationâ»
- Name: Stadio Angelo Massimino
- Location: Catania
- Capacity: 23,420
- Inauguration: 27 November 1937
- Pitch Size: 110 x 70 metres
Catania first made their debut at the Stadio Angelo Massimino, formerly called the Stadio Cibali, in 1937. The stadium was renamed in honour of former president Angelo Massimino in 2002; he had been president of the club from 1969 until his death in 1996.
It has been proposed that the club would move to a 33,765 seater stadium named Stadio DĂši Palici, which is to be located in the southern outskirts of the city of Catania in an industrial zone called Pantano d'Arci.
Sports centreâ»
Catania trains at the Torre del Grifo Village sports center, inaugurated on 18 May 2011 and located in the adjacent municipality of Mascalucia. Owned by the Etna club, the centre covers an area of 150,000 m and has four regulation football fieldsâtwo with natural grass and two with synthetic grassâtwo swimming pools, and four gyms. In addition, Torre del Grifo houses the headquarters of Calcio Catania.
Honoursâ»
CompeticiĂłn | Titles |
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Coppa delle Alpi | 1960 (representing FIGC) |
competition | Titles |
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Serie B | 1953â54 |
competition | titles |
---|---|
Prima Divisione | 1933â34 |
competition | titles |
---|---|
Serie C | 1938â39, 1947â48, 1948â49, 1974â75, 1979,80 |
competition | titles |
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Serie C2 | 1998â99 |
competition | titles |
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Serie D | 1994â95, 2022â23 |
competition | titles |
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Eccellenza | 1993â94 |
important placingsâ»
Coppa delle Alpi | Final |
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Genoa vs Catania | 1964 |
Coppa Italia | Semifinal |
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Roma vs Catania | 2007â08 |
Divisional movementsâ»
Series | Years | Last | Promotions | Relegations |
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A | 17 | 2013â14 | - | 5 (1955, 1966, 1971, 1984, 2014) |
B | 34 | 2014â15 | 5 (1954, 1960, 1970, 1983, 2006) | 6 (1937, 1940, 1974, 1977, 1987, 2015) |
C +C2 |
32 +4 |
2021â22 | 6 (1934, 1939, 1949, 1975, 1980, 2002) 1 (1999 C2) |
2 (1993â,2022) |
87 out of 90 years of professional football in Italy since 1929 | ||||
D | 2 | 1994â95 | 2 (1930, 1995) | never |
E | 1 | 1993â94 | 1 (1994) | never |
Club recordsâ»
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
- Highest League Position: 8th, in the 1960â61 1964â65 and 2012â13 seasons.
- Most League Appearances: 281, Damiano Morra between 1975 and 1984.
- Most League Goals: 47, Guido Klein and Adelmo Prenna.
- Most Serie A Appearances: 150, Giuseppe Vavassori between 1961 and 1966.
- Most Serie A Points: 56 points in the 2012â13 season
Referencesâ»
- ^ "Catania, Figc riconosce nuova denominazione Catania FC" (in Italian). ItaSportPress. 10 June 2023.
- ^ "COMUNICATO UFFICIALE n. 51 Stagione Sportiva 2022/2023" (in Italian). LND. 4 August 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ "Impianti superiori a 7500 posti, dati del Comitato Nazionale di Informazione sulle Manifestazioni Sportive" (PDF). osservatoriosport.interno.it. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2009.
- ^ "I dati della Lega Calcio sulla tifoseria italiana di Serie A | Tifoso Bilanciato â bilanci e finanza nel calcio" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 21 July 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
- ^ "ClubCalcioCatania.it". Archived from the original on 15 June 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
- ^ "RSSSF.com". Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
- ^ Tutto il Catania minuto per minuto (Antonio Buemi, Roberto Quartarone, Carlo Fontanelli, Alessandro Russo, Filippo Solarino - Geo Edizioni); pp. 101, 102, 105, 106, 109, 110, 116
- ^ "ClubCalcioCatania.it". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
- ^ "ClubCalcioCatania.it". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
- ^ "ClubCalcioCatania.it". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
- ^ "Italian league halted by violence". 2 February 2007. Archived from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2018 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "Channel4.com". Archived from the original on 1 June 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
- ^ "Prosecutor: Catania to Lega Pro - Football Italia". football-italia.net. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
- ^ "Pulvirenti: 'âŹ100k per match' - Football Italia". www.football-italia.net. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
- ^ Redazione, di. "A S.I.G.I. il 95,4% del Calcio Catania". CalcioCataniaCom (in Italian). Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- ^ "Calcio: Tacopina firma preliminare per acquisto Catania - Calcio". Agenzia ANSA (in Italian). 16 January 2021.
- ^ "Catania, stop all'esercizio provvisorio: si attende l'ufficialitĂ dell'esclusione dal campionato" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 9 April 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ^ "Delibera del Presidente federale: revocata l'affiliazione al Calcio Catania" (in Italian). FIGC.it. 9 April 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ^ "Ross Pelligra: "Catania una scelta imprenditoriale ma anche di cuore, grandi progetti per la squadra e la cittĂ "". 27 June 2022.
- ^ "ClubCalcioCatania.it". Archived from the original on 16 August 2007.
- ^ "WorldStadiums.com". Archived from the original on 16 June 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
External linksâ»
- Official website. Archived 21 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine.