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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.[clarification needed] It is the 12th most popular team in Italy, with around 600,000 fans.[4] The club also went through a number of dissolutions and refoundations, the last of which happened in 2022.
History
Origins (1901–1908)
Crews of English cargo ships brought football to Sicily.[citation needed] 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 the Royal Yacht Catania, an English ship with a local Catanian crew.[5]
Earliest club photograph as Pro Patria in 1908
The shipworkers' team was a pastime, and Catania's first professional 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.[citation needed] Early on, they would play against sailors visiting the port of Catania, foreign ships in particular.[citation needed] Though their first ever match was against the Italian battleship Regina Margherita, 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.[citation needed] Just two years later, the club was renamed to Unione Sportiva Catanese.[6]
Foundation (1908–1943)
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 the Lipton, Sant' Agata, and Agordad cups.[citation needed] The US Catanese survived World War I, and after that, played in the local Coppa Federale Siciliana.[citation needed] Seven seasons later, in 1927, they were promoted to the Campionato Catanese, later winning in the 1928–29 season.[citation needed] As they gained promotion, the team entered the Second Division, but the fascist reform of Italian football dictated the disbandment of Catanese and the establishment of Società Sportiva Catania on 27 June 1929.[7] The new club first competed in Serie B in the 1934–35 season,[8] 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] The club finished at the bottom of the league in Serie B and won only three games that season.[citation needed] The club's name was briefly changed to Associazione Calcio Fascista Catania during the 1942–43 season in Serie C,[citation needed] which ended prematurely due to World War II.
Rebirth (1945–1949)
Calcio Catania during 1946
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[9] was 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 competed with them, finishing eighth.[10]
At the end of the season, Catanese and Virtus merged to form Club Calcio Catania, with the club's first president being Santi Manganaro-Passanisi, who had previously been president of Catanese.[citation needed] They were promoted to Serie C, where they spent three seasons.[citation needed] After a duel with Reggina for first place in the league, Catania gained promotion to Serie B for the 1948–49 season.[citation needed]
Golden years (1953–1965)
The late 1950s–1960s are considered the golden years[tone] for the Catanian club, as they managed to achieve promotion to Serie A on two occasions during this time.[citation needed] 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 the division.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
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 1930s, Catania gained promotion from Serie B in the 1959–60 season.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] That is exactly what happened, and Catania had gained a promotion.[citation needed]
Catania returned into Serie A for the 1960–61 season to begin what would be a six-year stay in the league.[citation needed] The newly promoted club finished in eighth above top Italian clubs such as Lazio and Napoli.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] Additionally, on the final day of the season, they beat Internazionale 2–0, with goals from Castellazzi and Calvanese.[citation needed] Inter lost the closely contested title that year to Juventus.[citation needed]
Four years later, in 1965, Catania would also finish eighth in the league, this time above Roma and Sicilian rivals Messina.[citation needed] Many of the club's most notable stars played around this time, such as midfielders Alvaro Biagini and the Brazilian Chinesinho, along with wingers Carlo Facchin and Giancarlo Danova in the side.[citation needed] Catania won against Juventus (2–0), Fiorentina (2–0), and Lazio (1–0).[citation needed]
Decline (1966–1984)
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.[citation needed] Catania followed in 1969–70 with a third-place finish, gaining a promotion.[citation needed] They were relegated from Serie A after one season.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
In 1973–74, they were relegated down to Serie C, but were able to get a promotion to Serie B by winning as champions.[citation needed] A similar situation occurred in 1976–77, where they were relegated down to Serie C.[citation needed] They finished second, and later third, before finally being crowned champions of what was now known as Serie C1 in 1979–80.[citation needed]
After three short[why?] seasons, Catania was promoted after finishing in third place, behind Milan and Lazio, into Serie A.[citation needed] They played the 1983–84 season in Italy's top league, only winning once (which came against Pisa) with 12 points.[citation needed]
Further decline and revival (1985–2006)
The decline of Catania started after their last relegation to Serie B.[citation needed] The team was no longer able to reach the top division of Italian football, and instead continued to decline, remaining in Serie C1 for the latter part of the 1980s.[citation needed] In 1993, the team's participation for the year was cancelled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) due to financial irregularities.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] In August, the FIGC decided to let Catania, along with Genoa and Salernitana, stay in Serie B; the newly reborn Fiorentina was also added for the 2003–04 season.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
The league was reduced to 22 teams for 2004–05, while at the same time, Serie A expanded from 18 to 20 teams.[citation needed] During the start of that season, Antonino Pulvirenti, chairman of the flight company Windjet and owner of Sicilian Serie C1 team Acireale, bought the club.[citation needed] Catania's new ownership revived the team, and in 2005–06, Catania ended in second place, earning a promotion to Serie A.[citation needed]
The 2006–07 season had Catania in Serie A for its first appearance in 22 years.[citation needed] In their first year back, their home form saw them peak as high as fourth place after 20 games.[citation needed]
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, where policeman Filippo Raciti was killed during football-related violence caused by Catania ultras outside the Stadio Angelo Massimino.[11] 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
After the Italian football league reopened, Catania continued on.[vague][citation needed] They failed to win for 12 games in a row before beating Udinese 1–0 in late April 2007, where they eventually finished 13th.[12]
The following season, with manager Pasquale Marino leaving for Udinese and Silvio Baldini taking charge of the team, proved to be much harder.[citation needed] In the Coppa Italia, Catania reached to the semi-finals, then lost to A.S. Roma.[citation needed] Subsequently, Baldini resigned from his post on 31 March 2008, being replaced by Walter Zenga.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] Zenga was successively confirmed in charge of the team for the upcoming 2008–09 season.[citation needed]
On 5 June 2009, Zenga left Catania to be the manager at arch-rival football club Palermo.[citation needed] He was replaced by Gianluca Atzori, with one year of experience at Lega Pro Prima Divisione team Ravenna.[citation needed] Atzori was noted for using an attacking 4–3–3 formation at Ravenna and was expected to continue a similar approach with the Elefanti.[citation needed]
On 8 December 2009, Siniša Mihajlović was appointed new head coach of Catania, taking over Atzori.[citation needed] He signed a contract until June 2011, with the Elefanti.[citation needed] Arriving at the club that was dead last[tone] in the Serie A standings, Mihajlović debuted with a loss against Livorno.[citation needed] The following week, his team beat Juventus away in Turin with a 2–1 scoreline.[citation needed] After Mihajlović's departure to Fiorentina, Catania appointed Marco Giampaolo as new head coach for the 2010–11 season.[citation needed] 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[clarification needed] by the end of the season, after only four months in charge of the team.[citation needed] Later, Catania appointed 37-year-old Vincenzo Montella to replace Simeone at his second managerial experience after having served as caretaker at Roma during the final part of the 2010–11 season.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] They finished ahead of Internazionale at the conclusion of the season and were just five points away from competing in the UEFA Europa League.[citation needed]
Second decline and 2022 bankruptcy (2013–2022)
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.[citation needed] During the 2014–15 season, head coach and owner Antonio Pulvirenti admitted to fixing five matches.[13][14]
The club announced that Sport Investment Group Italia S.p.A. (S.I.G.I.) acquired 95.4% of the club's assets on Friday, 24 July 2020.[15] 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.[16] The takeover never materialized, and on 22 December 2021, the club was declared insolvent and entered administration.[citation needed] Following three auctions and a takeover offer by entrepreneur Benedetto Mancini, 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.[17] 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.[18]
2022 refoundation (2022–present)
In June 2022, Australian development industry entrepreneur Ross Pelligra, whose mother 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.[citation needed] He promised to invest economical resources, with the main goal of bringing back Catania in Serie A, additionally showing interest in acquiring the Torre Del Grifo training center, built during the Pulvirenti era.[19]
Club Logo in the 2022–2023 season
The new club was renamed to Catania Società Sportiva Dilettantistica, with Ross Pelligra as president and Vincenzo Grella as vice-president, was subsequently admitted to the 2022–23 Serie D.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
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:[20]
Catania first made their debut at the Stadio Angelo Massimino, formerly called the Stadio Cibali, in 1937[citation needed]. The stadium was renamed in honour of former president Angelo Massimino in 2002; he had been president of the club from 1969 until his death in 1996.[citation needed]
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.[21]
Catania trains at the Torre del Grifo Village sports center, inaugurated on 18 May 2011 and located in the adjacent municipality of Mascalucia.[citation needed] Owned by the Etna club, the centre covers an area of 150,000 m2 and has four regulation football fields—two with natural grass and two with synthetic grass—two swimming pools, and four gyms.[citation needed] In addition, Torre del Grifo houses the headquarters of Calcio Catania.[citation needed]
Most Serie A Points: 56 points in the 2012–13 season[citation needed]
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↑ Tutto il Catania minuto per minuto (Antonio Buemi, Roberto Quartarone, Carlo Fontanelli, Alessandro Russo, Filippo Solarino - Geo Edizioni); pp. 101, 102, 105, 106, 109, 110, 116
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