Società Sportiva Arezzo (formerly Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Atletico Arezzo and Associazione Calcio Arezzo) is an Italian association football club based in Arezzo, Tuscany. The club was formed in 1923, refounded in 1993 after going bankrupt and refounded in 2010 after being unable to enroll in the tournament. The club currently plays in Serie C, the third tier of Italian football.

Arezzo
Full nameSocietà Sportiva Arezzo
Nickname(s)Amaranto (Dark Reds)
Cavallo Rampante (Rampant Horse)
Founded1923; 101 years ago (1923)
GroundStadio Città di Arezzo,
Arezzo, Italy
Capacity13,128[citation needed]
ChairmanGiorgio La Cava[1]
ManagerPaolo Indiani
LeagueSerie C
2021–22Serie D Group E, 1st of 18 (promoted)
WebsiteClub website
Current season

History edit

 
Former AC Arezzo logo

The club was founded on 9 September 1923, by a group of friends, and football fans, as Juventus Football Club Arezzo (in honour of Juventus).[citation needed] In 1930, following a merge with several other minor Arezzo teams, the club became Unione Sportiva Arezzo, which was admitted in 1935 to new-born Serie C division.[citation needed] The team was relegated from Serie C in 1953, following several financial troubles, returning to Serie C division five years later.[citation needed] In 1961, Arezzo started to play its games in the Stadio Comunale, its current venue.[citation needed] In 1966, Arezzo promoted to Serie B for the first time; in order to celebrate the triumph,[tone] Arezzo played a friendly match with Brazilian team Vasco da Gama, winning it 2–1.[citation needed] However, the next year Arezzo was not able to remain in the division, and returned to Serie C the following year.[citation needed] But in 1969 Arezzo again won Serie C, and returned to play in Serie B, where it played until 1975.[citation needed] In 1971, Arezzo signed striker Francesco Graziani, who quickly became a fan favourite and a key player for the team.[citation needed]

The third promotion to Serie B came in 1982, under coach Antonio Valentin Angelillo, with Tullio Gritti as striker.[citation needed] The previous year, Arezzo had won its first (and only) Italy's Serie C Cup, defeating Ternana in the finals.[citation needed] In 1984, Arezzo barely missed promotion to Serie A, ending just five points back from the last promotion place.[citation needed] In 1988, despite a team accordingly built to promote to Serie A, Arezzo relegated to Serie C1.[citation needed] Arezzo disbanded in 1993, following financial troubles, being excluded by Serie C1 seven football days before the end of the season.[citation needed] Following the cancellation, a pool of shareholders led by former Arezzo star Ciccio Graziani founded Associazione Calcio Arezzo, admitted to Serie D.[citation needed] In 1996, an unknown coach with a few lower division experiences, Serse Cosmi, was appointed as new manager.[citation needed] Despite his complete lack of experience in the division, Cosmi immediately won hands down[tone] Serie D, leading Arezzo back to professional football.[citation needed] In 1998, again with Cosmi, Arezzo qualified to and won the Serie C2 promotion playoffs, gaining promotion to Serie C1.[citation needed] In 1999/2000, despite the contributions of Fabio Bazzani, Arezzo lost promotion playoffs; the following year, after Cosmi left Arezzo for Serie A side Perugia, Antonio Cabrini was appointed as new coach, and Mario Frick replaced Bazzani as forward.[citation needed] The team returned to Serie B in 2004, with Mario Somma as coach; the next season, which saw Pasquale Marino replacing Somma, who signed for Empoli, Arezzo barely maintained a Serie B place.[citation needed]

 
1973–74 Arezzo

At the end of the 2009–10 Lega Pro Prima Divisione season, the club, due to financial problems, were unable to enroll to the next season tournament.[citation needed] A new club with the Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Atletico Arezzo denomination was entered in Serie D.[2]

In November 2010, the club was acquired by a consortium of Rome-based entrepreneurs (including popular[tone] actor Luca Zingaretti) for a sum of €400,000; the new owners immediately made a number of changes, appointing former Cagliari player Maurizio Coppola as head coach and former Serie A star Abel Balbo as assistant coach and technical area coordinator.[3][4]

On 1 July 2012, the club was renamed Unione Sportiva Arezzo[5] with Balbo as new head coach, replaced since 30 October 2012 by Michele Bacis.[citation needed]

On 9 January 2013, Mauro Ferretti, an enreprenuer from Rome, bought the club.[6] A few weeks later, on 28 January, Federico Nofri replaced Bacis as coach.[7]

For the 2013–14 season, Davide Mezzanotti was appointed as new coach.[8] After the club ended in third place, Ezio Capuano was named new head coach; later in September 2014, Arezzo was readmitted to Lega Pro to fill a vacancy.[citation needed] Under Capuano's tenure (which lasted until April 2016), the club safely escaped relegation on both seasons.[citation needed] For the 2016–17 season, the club came with a new head coach, Stefano Sottili, and a number of major signings such as former Serie A player Davide Moscardelli.[citation needed]

League and cup history edit

Season A Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4 Tier 5 Tier 6 Tier 7 Tier 8 Pts. Pl. W L T GF GA GD
2004–05 14 51 42 12 15 15 51 52 −1
2005–06 7 66 42 17 15 10 45 34 +11
2010–11 9 (E) 45 34 11 11 12 42 41 +11

Scoring history edit

Highest scoring and best win:

Players edit

Current squad edit

As of 1 February 2024

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   ITA Luca Trombini
2 DF   ITA Alberto Montini
3 DF   ITA Francesco Donati (on loan from Empoli)
4 DF   ITA Giacomo Risaliti
5 MF   ITA Sebastiano Bianchi
6 DF   ITA Lorenzo Polvani
7 DF   ITA Filippo Guccione
8 MF   ITA Andrea Settembrini
9 FW   GHA Joseph Ekuban
10 FW   ITA Emiliano Pattarello
11 FW   ITA Mattia Gaddini
12 GK   ITA Jacopo Ermini
13 DF   ITA Marco Chiosa
No. Pos. Nation Player
14 MF   ITA Alessandro Renzi (on loan from Empoli)
16 MF   GHA Shaka Mawuli (on loan from Südtirol)
17 DF   ITA Mirko Lazzarini
18 MF   ITA Mattia Damiani
20 MF   ITA Giovanni Catanese
21 MF   ITA Luca Castiglia
22 GK   ITA Daniele Borra
24 MF   ITA Fabio Foglia
25 DF   ITA Lorenzo Masetti
26 FW   ARG Juan Facundo Crisafi
27 DF   ITA Lorenzo Coccia (on loan from Modena)
28 FW   ITA Niccolò Gucci

Out on loan edit

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
GK   ARG Marco Fecit (at Reggina until 30 June 2024)
GK   ITA Lorenzo Viti (at Carpi until 30 June 2024)
DF   ITA Davide Di Pasquale (at Pescara until 30 June 2024)
DF   ITA Omar Giubbolini (at Real Forte Querceta until 30 June 2024)
DF   ITA Rajan Maloku (at Aglianese until 30 June 2024)
DF   ITA Gianmarco Pericolini (at Flaminia until 30 June 2024)
No. Pos. Nation Player
DF   ITA Samuele Zona (at Messina until 30 June 2024)
MF   ITA Giulio Dema (at Figline until 30 June 2024)
MF   ITA Simone Fiore (at Romana until 30 June 2024)
MF   ITA Mattia Iori (at Lumezzane until 30 June 2024)
MF   ITA Matteo Nannini (at Romana until 30 June 2024)
FW   ALB Alessandro Zhupa (at Figline until 30 June 2024)

Notable players edit

Two legends[tone] of the Arezzo midfield during the 2005–2006 season were Simone Confalone and Daniele Di Donato ("Dido"), who ruled the pitch[tone] with their tough, but sensual play.[citation needed] Fans would shower the players with women's undergarments and sharp Romano cheese in honour of the players' personal appetites and heritage.[citation needed] Raw asparagus was occasionally added into the mix but was considered very offensive[why?] by other fans - riots ensued.[citation needed]

Notable managers edit

  Antonio Conte[citation needed]

  Maurizio Sarri[citation needed]

Honours edit

Winners: 1980–81[citation needed]
Winners: 2004[citation needed]

References edit

  1. ^ "Organigramma" (in Italian). USD Arezzo. Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  2. ^ "L'Arezzo riparte dalla serie D: nasce l'ASD Atletico Arezzo, presidente Marco Massetti" (in Italian). Comune di Arezzo. 30 July 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  3. ^ "Calcio D, Arezzo: Zingaretti-Montalbano dirigente, a Abel Balbo l'area tecnica" (in Italian). Blitz Quotidiano. 21 November 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  4. ^ "Ufficiale Fratini esonerato, al suo posto Coppola affiancato da Balbo" (in Italian). Colore Amaranto. 23 November 2010. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  5. ^ Unione Sportiva Arezzo – Official Web Site
  6. ^ "Mauro Ferretti nuovo presidente dell'Arezzo. Ieri sera le firme, sabato la presentazione" (in Italian). Unione Sportiva Arezzo – Official Web Site. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  7. ^ "Federico Nofri nuovo allenatore amaranto. Domani alle 11:30 la presentazione" (in Italian). Unione Sportiva Arezzo – Official Web Site. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  8. ^ "Mezzanotti nuovo allenatore amaranto" (in Italian). Unione Sportiva Arezzo – Official Web Site. 5 June 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.

External links edit