Pisa_Calcio

Pisa SC

Pisa SC

Association football club in Italy


Pisa Sporting Club, commonly referred to as Pisa, is an Italian football club based in Pisa, Tuscany. The team currently plays in Serie B.

Quick Facts Full name, Nickname(s) ...

The club was founded in 1909 as Pisa Sporting Club and refounded in 1994 as Pisa Calcio (and registered in Eccellenza, the regional football division in Italy), after the cancellation of the former because of economical troubles. It was excluded again from Italian football in 2009, after the property failed to collect enough money to pay off the club's debts.[2] In summer 2009 it was refounded with the denomination A.C. Pisa 1909.

Pisa won two Mitropa Cups, in 1986 and 1988. They play their home matches at Arena Garibaldi – Stadio Romeo Anconetani, named after Romeo Anconetani, the chairman who brought and led the club in Serie A during the 1980s. In 2016, Giuseppe Corrado bought the club and planned the new Pisa stadium. In January 2021, billionaire Alexander Knaster acquired a 75% stake in the club.[3]

History

Pisa S.C.

After promotion to Serie B in 1965, Pisa took three years to reach Serie A for the first time.[citation needed] Despite a brave effort,[tone] Pisa was relegated on the final day of the 1968–69 season.[citation needed]

Spending much of the 1970s in Serie C, Pisa returned to Serie B in 1979 (by which time the club had come under the presidency of the much-loved[why?][vague][tone] Romeo Anconetani) and were promoted to Serie A in 1982, embarking on a period of six out of nine seasons in Serie A.[citation needed] With Danish international Klaus Berggreen among their stars,[tone] Pisa managed a credible[why?][vague][tone] 11th place in the 1982–83 Serie A with 27 points and 27 goals scored and conceded in 30 games.[citation needed] The following season brought relegation (during which they recorded just 3 wins and 16 draws) with 15,000 fans travelling to Milan for the fateful penultimate game.[citation needed]

Promotion followed in 1985, and the team seemed capable[vague] of staying up until losing their last three games.[citation needed] The cycle was repeated in 1987, only for a side containing players like Dunga and Paul Elliott to stay up.[citation needed] The last promotion to Serie A was achieved in 1990, and with the talents of[tone] players like Maurizio Neri, Michele Padovano and Lamberto Piovanelli up front and Diego Simeone, Henrik Larsen and Aldo Dolcetti in midfield, the side started well and was briefly atop the standings, only to suffer[tone] another relegation.[citation needed]

Relegation brought considerable[vague][quantify] financial strains to the club, and by 1994 they had lost a relegation play-off and were condemned[tone] to Serie C1.[citation needed] [further explanation needed]

Pisa Calcio

Bankruptcy saw Pisa reformed in Eccellenza, only to return to Serie C2 in 1996 and C1 in 1999.[citation needed] Pisa have since worked towards attaining Serie B status, which was achieved in 2007.[citation needed] Their crowds have been among the better[tone] in Italy's lower divisions owing to the dedication[vague][tone] of their fans.[citation needed]

In May 2002 Maurizio Mian's "Gunther Reform Trust" became the owner of Pisa,[4] installing wealthy celebrity German Shepherd dog Gunther IV as honorary president.[citation needed] In the 2002–03 Serie C1 season, Pisa reached the play-off final but were defeated in extra-time by UC AlbinoLeffe.[citation needed] President Gunther would attend matches at Arena Garibaldi and bark in support of the team.[citation needed] On one occasion Rival Livorno ultras unfurled a banner bearing the legend: "Poisoned meatballs for Gunther".[citation needed] After two further seasons ended in mid-table finishes, Mian sold Pisa in 2005.[5]

In 2005–06, the team, initially thought to be a protagonist for the promotion, were in continuous struggles, and avoided relegation after playoffs in two dramatic regional derbies against Massese.[citation needed] The 2006–07 season, with new boss Piero Braglia, brought Pisa back to fight for a promotion spot: the nerazzurri ended the regular season in third place, and eventually won the promotion playoffs by defeating Venezia in the semi-finals and Monza in the finals[citation needed].

For the 2007–08 Serie B campaign, the first in 13 years, Gian Piero Ventura was named to replace Braglia at the helm of the nerazzurri.[citation needed] Despite initial predictions[by whom?] of a mid-low table place, Pisa's impressive[tone] performances brought the team to fight for a direct promotion spot, also thanks to a forward line composed by Alessio Cerci, José Ignacio Castillo and Vitali Kutuzov which proved to be among the finest in the league.[tone][citation needed] The club ended the regular season in sixth place, therefore achieving a spot to the promotion playoffs, where Pisa was later defeated by Lecce.[citation needed]

In 2008–09, the club was acquired by Rome entrepreneur Luca Pomponi, who initially failed into appointing[clarification needed] Alessandro Costacurta as new head coach, thus confirming Ventura as nerazzurri boss.[citation needed] The club, which was weakened by the departures of Cerci, Castillo, Kutuzov and several other players, did not manage to repeat its performances, with Ventura being ultimately sacked in March 2009, with the club in mid-table place.[citation needed] The appointment of Bruno Giordano, which was made to improve the team results, however proved to be disappointing in terms of results, as Pisa slowly lost positions in the table, and shockingly[tone] got directly relegated in the final game of the season due to an injury-time home defeat to Brescia which left the Tuscans in 18th place.[citation needed] The unexpected relegation also unveiled a number of massive financial issues which prevented the club from registering in the Lega Pro Prima Divisione, and in July 2009 the club was excluded by the Italian Football Federation for the second time in its history.[citation needed]

Home of Pisa S.C. as seen from the Leaning Tower of Pisa

A.C. Pisa 1909

Pisa has been refounded with the denomination of A.C. Pisa 1909 S.S.D. (in which S.S.D. is a legal suffix required by FIGC) to start again from Serie D under new ownership.[2] At the end of the season Pisa won Group D (Italian: Girone D) of Serie D and was promoted to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione for the 2010–11 season.[6]

The team was then admitted to Lega Pro Prima Divisione for the 2010–11 season to fill vacancies created by a row of club exclusions in second and third tier of Italian football league system.[citation needed] Thus the S.S.D. legal suffix was drop[clarification needed] and replaced by S.r.l.[citation needed]

On 12 June 2016 Pisa gained promotion to Serie B after seven years by defeating Maceratese (3–1), Pordenone (3–0 on aggregate) and Foggia in the two-legged play-off final (5–3 on aggregate),[7] however, the club was relegated to Serie C the following season after finishing second-last.[citation needed]

Pisa Sporting Club

Having moved back to Serie B in 2019, the club changed back its name to Pisa Sporting Club in the summer of 2021.[8]

Current squad

As of 1 February 2024[9]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

More information No., Pos. ...

Other players under contract

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

More information No., Pos. ...

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

More information No., Pos. ...

Coaching staff

More information Position, Name ...

Notable former players

Honours

Divisional movements

More information Series, Years ...

References

  1. "ARENA GARIBALDI – STADIO ROMEO ANCONETANI" (in Italian). Pisa Calcio. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  2. "COMUNICATO UFFICIO STAMPA PISA CALCIO" (in Italian). Pisa Calcio. 10 July 2009. Archived from the original on 13 July 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2009.
  3. Calabrese, Giuseppe (15 May 2002). "Il Pisa nell' era Gunther 'Tanti soldi per salire in A'" (in Italian). La Repubblica. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  4. Camedda, Paolo (25 August 2021). "Gunther e il Pisa: quando un cane diventò presidente onorario di un club di calcio" (in Italian). Goal. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  5. "Gattuso's Pisa promoted". Football Italia. 12 June 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  6. "Pisa Sporting Club, sempre e per sempre!". pisachannel – Pisa S.C. official website (in Italian). 21 August 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  7. "Numeri di maglia: A Matteo Tramoni la numero 27, a Lisandru la 77. La nuova lista completa" (in Italian). Sestaporta News. 19 August 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2022.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Pisa_Calcio, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.