Campobasso Football Club, commonly referred to as Campobasso, is an Italian football club located in Campobasso, Molise, currently playing in Serie C, the third tier of Italian football.
The club is the primary team of the region of Molise and traces its roots back to 1919. Campobasso plays its home games in the Stadio Antonio Molinari, the largest outdoor stadium in Molise and one of the largest in Southern Italy, with a capacity of 21,800. In 2022, the club was acquired by United States–based holding company North Sixth Group and an investment group backed by Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, Montreal-based real estate investor Angelo Pasto and other international investors.
Campobasso made its debut in 1919 and reached the height of its success in the 1980s when the club was promoted to Serie B and played five consecutive seasons in the second tier of Italian football.
The club's primary colours are red and blue, and the nickname is the Lupi (Wolves).
History
Early years
The club was founded in 1919 as Unione Sportiva Campobasso. Until 1929, the club played its games primarily against military opponents as well as regional teams such as Isernia, Benevento and Chieti.
Campobasso's first season in organized Italian football occurred in the 1929–30 season. The club's first promotion took place in the 1933–34 season when it won a spot in the Prima Divisione under the guidance of head coach Armand Halmos. The newly promoted Campobasso side changed its name to Littorio Campobasso beginning in the 1934–35 season. That season ended in disappointment, with the club being relegated to the Seconda Divisione.
The club was refounded under various names in subsequent seasons, including Fascio Giovanile Campobasso and Dopolavoro Ferraviario Campobasso (“Afterhours Train Workers of Campobasso”), and finished as high as fourth place in the 1938–39 season. During this period, the club began using red and blue jerseys, a tradition that has followed them ever since.
Post-war years
Following World War II, football in Campobasso resumed in 1948 under the name Unione Sportiva Campobasso. The newly-formed Campobasso club was placed in the Lega Interregionale Sud along with other southern Italian clubs that represented the capitals of their respective provinces.
Competing in the fourth tier in 1952, they played for some years at that level till being admitted to the newly established Serie D league in 1959.
Campobasso remained in Serie D for the following seasons, missing out on promotion in a few circumstances. However, in the 1969–70 season, with the club being admitted to a regional group featuring teams from Abruzzo, Marche and Apulia, Campobasso remained in the bottom of the league for most of the season and was eventually relegated.
1970s: debut to Serie C
In 1972, Campobasso regained promotion to Serie D and started building up a team capable of finally achieving promotion to Serie C. After missing out on promotion to Benevento in the 1973–74 season, Campobasso were crowned league champions the year after, following a 5–0 win against Cerignola on 25 May 1975 in front of more than 10,000 fans, finally earning promotion to Serie C.
Competing in Serie C for the first time in its history, Campobasso set out with ambitions to comfortably avoid relegation in the 1975–76 season. The club overachieved compared to expectations, finishing impressively in sixth place.
The following seasons were characterized by a final matchday escape from relegation and then other more positive performances, including fourth places in the 1978–79 and 1979–80 seasons.
1980s: Serie B
Following the momentum from previous seasons in Serie C, Campobasso's ambitions grew, and the fanbase and ownership were determined to reach Serie B for the first time in the club's history.
After narrowly missing out on promotion in the 1980–81 season, a new ownership led by construction tycoon Antonio Molinari and Antonio Pasinato as the new head coach led Campobasso to achieve promotion to Serie B for the first time in the club's history on 30 May 1982, after beating Reggina at home 1–0.
Campobasso's debut in Serie B saw the club finish 13th in the table, comfortably avoiding relegation and also achieving impressive results such as a win against a Fiorentina side that featured 1982 FIFA World Cup champions Giancarlo Antognoni and Francesco Graziani. Campobasso also achieved impressive results against larger teams such as AC Milan and Lazio.
The 1983–84 season saw Campobasso as promotion contenders. On the 11th matchday, they even topped the league table, but they eventually finished in seventh place.
The 1984–85 season saw Campobasso experience several changes, among them the departures of captain Michele Scorrano and head coach Antonio Pasinato; the team avoided relegation only on the final matchday of the season against Triestina but also had the chance to debut their brand-new stadium, Stadio Nuovo Romagnoli, which was inaugurated with the most prestigious victory in the history of the club to date: a 1–0 Coppa Italia win against Italian powerhouse Juventus, led by Giovanni Trapattoni, with an attendance of 40,000 fans, far surpassing the 26,000 capacity of the stadium.
For the 1986–87 season, Tord Grip was hired as the new manager but quickly proved to be unsuccessful in his role, being fired after just two wins in their first 12 games. A managerial change, with Giampiero Vitali now in charge, led to Campobasso winning a spot in a three-way relegation playout against Lazio and Taranto, which ultimately saw the Lupi being defeated, and relegated back to Serie C.
After gaining fourth place in the Italian third tier, Campobasso experienced two consecutive relegations, and the club was eventually declared bankrupt in 1990.
1990s, 2000s and 2010s
After a refoundation and a number of relegations and promotions, in 2000, Campobasso were finally promoted back to Serie C2. However, after missing out on Serie C1 promotion in 2001, Campobasso were relegated once again one year later and declared insolvent immediately afterwards.
The club, now refounded as Nuovo Campobasso and restarting from Eccellenza, was promoted back to Serie D in 2005.
Following strong finishes in Serie D, due to bankruptcies by other clubs, Campobasso was admitted to Serie C2 in 2010 to fill a league vacancy. The following three seasons saw Campobasso finish mid-table in Serie C2 before the club was deemed ineligible to play by the Italian Federation.
The remainder of the 2010s saw Campobasso compete primarily in Serie D, where the club finished consistently safe of the relegation zone.
Foreign ownership
On 2 July 2019, Swiss-based Halley Holding purchased the club. In December 2020, New York–based North Sixth Group, led by Matt Rizzetta, acquired a minority ownership stake in Campobasso, buying 11 percent of the club with an option to increase its stake to 51 percent in the event of promotion to Serie C.
In their first season as co-owners, Gesue and Rizzetta proved to be a successful duo, with the club topping the table for nearly the entire season and eventually achieving promotion to Serie C and a spot in the third tier of Italian football for the first time in 32 years.
After a summer of ownership conflicts, Campobasso took the pitch for the first time in Serie C in 32 years. Beginning the year as a relegation candidate, Campobasso pulled together an impressive debut season in Serie C, finishing 13th place and comfortably avoiding relegation.
As preparations began for the 2022–23 season, Campobasso were not admitted to Serie C on 1 July 2022 due to administrative irregularities. After losing further appeals, on 26 August 2022, Campobasso was finally excluded from Italian football altogether. Consequently, North Sixth Group, led by Matt Rizzetta, a minority shareholder of the predecessor club, purchased 100 percent of the shares of Campobasso 1919, which had previously served as the secondary club of the city. The investment transformed Campobasso 1919 into the de facto heir to the previous club.
Under head coach Pino Di Meo, Campobasso has been dominant in its Eccellenza campaign, immediately winning promotion to Serie D.
With the triumphant return to Serie D, the owners put together an ambitious squad with the intention of promotion to Serie C immediately. Campobasso FC opened their 2023-24 season with a 2-1 victory over Termoli in the opening round of the Serie D Coppa tournament on August 27, 2023. A week later, the Wolves prevailed in their first regular season match at Vastogirardi with a resounding 3-0 victory. The first home game of the championship was played on September 10, 2023 - a day in which the stadium was officially renamed Avicor Stadium Selvapiana thanks to a generous sponsorship from Italian-Canadian partner Aldo Vicenzo and his company Avicor Construction. In front of over 2,000 fans, Campobasso beat Monterotondo 3-1. In the first five games, however, the team obtained only seven points. For this reason, the club decided to relieve coach Andrea Mosconi and DS Pino de Filippis of their duties on November 11. Rosario Pergolizzi was chosen as the new coach of the Wolves and Sergio Filipponi as sporting director. With the new leadership in place and several changes to the roster in December, Campobasso recovered well. They defeated league leader (and previously unbeaten) Sambenedettese on the 14th match day concluding the round in first place. After a very tightly contested season in Group F, Campobasso conquered the league title thus obtaining a second consecutive promotion returning to the professional ranks.
Colours and symbols
Colours
Campobasso's official team colors are red and blue. Home kits are red and blue striped jerseys with blue shorts and red socks. Away kits are white and blue jerseys with blue shorts and blue socks.
Symbols
The official symbol of Campobasso is the Wolf. Often, the club has integrated the symbol of castles into its shield as a testament to the City, which is known for the six towers that encompass it.
Campobasso has been mentioned in various Italian films and built a cult following as a favorite underdog tale. The club was cited in the popular Italian film Il Tifoso, L'Arbitro e il Calciatore (The Fan, The Referee and the Player).
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