US Ancona

Not to be confused with A.C. Ancona or U.S. Ancona 1905.

Ancona

Full name	Unione Sportiva Ancona S.r.l.
Nickname(s)	I Dorici (The Dorians) I Biancorossi (The Red and Whites)
Founded	2021
Ground	Stadio del Conero, [1] Ancona, Italy
Capacity	23,967
Chairman	Tony Tiong
Manager	Marco Donadel
League	Serie C Group B
2022–23	Serie C Group B, 7th of 20
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Unione Sportiva Ancona, commonly referred to as Ancona, is an Italian football club based in Ancona, Marche.

The club is widely considered to be the heir of defunct former Serie A club Ancona, with whom it shares its official historical logo. The continuation of football in Ancona goes back to 1905 when the original club was first founded.

History

Ancona has a long history of football clubs sharing the same red and white colours and a similar logo. Originally, the club was named Anconitana before changing the name to reflect the city of Ancona in the 1980s. Reaching the final of the 1994 Coppa Italia and spending two seasons in the Serie A eleven years apart, the original club was refounded after a 2004 relegation from the top flight in last place. This came after the club had loaded up on experienced players of high profile such as Mário Jardel, Dario Hübner and Eusebio Di Francesco without success. Six years later, the club was refounded again, demoting it from the second to fourth tier. In 2017, a third bankruptcy saw the refounded club drop out of the professional leagues.

The most recent club was founded in 2021 as the merger of Serie C club S.S. Matelica Calcio 1921, from the city of Matelica, with Ancona-based Eccellenza club Anconitana. ^[2]

As part of the merger, all logos and naming rights of Matelica were given away to Prima Categoria club G.S. Corrado Fabiani Matelica, formally owned by chairman Mauro Canil's wife and which is now to be legally considered the heir of Matelica itself, ^[3] whereas, as part of the merger, Anconitana brought the original footballing logo, as well as the rights to use the Stadio del Conero in the city of Ancona. ^[4] The new club's board will be the same as Matelica's, with Mauro Canil as majority shareholder and chairman, whereas Anconitana's original owner Stefano Marconi will be linked to Ancona-Matelica as the club's official main sponsor for the following five years. ^[4] The club board stated their aim to have the official name changed to just "Ancona" by 2022, pending approval by the Italian Football Federation. ^[2]

On 30 March 2022, Malaysian billionaire entrepreneur Tony Tiong, nephew of Tiong Hiew King, was announced as the new majority shareholder, after having acquired 95% of the club's shares. ^[5] By the end of the season, the club changed its denomination to Unione Sportiva Ancona, thus severing its association with Matelica altogether. ^[6]

Colors and badge

The team's color are white and red.

Stadium

Main article: Stadio del Conero

Ancona-Matelica play their home matches at the 25,000 capacity, Stadio del Conero, located in the city of Ancona.

Players

Current squad

As of 25 January 2024. ^[7]
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 Daniel Perri 3 DF   ITA Alessandro Martina 4 DF   ITA Stefano Cella 5 DF   ITA Davide Mondonico 6 MF   TOG Steven Nador (on loan from SPAL ) 8 MF   ITA Emanuele Gatto 9 FW   ITA Alberto Spagnoli 10 FW   ITA Antonio Energe 11 FW   ITA Antonio Cioffi (on loan from Napoli ) 12 GK   ITA Leonardo Vitali 13 DF   ITA Filippo Marenco 17 MF   ITA Denis Useini 19 DF   ITA Giuseppe Agyemang 21 MF   ITA Lorenzo Paolucci 22 GK   ITA Gabriel Testagrossa

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 DF   ITA Gianluca Clemente (on loan from Pro Vercelli ) 24 MF   ITA Michael D'Eramo 28 FW   ITA Daniel Giampaolo 29 DF   ITA Emiliano Bugari 30 DF   ITA Stefano Pellizzari 32 GK   ITA Filippo Perucchini 33 MF   ITA Mario Prezioso (on loan from Potenza ) 34 DF   ITA Vito Mattia Radicchio 70 DF   ITA Tommaso Barnabà 73 DF   ITA Alessandro Macchioni 80 MF   GRE Vasilios Vogiatzis (on loan from Giugliano ) 90 FW   ITA Federico Moretti 94 MF   MLI Coli Saco (on loan from Napoli ) 99 MF   ITA Gianmarco Basso

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF   ITA Agostino Camigliano (at Pro Vercelli until 30 June 2024) — MF   ITA Edoardo Ruani(at Maceratese until 30 June 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW   ITA Luca Lombardi(at Cerignola until 30 June 2024)

References

1. Archived 24 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
2. "Serie C, riecco l'Ancona: ripartirà al fianco del Matelica. Con doppio nome" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 15 June 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
3. "La Fabiani si trasforma: diventerà S.S. Matelica Calcio 1921" (in Italian). Cronache Maceratesi. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
4. "Ancona Matelica Calcio: c'è l'accordo. Stadio, maglia e stemma" (in Italian). Il Resto del Carlino. 15 June 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
5. "Ancona-Matelica, Tiong si presenta: "Il mio obiettivo è stare qui il più a lungo possibile"" (in Italian). La Casa di C. 30 March 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
6. "ANCONA - MATELICA. Ufficiale il cambio di denominazione" (in Italian). Tuttocampo. 1 July 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
7. "Ancona squad" . Retrieved 19 September 2022.