Founded in 1920, they won their first and onlyScudetto in1969–70, when they were led by theItalian national team's all-time leading scorer,Gigi Riva. The triumph was also the first by a club from south ofRome. The club's best European performance was in the1993–94 UEFA Cup, reaching the semi-finals before losing to eventual winnersInternazionale.
As with the flag of its city, Cagliari's main colours are blue and red. The club badge incorporates theflag of Sardinia.
Cagliari became the first ever out-right champions ofSerie C during the 1951–52 season; prior to that in the league, the championship was shared amongst more than one team. They spent the 1950s from then on inSerie B, losing a promotion play-off in 1954. After descending to Serie C in the early 1960s, Cagliari's rise would be meteoric, eventually achieving promotion toSerie A in 1964.
The squad for theRossoblu's debut season in Serie A featured players like defenderMario Martiradonna, midfieldersPierluigi Cera,Nené andRicciotti Greatti, and forwardGigi Riva. A poor first half of the season, however, saw Cagliari in last place with nine points at the halfway mark. An astonishing second half of the season saw Cagliari defeat the likes ofJuventus andMilan and finish in seventh place with 34 points. Two seasons later, Riva finished as Serie A's top scorer for the first time while Cagliari finished with the league's best defensive record.
ForwardGigi Riva led Cagliari to their firstSerie A title in 1969–70.
During the summer of 1967, Cagliari played a season in North America as part of a fledgling league called theUnited Soccer Association. This league included teams from Europe and South America set to play in American and Canadian cities, with each club bearing a local name. Cagliari played as theChicago Mustangs, and finished joint second in the league's Western Division with 13 points, two behind the division champion and eventual league championLos Angeles Wolves. The league's leading scorer was Chicago/Cagliari'sRoberto Boninsegna, who scored ten goals while playing in 9 of the team's 12 games.
Cagliari first emerged as serious Serie A title contenders in1968–69 with a three-horse race involving them,Fiorentina and Milan. Fiorentina would win the league, but the following season would bring ultimate glory. WithAngelo Domenghini joining the side, Cagliari would win the title in 1970 with only two games lost, 11 goals conceded (the fewest in any major European league to date) and Riva as league top scorer once more. Players like Albertosi, Niccolai, Boninsegna, Gori, Cera, Domenghini and Riva played in Italy's1970 World Cup final team.
The 1970s would see a gradual decline (though were title contenders two years after their one and onlyScudetto win). Cagliari were finally relegated in 1976, with Riva's career having effectively ended during that season.
After relegation, Cagliari lost a play-off for promotion the following season and would return to Serie A in 1979. Players likeFranco Selvaggi,Mario Brugnera (a survivor of the 1970 team) andAlberto Marchetti ensured a respectable four-year stay in the top flight before a second relegation in 1983. The 1980s would then prove to be a darker time compared to the previous two decades with relegation to Serie C1 in 1987.
Cagliari spent two seasons in Serie C1. In the first one it barely avoided relegation in Serie C2. In 1988,Claudio Ranieri was appointed coach, and led the team to two successive promotions, to Serie B in 1989 and to Serie A in 1990. The first two seasons back in Serie A saw Cagliari fight relegation, with safety being achieved by excellent second half runs. But the1992–93 season would see Cagliari fight for a European place and succeed under the management ofCarlo Mazzone. The following season saw a best-ever run to thesemi-finals of theUEFA Cup, taking outJuventus in the quarter-finals before being eliminated 5–3 on aggregate by compatriotsInternazionale, having won the first leg 3–2 at home.[1]
The next few years would see Cagliari return to mid-table anonymity, before a struggle in1996–97 saw Cagliari relegated after losing a play-off toPiacenza. Once more they bounced back after just one year, but their next stay in Serie A lasted just two seasons.
Cagliari spent the next four seasons in Serie B, until in2003–04 with Sardinian-born veteran strikerGianfranco Zola, the team won promotion.[2] In2005–06, the first season without Zola, the team changed their manager three times beforeNedo Sonetti, appointed in November, was able to save the team from relegation, especially thanks to the excellent goal contribution from Honduran strikerDavid Suazo.
Apart from finishing 9th in2008–09 season, Cagliari regularly finished in the bottom half of Serie A under a sequence of managers, before being relegated in2014–15.[3] They gained promotion back the following season as champions of Serie B.[4]
In 2014, the company passed, after 22 years ofMassimo Cellino's presidency, into the hands of Tommaso Giulini, president and owner ofFluorsid, a multinational in the chemical sector. Relegation took place in the first season, but the team won theSerie B championship in 2016, returning permanently to the top division, albeit always finishing in the second half of the table. Cagliari was relegated at the end of the2021–22 season. They reappointed Claudio Ranieri halfway through the2022–23 season with the club in fourteenth place. Under Ranieri's management, Cagliari won the2022–23 Serie B playoffs.
Cagliari moved from theStadio Amsicora to theStadio Sant'Elia in 1970, after winning their only league title. It was renovated for Italy's hosting of the1990 FIFA World Cup where it hosted all ofEngland's group games, ostensibly to confine the team's notorious hooligans to an island.[5]
Disputes with the city council over renovation of the publicly owned stadium meant that Cagliari played their final home games of 2011–12 at theStadio Nereo Rocco inTrieste on the Italian mainland.[6] For most of the following season, the club played at theStadio Is Arenas in the neighbouring municipality ofQuartu Sant'Elena. It was deemed unsafe by the league, forcing them to play behind closed doors before leaving the ground in April 2013.[7] The Sant'Elia was demolished for a new stadium in 2017, and the club moved to the temporaryUnipol Domus next to it.[8]
The official red and blue colours of Cagliari mirror those featured on thestemma ofCagliari.[9] The red parts of the stemma are a reference to thecoat of arms of theHouse of Savoy, a family which was previously the monarchy of Italy and more relevantly to Cagliari in particular, theKingdom of Sardinia.[9] The blue part of thestemma features the sky and the sea, also acastle; this is because the old historic centre of Cagliari is walled and called theCastello.[9] Due to the use of these colours on their shirt in halves, the club is commonly nicknamedrossoblu.[10]
Cagliari have had several different logo designs during their history, all of which feature theflag of Sardinia.[11] Usually the badge also features the club colours; if there is a change, the main difference has been the colour of the border or the shape.[11] Since June 2015, the badge features an "Old French"-shapedescutcheon with red and blue halves, with the club's name written in white just above the flag of Sardinia. The Moors' heads have, for the first time, been turned to the right as of 2015 so as to match the Sardinian flag after it was updated in 1992.[12]
Because Cagliari are the main club from the island of Sardinia, they are nicknamed the "Isolani" ("Islanders").[13]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Cagliari have had numerous presidents over the course of their history, some of which have been the owners of the club, others have been honorary presidents, here is a complete list of them:[35]
Cagliari have had many managers and trainers, some seasons they have had co-managers running the team, here is a chronological list of them from when they founded in 1920 onwards.[36]
In the 1970s, the ultras movement developed, as in Italy. The first group was founded in 1977 with the name of Brigate Rossoblù, which was joined by Fossa Ultrà, with the latter progressing in the early 1980s to follow the team also on the "Continent" and to meet with other opposing fans. However, the phenomenon also waned due to the team's downward trajectory in that decade after the glories of the Scudetto. However, the Commando Ultrà Young Supporters was born and later merged with the Ultrà Cagliari. In February 1987 some of the members of these groups gave rise to the Sconvolts who were joined by an already existing group, the Eagles. Two years later, in 1989, Furiosi were also born. These two groups monopolized the hottest support throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, never bonding as happened with the previous groups and indeed leading to an internal struggle which led to the dissolution of the Furiosi in 2004 and led the Sconvolts group to still be the only ultras fringe remaining in the Curva Nord of the various stadiums that have taken place in recent years.
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