Catania FC

Catania

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Full name	Calcio Catania SpA
Nickname(s)	Rossazzurri ("Red and light-blues"), Gli Elefanti ("The Elephants"), Etnei ("Etneans")
Founded	1908 (Educazione Fisica Pro Patria) 1946 (Club Calcio Catania)
Ground	Stadio Angelo Massimino, Catania, Italy
Capacity	20,800
Chairman	Antonino Pulvirenti
Manager	Silvio Baldini
League	Serie A
2006-07	Serie A, 13th
Home colours Away colours

Calcio Catania is an Italian football club founded in 1908 and are based in Catania, Sicily. The club has spent much of its history in Serie B, gaining promotion to Italy's top league; Serie A five times. They currently compete in Serie A after climbing back up the football pyramid.

The club has achieved moderate success in the top league, the highest position ever reached by the club is 8th in Serie A twice, both during the early 1960s. The furthest Catania have progressed in cup competitions is the final of the Coppa delle Alpi.

History

The origins of football being played by representatives of the Province of Catania can be traced back to English cargo ships, thanks to the workers who brought the game to Sicily. Specifically the earliest Catania team can be traced to match which took place on 2 May 1901 at San Raineri di Messina against Messina, the team was named Royal Yacht Catania; an English ship with a local Catanian crew.

Earliest club photograph; as Pro Patria in 1908.

The ship workers team was just a pastime however, Catania's first professional and most stable 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 always play against sailors visiting the port of Catania, particularly foreign ships. Though their first ever match was against Regina Margherita an Italian battleship, the game ended in a 1-1 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 they changed the name to Unione Sportiva Catanese.

In the North of Italy, football was more organised and those clubs competed in the early Italian Football Championships, while Catania and other Southern clubs competed in competitions such as the Lipton, Sant' Agata and Agordad cups. U.S. Catanese surived the First World War and just after it played in the local Coppa Federale Siciliana. Seven seasons later in 1927 they were entered into the Campionato Catanese, which was won in the 1928-29 season. As they gained promotion the club were entered into the Second Division, and changed their name first to Società Sportiva Catania. They first competed in Serie B in the 1934-35 season where they finished 4th; that season Genoa won the Serie B title.

Catania played in the league for three seasons during this period, before being relegated. Down in Serie C, Catania were crowned champions in the 1938-39 season, finishing above Sicilian rivals Siracusa and Messina (who came in 2nd and 3rd respectively). Their return to Serie B was not a pleasant one, the club finished bottom of the league and won only three games that season. The club's name was briefly changed to Associazione Calcio Fascista Catania during the 1942-43 season in Serie C, which ended prematurely because of the 2nd World War.

Rebirth

Calcio Catania during 1946.

After World War II ended, a local competition was organised, the Campionato Siciliano. US Catanese were back; at the end of that season a local team named Elefante Catania were merged into the club. The merged club kept the Catanese name and competed in Serie C during the 1945-46 season, but finished last. In the same league that season a team called Virtus Catania were also present and finished 8th.

At the end of the season, Catanese and Virtus merged together to form Club Calcio Catania, with the first president as Santi Manganaro-Passanisi (who had been president of Catanese). They were entered into Serie C where they spent three seasons, after an epic duel with Reggina for first place Catania prevailed with stars such as Goffi, Messora, Ardesi and Prevosti, gaining promotion to Serie B during 1948-49.

Calcio Catania's Golden years

The late 1950s through 1960s are considered the golden years for the Catanian club, as they managed to achieve promotion to Serie A on two separate occasions during this time. Their first promotion from Serie B came, when in the 1953-54 season Catania feat out Cagliari and Lombardy side Pro Patria to be crowned champions of the division. Their first season in Serie A, saw Catania achieve a respectable 12th place finish, but the club were forcibly relegated due to financial scandal (as were Udinese).

Calcio Catania during their second spell in Serie A, in the 1960s.

Under the management of Carmelo Di Bella (who had played for the club in the late '30s) Catania gained promotion from Serie B in the 1959-60 season. The race for promotion in third spot went down to the last day of the season and was very tense. Catania had lost their final game 4-2 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 thus gained promotion once more. .

Catania returned into Serie A for the 1960-61 season, to begin what would be a six-year stay in the league. Their return season was emphatic as the newly promoted club finished in 8th above top Italian clubs such as Lazio and Napoli. This season produced several notable wins; they beat Napoli and Bologna twice, Sampdoria 3-0 at home and most notably they beat AC Milan 4-3 in Sicily and then on the final day of the season they beat Internazionale 2-0, with goals from Castellazzi and Calvanese. This rubbed the salt into the wounds of Inter who lost the closely contested title that year to Juventus.

Four years later in 1965 they would also finish 8th 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 Cinesinho, along with wingers Carlo Facchin and Giancarlo Danova in the side. Catania more than held their own amongst the giants of Italian football, with wins against Juventus (2-0), Fiorentina (2-0) and Lazio (1-0).

Mixed fortunes in the 70s and 80s

After their relegation in 1966 Carmelo Di Bella left and Catania stayed in Serie B; clashing with Palermo in the Sicilian derby before the Palermitan club were promoted. Catania followed in 1970-71 with a third place finish; though their stay in Serie A this time was very brief and they were relegated back down after one season. Their most impressive results that season was 3-1 win against Lazio and a draw at home against AC Milan, Catania lacked goalscorers at the time as they only scored 18 goals all-together in 30 games.

File:Mastalli-Cantarutti.jpg

Catania players Mastalli and Cantarutti during the 83 Serie B winning season.

Worse was to come for the club, who in 1973-74 were relegated down to Serie C, but fortunetly for the club they were able to bounce straight back with a promotion into Serie B as champions. A similar situation happened in 1976-77, where they were relegated down to Serie C. This time however, they were not able to bounce right back; they finished 2nd and then 3rd before finally being crowned champions of what was now known as Serie C1 in 1979-80.

After three short seasons, Catania were promoted in 3rd place behind AC Milan and Lazio, into Serie A. They played the 1983-84 season in Italy's top league, but it proved to be an especially dismal season, with only one win (which came against Pisa) and 12 points despite the presence of Claudio Ranieri and Brazilian imports Luvanor and Pedrinho.

Decline and revival

The decline of Catania started most evidently after its last relegation to Serie B. The team was no longer able to reach the top division of Italian fooball, and instead continued to decline, being relegated for a while into Serie C1 for the latter part of the 1980s. The lowest point of the club's history, however, was reached in 1993, when the team was cancelled by the FIGC because of financial irregularities.

However, after a long judicial battle, the magistrature declared the Italian Federation decision as invalid, and forced it to include the team back into the footballing fold. Catania was thus included in the Sicilian Eccellenza (the sixth level of Italian football), but 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 rise back to Serie C in a relatively small number of years, and even back to Serie B in 2002.

During 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 1-1 tie, a result which saw Catania relegated, whereas the two extra points from a victory would have kept them safe. They were awarded a 2-0 victory, before the result being reverted, and then re-awarded again. In August, the FIGC decided to let Catania, along with Genoa and Salernitana stay in Serie B, the newly-reborn Fiorentina were also added for the 2003-04 season. The ruling led to protests and boycotts by the other Serie B clubs that delayed the start of the season.

The league went down to 22 teams for 2004-05, 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 Acireale, a Sicilian Serie C1 team, bought the club. Catania's new ownership let the team enjoy a revival, and in 2005-06 Catania ended in second position, earning promotion to Serie A.

Against Atalanta in Serie A during 2006.

Return to Serie A

The 2006-07 season saw Catania in Serie A for its first appearance in 22 years. In their first season back Catania began well, though they recorded a couple of heavy defeats, their home form saw them peak as high as 4th 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, policeman Filippo Raciti was killed during football-related violence caused by Catania ultras outside the Massimino stadium. 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 restarted, Catania continued on but dropped in form largely. In truth their slump in form had started just before the derby incident and all together they failed to win for twelve games in a row, before beating Udinese 1-0 in late April 2007, they eventually finished 13th.

Current first team squad

As of September 3, 2007 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	ARG	Albano Bizarri
2	DF	ITA	Gennaro Sardo
3	DF	ITA	Rocco Sabato
4	DF	ITA	Andrea Sottil
5	DF	ITA	Mauro Minelli
6	DF	ITA	Lorenzo Stovini
7	MF	PER	Juan Manuel Vargas
8	MF	GHA	Mark Edusei
9	MF	ITA	Giuseppe Colucci
10	FW	ITA	Giuseppe Mascara
11	FW	SUI	Slavisa Dugic
13	MF	ARG	Mariano Julio Izco
14	FW	BRA	Babù
15	FW	JPN	Takayuki Morimoto

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
16	GK	ITA	Ciro Polito
17	MF	ITA	Davide Baiocco (captain)
19	MF	ITA	Giacomo Tedesco
20	DF	ITA	Marcello Gazzola
21	DF	ITA	Cristian Silvestri
22	MF	ARG	Cristian Ezequiel Llama
23	DF	ITA	Christian Terlizzi
24	FW	ITA	Gionatha Spinesi
25	FW	URU	Jorge Andrés Martínez
27	MF	ITA	Marco Biagianti
28	GK	ITA	Raffaele Ioime
29	DF	ITA	Gianluca Falsini
32	DF	ITA	Riccardo Nardini

Notable former players

• Enzo Bearzot
• Amedeo Biavati
• Riccardo Carapellese
• Cinesinho

• Fabio Gatti
• Ennio Mastalli
• Luis Oliveira
• Pedrinho

• Claudio Ranieri
• Giovanni Vavassori
• Johan Walem

See Also: Category:Calcio Catania players

Presidential history

Catania have had several presidents over the course of their history, some of which have been the owners of the club, others have been honorary presidents, here is a list of them from 1946 onwards.

Name Years Santi Passanisi Manganaro 1946–1948 Lorenzo Fazio 1948–1951 Arturo Michisanti 1951–1954 Giuseppe Rizzo 1954–1956 Agatino Pesce Michele Giuffrida 1956–1959 Ignazio Marcoccio 1959–1969 Angelo Massimino 1969–1973

Name Years Salvatore Coco 1973–1974 Angelo Massimino 1974–1987 Angelo Attaguile 1987–1991 Salvatore Massimino 1991–1992 Angelo Massimino 1992–1996 Grazia Codiglione 1996–2000 Riccardo Gaucci 2000–2004 Antonino Pulvirenti 2004–present

Managerial history

Catania have had many managers and trainers thoughout the history of a club, in some seasons more than one manager was in charge. Here is a chronological list of them from 1946 onwards.

Name Nationality Years Giovanni Degni 1946–1948 Nicolò Nicolosi 1948 Miroslav Banas 1948–1949 Antonio Magnozzi 1949–1950 Stanislao Klein 1950 Lajos Politzer 1950–1951 Nereo Marini 1951–1952 Brondi III 1952 Giulio Cappelli 1952–1953 Fioravante Baldi 1953 Piero Andreoli 1953–1956 Ernesto Matteo Poggi 1956–1957 Riccardo Carapellese 1957 Nicolò Nicolosi 1958 Francesco Capocasale 1958 Blagoje Marianovic 1958–1959 Carmelo Di Bella 1959–1966 Luigi Valsecchi 1966 Dino Ballacci 1966–1967 Luigi Valsecchi 1968 Egizio Rubino 1968–1971 Antonio Calvanese Luigi Valsecchi 1971–1972 Carmelo Di Bella 1972–1973 Luigi Valsecchi 1973 Guido Mazzetti 1974 Adelmo Prenna 1974 Gennaro Rambone 1974–1975 Egizio Rubino 1975–1976 Guido Mazzetti 1976 Carmelo Di Bella 1976–1977 Luigi Valsecchi 1977 Carlo Matteucci 1977–1978 Guido Mazzetti 1978 Adelmo Capelli 1978–1979 Gennaro Rambone 1979–1980 Lino De Petrillo 1980–1981 Guido Mazzetti 1981 Giorgio Michelotti 1981–1982 Salvo Bianchetti 1982 Guido Mazzetti 1982 Gianni Di Marzio 1982–1984 Giambattista Fabbri 1984

Name Nationality Years Antonio Renna 1984–1985 Gennaro Rambone 1985 Salvo Bianchetti 1985–1986 Antonio Colomban 1986 Gennaro Rambone 1986–1987 Bruno Pace 1987 Osvaldo Jaconi 1987 Pietro Santin 1987–1988 Bruno Pace 1988–1989 Carmelo Russo 1989–1990 Angelo Benedicto Sormani 1990–1991 Giuseppe Caramanno 1991–1992 Franco Vannini 1992 Salvo Bianchetti 1992–1993 Franco Indelicato 1993–1994 Lorenzo Barlassina 1994 Pier Giuseppe Mosti 1994–1995 Angelo Busetta 1995 Lamberto Leonardi 1995 Aldo Cerantola 1995–1996 Mario Russo 1996 Angelo Busetta 1996–1997 Giovanni Mei 1997–1998 Franco Gagliardi 1998 Piero Cucchi 1998–1999 Gianni Simonelli 1999–2000 Ivo Iaconi 2000–2001 Vincenzo Guerini 2001 Aldo Ammazzalorso 2001 Pietro Vierchowod 2001 Francesco Graziani Maurizio Pellegrino 2001–2002 Osvaldo Jaconi 2002 Maurizio Pellegrino 2002 John Toshack 2002–2003 Edoardo Reja 2003 Vincenzo Guerini 2003 Gabriele Matricciani Stefano Colantuono 2003–2004 Maurizio Costantini 2004–2005 Nedo Sonetti 2005 Pasquale Marino 2005–2007 Silvio Baldini 2007–present

Stadium information

Curva Nord supporters at Stadio Angelo Massimino, Catania

• Name: Stadio Angelo Massimino
• Location: Catania
• Capacity: 21,148
• Inauguration: 27 November 1937
• Pitch Size: 110 x 70 metres

Catania first made their debut at the Stadio Angelo Massimino, then called the Stadio Cibali in 1937. The stadium was renamed in hour of former president Angelo Massimino in 2002, Massimini had been president of the club from 1969 until this death in 1996.

It has been proposed that the club would move to a 33,765 seater stadiun named Stadio Dèi Palici, which is to be located in the southern outskirts of the city of Catania in an industrial zone called Pantano d'Arci.

Honours

Serie B

• Champions: 1953-54
• Promoted: 1959-60, 1969-70, 1982-83, 2005-06

Coppa delle Alpi

• Runners-up: 1964

Serie C / Serie C1

• Champions: 1938-39, 1947-48, 1948-49, 1974-75, 1979-80
• Promoted: 2001-02

Serie C2

• Champions: 1998-99

Serie D

• Champions: 1994-95

Eccellenza Sicily

• Promoted: 1993-94

Club records

• Highest League Position: 8th, in the 1960-61 and 1964-65 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.

External links

• Catania's official website