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61-563: 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 , the club boasts 17 appearances in the top flight, reaching eighth place in Serie A on four occasions: during the early 1960s and again in 2012–13. It is the 12th most popular team in Italy, with around 600,000 fans. The club also went on

122-604: 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 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;

183-568: A Final Group among regional champions was contested to award the title and the Spensley Cup. Juventus won his first title and Spensley Cup in 1905, while the following two championships were won by Milan . In November 1907, the FIF organised two championships in the same season: The FIF wanted to organise two different championships in order to allow weaker clubs, composed only of Italian players ( squadre pure italiane , "pure Italian teams"), to win

244-565: A capacity of 40,000 or higher are included. Carmelo Di Bella Di Bella, a left wing, started his professional career for his native city team Catania . From 1941 he played for Juventina Palermo , then renamed to Palermo in 1946. He also played a Serie A season with the rosanero , making nine appearances and scoring a goal in 1948–49. He retired from playing football in 1954, after two seasons as player/manager for minor team Akragas from Agrigento . After two seasons as coach of minor team Termitana from Termini Imerese , Di Bella

305-489: A duel with Reggina for first place in the league, Catania gained a promotion to Serie B for the 1948–49 season. The late 1950s–1960s 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 1953–54 season, they beat Cagliari and Lombardy side Pro Patria and were crowned champions of

366-615: 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 1960–61 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 3–0 at home, and most notably, Milan 4–3 in Sicily. Additionally, on

427-609: A man named James Richardson Spensley arrived in Genoa and introduced the football section of the club, becoming its first manager. Some early tournaments were organised by the Italian Gymnastics Federation (FGI, then FGNI) between 1895 and 1897 and until 1913. In 1898, a new federation, the future FIGC but then known as Federazione Italiana del Foot-ball (FIF) until 1909, had been formed, with its centre originally in Turin and

488-518: A newspaper in Genoa, headlined "The Genoese winners of the national championship", while another reported that the competitors gathered at a restaurant, where they had dinner and the championship cup was delivered to the winning team. To celebrate the event of the first national football championship, Franco Bernini wrote a book in 2005 entitled La prima volta . The Italy national football team, called Azzurri or squadra azzurra for their blue shirts, are

549-451: A number of dissolutions and refoundations, the last happening in 2022. Crews of English cargo ships brought football to Sicily. Specifically, the earliest Catania team can be traced to 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

610-491: A promotion. They were relegated from Serie A after one season. In that season, they had a 3–1 win against Lazio and a draw at home against Milan. Catania only scored 18 goals altogether in 30 games. In 1973–74, 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 1976–77, where they were relegated down to Serie C. They finished second, and later third, before finally being crowned champions of what

671-522: Is a list of them since 1946: 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: 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

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732-758: Is among the top five European football leagues. Italy's club sides have won 48 major European trophies, making them the second most successful nation in European football. Serie A hosts three of the world's most famous clubs as Juventus , Milan , and Inter , all founding members of the G-14 , a group which represented the largest and most prestigious European football clubs; Serie A was the only league to produce three founding members. Juventus, Milan, and Inter (the Big Three), along with Roma , Lazio , and historically Parma and Fiorentina but now Napoli and Atalanta , are known as

793-495: Is considered one of the best national teams in the world . They have won the FIFA World Cup four times ( 1934 , 1938 , 1982 , 2006 ), trailing only Brazil (with five), runners-up in two finals both against Brazil , ( 1970 , 1994 ) and reaching a third place ( 1990 ) and a fourth place ( 1978 ). They have also won two European Championships ( 1968 and 2020 ), also appeared in two finals ( 2000 , 2012 ), finished third at

854-520: Is traditionally the best part of Italian teams, and Italian defence is generally considered historically the best in the world. A women's team , an under-21 team , an under-20 team , an under-19 team , and an under-17 team also compete. Their honours include: In total: The following teams have reached the final of the UEFA European Cup/Champions League. Bold indicates winners, italics indicates runner-ups. Stadiums with

915-544: 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

976-518: The Confederations Cup ( 2013 ) and the Nations League (2021 and 2023), won one Olympic football tournament ( 1936 ) and two Central European International Cups ( 1927–30 and 1933–35 ). Italy's top domestic league, the Serie A , is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the world due to the fact that it is often depicted as the most tactical national football league, and

1037-479: 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 1–1 home tie to Roma, with an equaliser goal scored by Jorge Martínez in the 85th minute. Zenga was successively confirmed in charge of

1098-573: The Seven Sisters of Italian football due to their popular support and dominance in league and cups between the 1990s and 2020s. Italian managers are among the most successful in European football, especially in competitions such as the Champions League . More players have won the coveted Ballon d'Or award while playing in Serie A than any other league in the world after La Liga . Other forms of football were played in Italy in ancient times,

1159-533: The 2010–11 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

1220-538: The Brazilian Chinesinho , along with wingers Carlo Facchin and Giancarlo Danova in the side. Catania won against Juventus (2–0), Fiorentina (2–0), and Lazio (1–0). 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 1969–70 with a third-place finish, gaining

1281-499: 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 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

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1342-461: 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. 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

1403-526: The Etna club, the centre covers an area of 150,000 m and has four regulation football fields—two with natural grass and two with synthetic grass—two swimming pools, and four gyms. In addition, Torre del Grifo houses the headquarters of Calcio Catania. Football in Italy Football ( Italian : calcio [ˈkaltʃo] ) is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italy national football team

1464-680: The Final. Ultimately, the dissenters' strategy worked out, as the failure of the Italian Championship won by Juventus forced the FIGC to later recognise the Federal Champions of Pro Vercelli as "Campioni d'Italia 1909", disavowing the other tournament and depriving Juventus of another title. The format was modified for the 1909–10 Prima Categoria , which was played in a league format. Nine clubs participated, playing each other both home and away. The split between Federal and Italian championship

1525-624: The Italian Gymnastics Federation (FGNI–FGI) was played in 1896, the same year of the first modern Olympic Games , and won by a team from Udine , an Italian northeast city in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, named Udinese . In 1897, a second national gymnastic-football tournament was won by SG Torinese. In 1898, the Federazione Italiana del Foot-ball (FIF–FIGC) was finally formed and the first national championship

1586-573: 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 1928–29 season. As they gained promotion, the team entered the Second Division, but the fascist reform of Italian football dictated the disbandment of Catanese and

1647-642: The Oberti Cup in lieu of the Spensley Cup for the Federal Championship. This time, the majority of big clubs decided to only withdraw from the Italian Championship in order to make the Federal competition the most relevant tournament and to diminish the Italian one. The Federal Championship was won by Pro Vercelli, beating Milanese in the Final, while the Italian Championship was won by Juventus, again beating Milanese in

1708-463: 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 Dèi Palici, which is to be located in the southern outskirts of the city of Catania in an industrial zone called Pantano d'Arci. 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

1769-484: 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,

1830-548: The club's provisional exercise by the Tribunal of Catania effectively ended on 9 April 2022, leading to its immediate exclusion from the 2021–22 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. In June 2022, Australian development industry entrepreneur Ross Pelligra, whose mother

1891-559: The conclusion of the season and were just five points away from competing in the UEFA Europa League . After being relegated from Serie A after the 2013–14 season , Catania was again relegated to the Lega Pro and was deducted by nine points after. During the 2014–15 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

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1952-417: 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 1959–60 season. Catania had lost their final game 4–2 to Brescia and needed Parma to get

2013-654: The earliest of which was Harpastum , played during the times of the Roman Empire . This game may have also been influential in other forms throughout Europe due to the expansion of the Roman Empire, including Medieval football . From the 16th century onwards, calcio fiorentino , another code of football distinct from the modern game, was played in the Piazza Santa Croce in Florence . Some famous Florentines were among

2074-507: The establishment of Società Sportiva Catania on 27 June 1929. The new club first competed in Serie B in the 1934–35 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 1938–39 season, finishing above Sicilian rivals Siracusa and Messina, who came in second and third place respectively. The club finished bottom of

2135-400: The final day of the season, they beat Internazionale 2–0, 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

2196-470: The final part of the 2010–11 season. Rolando Maran managed the team in the 2012–13 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

2257-605: The first president as Mario Vicary. The FIGC created the Italian Football Championship with the four founding clubs being; Genoa, Torinese , Ginnastica Torino , and Internazionale Torino. Its first competition, the 1898 Italian Football Championship , was held at the Velodrome Humbert I in Turin on 8 May 1898, and was won by Genoa. While it was common for clubs to compete in both FIGC and FNGI competitions early on,

2318-467: The flight company Windjet and owner of Sicilian Serie C1 team Acireale , bought the club. Catania's new ownership revived the team, and in 2005–06 , Catania ended in second place, earning a promotion to Serie A. The 2006–07 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

2379-434: 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 1–0 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

2440-459: The four "pure Italian teams", depending on the head-to-head matches. At the end of the season, Pro Vercelli and Inter finished joint-top, so a playoff was needed in order to assign the Federal title (the Italian one was won by Pro Vercelli). This season was the first victory for Inter, having defeated Pro Vercelli in the final by a score of 10–3. Even the Italian title won by Pro Vercelli was later forgotten. A first national competition organised by

2501-509: The helm of Catania. Di Bella coached Catania till 1966, when he resigned from his office, obtaining a Serie A promotion in 1960 and leading the Sicilian club to the Italian top division until his resignations. Di Bella then signed for Catanzaro , narrowly missing promotion to Serie A. In 1967, he became head coach of Palermo, where he immediately won Serie B bringing the rosanero back to Serie A. He left Palermo in 1971 to return to Catania, where however did not repeat his previous triumphs with

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2562-546: 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

2623-484: 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 1942–43 season in Serie C , which ended prematurely due to World War II . 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

2684-561: 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

2745-574: The most popular sport in Italy. The modern variation of the game was brought to Italy during the 1880s. Edoardo Bosio , a merchant worker in the British textile industry, had visited England and experienced the game. He returned to Turin in 1887 and was motivated to help spread football in his homeland. He founded the first football club in Italy ( Torino Football and Cricket Club ) that year, while Nobili Torino (Turin Nobles) soon followed. The second club bore

2806-450: The name noble because it contained Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi , and Alfonso Ferrero de Gubernatis Ventimiglia, who would later become president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). The two merged in 1891 to form Internazionale Football Club Torino. Genoa Cricket and Football Club , formed as a cricket club to represent England abroad, was founded by Englishmen in 1893. In 1896,

2867-407: The national title, and to relegate simultaneously the big clubs, composed mostly of stronger foreign players ( squadre spurie internazionali , "spurious international teams") in a minor competition for a "consolation prize". The majority of big clubs (Genoa, Milan, and Torino ) withdrew from both the championships in order to protest against the autocratic policy of the FIF. The Federal Championship

2928-454: The newly reborn Fiorentina was 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, until the intervention of the Italian government . The league was reduced 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

2989-536: The players of the game, particularly the Medici family including Piero , Lorenzo , and Alessandro de' Medici , as well as popes who played the game in the Vatican, such as Clement VII , Leo XI , and Urban VIII . The name calcio ("kick") was later adopted for football in Italy (attested first in 1889, "Il Foot-ball ovvero il Giuoco del Calcio"), becoming the synonym for Italian association football worldwide, as well as

3050-470: The team for the upcoming 2008–09 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 4–3–3 formation at Ravenna and was expected to continue a similar approach with the Elefanti . On 8 December 2009, Siniša Mihajlović

3111-582: The third-most successful national team in the World Cup for number of medals. During the 1970s to early 1990s, Italy became famous for their catenaccio , thus heralding a long line of world class defenders, such as Virginio Rosetta , Pietro Rava , Carlo Parola , Giacinto Facchetti , Armando Picchi , Gaetano Scirea , Antonio Cabrini , Claudio Gentile , Franco Baresi , Giuseppe Bergomi , Paolo Maldini , Alessandro Nesta , Fabio Cannavaro , Andrea Barzagli , Leonardo Bonucci , and Giorgio Chiellini . Defence

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3172-426: The titles won in the FIGC championship are the only ones officially recognised by the modern-day league. In the following years, the tournament (called Prima Categoria ) was structured into regional groups with the winners of each group participating in a playoff with the eventual winners being declared champions. Until 1904, the tournament was dominated by Genoa, who won six titles in seven years. Between 1905 and 1908,

3233-407: Was appointed as Catania 's youth team coach in 1957. In 1958–59, with just twelve matches remaining, Di Bella was called to replace Blagoje Marjanović with the goal to save the club from relegation to Serie C , with the initial support of technical director Felice Borel . Di Bella ended the season with a sixteenth place which allowed Catania to avoid relegation, and he was consequently confirmed at

3294-420: 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, Mihajlović debuted with a loss against Livorno . The following week, his team beat Juventus away in Turin with a 2–1 scoreline. After Mihajlović's departure to Fiorentina, Catania appointed Marco Giampaolo as new head coach for

3355-671: 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 Società Sportiva Dilettantistica, with Ross Pelligra as president and Vincenzo Grella as vice-president,

3416-400: 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 1–1 draw and

3477-407: Was not completely abolished because, while unifying these tournaments, it was decided for the last time to assign two titles at the end of the season. In fact, the FIGC established to proclaim as Federal Champions (now turned into the main title) the first-placed club in the general classification, while recognised as Italian Champions (now become the secondary title) would be the best placed club among

3538-535: Was now known as Serie C1 in 1979–80. After three short seasons, Catania was promoted after finishing in third place, behind Milan and Lazio, into Serie A. They played the 1983–84 season in Italy's top league, only winning once (which came against Pisa ) with 12 points. 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

3599-680: Was organised, with regional tournaments and playoffs. Held in Turin on the occasion of the International Exhibition for the fiftieth anniversary of the Albertine Statute , with about one hundred spectators in attendance, it included four clubs, three matches, and lasted a single day. This is considered to be the first proper national football championship and was won using the Pyramid formation (2–3–5) by Genoa, which then went on to win five more championships in six years. Caffaro ,

3660-612: Was subsequently admitted to the 2022–23 Serie D . Catania then went onto finish first in Group I in Serie D and obtain automatic promotion back into Serie C for the 2023–2024 season. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Catania had several presidents over time, some of which have been owners or honorary presidents, below

3721-547: Was won by Juventus against Doria, while the 1908 Italian Championship and the Bruni Cup were won by Pro Vercelli , beating Juventus, Doria, and Milanese . The Federal Championship won by Juventus was later forgotten by FIGC due to the boycott by the dissident clubs. 1908 also saw a scission within Milan that led to the foundation of Inter . In the 1909 Italian football season, the two different championships were organised again, with

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