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| Full name | Fußball Club Südtirol s.r.l. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | (in Italian and German) Biancorossi /Weiß-Rote (White and reds) Tirolesi /Tiroler (Tyroleans) Altoatesini,Sudtirolesi /Südtiroler (South Tyroleans) | ||
| Short name | FCS | ||
| Founded | 1974 (as SV Milland Fussball) 1995 (as FC Südtirol–Alto Adige) 2000 (as F.C. Südtirol) | ||
| Ground | Stadio Marco Druso | ||
| Capacity | 5,500 | ||
| Chairman | Gerhard Comper | ||
| Manager | Fabrizio Castori | ||
| League | Serie B | ||
| 2024–25 | Serie B, 10th of 20 | ||
| Website | fc-suedtirol.com | ||
 Current season | |||
Fußball Club Südtirol is anItalian association football club, based in the city ofBolzano, in the autonomous province ofSouth Tyrol.[1][2] The club was formerly known as its bilingual nameF.C. Südtirol – Alto Adige. They played for the first time in their history in Serie B during the 2022–23 season after having been crowned Serie C champions in the 2021–22 campaign.
In the early ‘90s came the idea to bring professional football back toSouth Tyrol, because since the ‘80s withFC Bolzano, no South Tyrolean team played in a professional league.
Negotiations for the takeover ofFC Bolzano, which was in financial difficulties, failed.
A South Tyrolean entrepreneurial group then took over SV Milland, founded in 1974 and based in a district ofBrixen, which played before the acquisition in the season 1994/95 in the regionalEccellenza, but was relegated after that season into thePromozione.
The team was renamedFC Südtirol–Alto Adige[3] in 1995; Alto Adige is the Italian name of the province, while Südtirol is itsGerman name.
The club started its first season in 1995 in the regionalPromozione (then still the seventh-highest league in Italy). Immediate promotion to theEccellenza was achieved via a first-place finish.
From the 1997/98 season, the club played in the national leagueSerie D (V). Each season, the FC Südtirol was able to improve. In 2000, then under coachGiuseppe Sannino, it was promoted toSerie C2 (IV), the lowest professional league.[4]
In 2000, the company incorporated asFußballclub Südtirol S.r.l., thus becoming F.C. Südtirol and relocating to Bolzano,[5] though it was legally based inBrixen until 2011.[1]
The club was able to establish itself quickly in the professional league. The aim of the club was to achieve promotion intoSerie C1 as soon as possible but often failed in the following seasons each time in the play-offs. FC Südtirol got into financial difficulties and then focused more on youth work.
Just before the end of the season 2008/09, youth coach Alfredo Sebastiani took over the first team. With him, the club avoided relegation in the play-outs againstValenzana Calcio.[6] Under Sebastiani, the team in 2009/10 reached for the first time promotion toSerie C1 (III), by finishing the season in first place.[7]
In the2010–11 Lega Pro Prima Divisione season, Südtirol was relegated toLega Pro Seconda Divisione after the relegation "play-out",[8] but on 4 August 2011 was readmitted toLega Pro Prima Divisione to fill vacancies.[9]
In thenext season, the club hiredGiovanni Stroppa, who was at that time youth coach ofMilan. The team was able to establish itself in the third tier and narrowly missed the promotion play-offs. With good performances, players likeManuel Fischnaller andAlessandro Iacobucci moved to theSerie B.[10] After the season Stroppa became coach ofSerie A clubPescara.[11]
In the2012–13 Lega Pro Prima Divisione season, the team was coached byStefano Vecchi. With him, the team was able to reach the promotion playoffs of the Italian third tier for the first time in club history. In the play-off semi-final the team was eliminated byCarpi, which eventually won promotion. In the following season, Vecchi was hired by Carpi.[12]
The2013–14 season started withLorenzo D'Anna as coach, previously youth coach ofChievo. Under him, the team could score only five points in the first five matches, which was not enough for the promotion ambitions of the club.[13] They changed coaches and hired Claudio Rastelli.
During the championship, the team was able to prevail better and in the end reached third place in the table. That was the best result of the club's history and the repeated achievement of the play-offs. In the quarterfinals, the team prevailed againstComo on penalties. In the semi-final,Cremonese was defeated over two legs. The final round for promotion toSerie B was lost againstPro Vercelli.[14]
Südtirol's 2021–22 season turned out to be the most successful in club history, as they won the title race on the final matchday, with a five-point advantage to runners-upPadova, and also reached the2021–22 Coppa Italia Serie C final, losing on aggregate to Padova.
Therefore, they acquired their place in the Serie B for the2022–23 season, which was to be both Südtirol's first time in the league, as well as the first time a club from Südtirol/Alto Adige qualified for a spot in the Italian second division.[15]
The2022-23 season turned out to be an even bigger success for Südtirol.
While losing their first three league matches and suffering an embarrassing early knockout from theCoppa Italia on home turf against Serie C opponentFeralpisalò, the team quickly picked up the pace of the league and were in constant contention for promotion to Serie A, either directly or via play-offs.
A late campaign blow to their form meant that Südtirol clinched 6th place in the league with 58 points, which meant they qualified to the promotion play-off preliminary round, coming 15 points short of directly promotedGenoa's 73 points in second place, and only two points short of play-off semi-final qualifiersParma in fourth place.
The preliminary play-off round saw Südtirol hostingReggina in a one-match showdown, wherePierpaolo Bisoli's squad managed to clinch a nail-biting 1–0 victory with a lateDaniele Casiraghi goal in the 89th minute to advance into the semi-finals where they met 3rd-place finishersBari in a two-match pairing.
On home turf, Südtirol managed to win with an even more late goal byMatteo Rover in the 90+2nd minute to put Südtirol in the lead.
The second leg saw Südtirol being one man up in theSan Nicola after a first half red card on behalf of Bari, but a 70th minuteLeonardo Benedetti goal meant that Bari equalized the aggregate score, which meant that Südtirol got eliminated as the higher regular season finish is used as a tiebreaker.
In the 2023-24 season, despite some challenging moments (which led to the dismissal of coach Bisoli in favor of the Italian-SwissFederico Valente, who came from the youth teams), Südtirol managed to secure their place in Serie B.
The team's colors are white and red showing its roots in the province ofSouth Tyrol and the city ofBolzano, present in their traditional coats of arms and flags.
Historically, the home jerseys of the club are white. Most of the time the team plays away matches in red jerseys, but from time to time they can be black as well.
The current logo of the association is a slightly different form of the badge used since the club was founded in 1995 to 2016.
The logo of the association is a circular badge with a white-red diamond pattern and a football inside. The logo is circled with the words "FC Südtirol" (German term for "FC South Tyrol") and "Bolzano - Bozen". Compared to the previous badge, the diamond pattern was renewed and the red color darkened slightly.[16]
The home games of FC Südtirol are played in theDrusus stadium inBolzano, named afterNero Drusus, a Roman general.
Built in 1936 as a multi-sport facility and wholly renovated between 2019 and 2021 as a pure football ground,[17] the Drusus stadium has a main and opposite tribune and it can accommodate up to 5,500 spectators.[18]
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The FCS Center is the training center of the team, located in Rungg-Maso Ronco (Eppan), 9 km away from downtownBolzano.
In 2015, the training areas were renovated, creating two natural turf pitches, two artificial turf pitches and another small artificial turf pitch.
The service center was opened in 2018 and offers changing rooms, offices, a gym with a medical department, meeting rooms, a restaurant and a fan shop. In the training center are also held the championship games of the youth teams of FC Südtirol.[19]
In 2010, the training center was the training camp of theGermany national football team for the preparation of theWorld Cup in South Africa. Again in 2018 the German team used the center for the preparation to theWorld Cup in Russia.[20]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Head coach |  Fabrizio Castori |
| Assistant head coach | Riccardo Bocchini |
| Goalkeeping coach | Massimo Marini |
| Athletic coach | Danilo Chiodi Carlo Pescosolido |
| Technical assistant | Marco Castori Tommaso Marolda |
| Rehab coach | Alberto Andorlini |
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 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Relevant discussion may be found on thetalk page. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(November 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The following list includes players who played or have played more than 10 matches in eitherSerie A orSerie B.
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| This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Relevant discussion may be found on thetalk page. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(November 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The following list includes managers who coached or have coached teams in theSerie A orSerie B.
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