Spezia Calcio is an Italian professionalfootball club based inLa Spezia,Liguria, currently competing in theSerie B. Spezia Calcio was founded in 1906 by the Swiss banker Hermann Hurni (or Hurny in some documents), who played for the early Crystal Palace amateur teams in London during his time there as a student.
The first Spezia playing kit, light blue and white, was a second-hand amateur Crystal Palace kit donated to Hurny when he returned to La Spezia. In 1911, following the decision of Alberto Picco and others to honourPro Vercelli as an example of a small team able to beat the big teams, a plain white shirt was adopted with black shorts and black socks, which is still in use today. In the 1920s prior to the creation of Serie A, Spezia played several top league games against the giants of Italian football includingAC Milan,Juventus, andInter Milan. The club has participated in all tiers of the Italian football system.
Spezia won the 1944 Campionato Alta Italia which was officially recognized by FIGC (the Italian Football Federation) in 2002 after a long dispute and the use of a special permanent badge was authorized. The tricolour badge is exhibited on the official jerseys during games and has a different shape and size compared to the ordinary Scudetto.
Following the fall from Serie B in 1951, Spezia was destined to languish in third and fourth division for 55 years. The 2000s saw the return to Serie B in 2006, bankruptcy and the rebirth re-establishing themselves as a regular Serie B team once again. In 2020, exactly 100 years from its first appearance at the top level, Spezia finally returned to Serie A as the winner of the promotion play-offs, securing a second Serie A term for the2021–22 season.
The performance of Spezia in the Italian football league structure since the first season of a unified Serie A (1929/30). The 1944 Scudetto is not official.
Spezia Calcio was founded in 1906 by the Swiss banker Hermann Hurny (or Hurni in some documents), who played for the reserves of Crystal Palace in London during his time there as a student.Allegedly the first Spezia kit, light blue and white, was a second hand Crystal Palace kit donated to Hurny when he returned to La Spezia. He played for Crystal Palace again (in its revived form) in 1909.
In1926, they won the Seconda Divisione and were promoted to thePrima Divisione, which was at that time the second-highest level of Italian football. In 1929 Spezia won the Prima Divisione but the league was demoted to become the third division in Italy so the team remained at the second level, playing inSerie B.
For the1929–30 season, the club played in the first season of the newly formed Serie B and changed their name to AC Spezia. Spezia remained at this level before suffering relegation in 1935, only to swiftly return for the1936–37 season.
In 1944, because ofWorld War II, the Italian football federation decided to split the top league into regional rounds. The team, named42° Corpo dei Vigili del Fuoco della Spezia (Firefighters of La Spezia) after a merger with the local firefighter to have a sufficient number of players, was included in Round D ofEmilia-Romagna, together with Corradini Suzzara, Fidentina, Orlandi Busseto andParma. Spezia won the round and qualified to the semi-finals, in which it challenged Suzzara,Carpi andModena. Spezia won also this round, winning five of the six matches played, losing only to Carpi. By winning the semi-final round, Spezia was admitted to play a two-legs play-off againstBologna.
The first match, played in Bologna, was suspended because of incidents after the 1–0 goal of Spezia by the Bologna supporters; Spezia was awarded a 2–0 win because of that. The return match, scheduled to be played in La Spezia, was first moved toCarpi, because of the heavy bombings in the Ligurian city during the period, then cancelled because of protests by Bologna chairmanRenato Dall'Ara, so Spezia was admitted to the final without playing the return match.
The finals, held inMilan, were played againstVenezia andTorino. On 9 July 1944, the first match between Spezia and Venezia was played: it ended in a 1–1 draw. commented by theGazzetta dello Sport as a "surprising result".
On 16 July, Spezia challenged theGrande Torino, withVittorio Pozzo as coach andSilvio Piola as striker. The match ended in an epic 2–1 victory for Spezia. After the third match, in which Torino beat Venezia in a 5–2 win, Spezia was declared champion.
The title was officially recognised by FIGC in 2002 as decoration.
Following the decision of FIGC in 2002, Spezia is authorized by the Italian Federation to exhibit a tricolour badge on the official jerseys which is unique, being the only example of a permanent one in Italy.The badge has a different shape and size compared to the ordinary Scudetto.
After the war, the Italian football system once again consisted of national leagues, as opposed to regional rounds, and Spezia returned to Serie B from 1946 to 1951. Relegation in the1950–51 season led to a rapid fall through the divisions, as the club was relegated in three consecutive seasons back into the local Promozione Ligure in 1953. The club's name was changed to A.C. Spezia-Arsenal in 1954, only to change again to Football Club Spezia 1906 just a year later.
Promotion back toSerie C in 1958 marked the beginning of a period in which the club bounced back and forth between the third and fourth levels of Italian football, a cycle that would continue until finally returning to Serie B in the 2000s. The most consistent spell in a single division was Spezia's run in Serie C from 1966 to 1979, when the club finished in 17th position and was again relegated to the fourth-divisionSerie C2. Spezia returned the next year with another promotion but again fell back down in 1981. Another spell in Serie C was to follow from 1986 to 1997, when the club returned to the fourth tier once more. The name of the club was changed to its current name Spezia Calcio in 1995.
Life in Serie B with traditional Italian powerhousesJuventus, Genoa andNapoli was difficult for the newly promoted Ligurian side, which themselves were fighting to avoid the relegation spots in the2006–07 campaign. With a squad consisting of mid-season signingGuilherme do Prado,Tomás Guzmán,Corrado Colombo, Massimiliano Guidetti,Nicola Santoni, amongst others, Spezia managed to survive in Serie B through finishing in 19th place, gaining participation in the playout round after a late victory inTurin against Juventus. Having tied 2–2 with Juventus, the Ligurians were only seconds away from relegation, but a dramatic goal on the 91st minute byNicola Padoin condemnedArezzo to the drop to Serie C and qualified Spezia for the playoffs. The first leg againstHellas Verona, who had ended the regular season in 18th position, ended in a 2–1 win for Spezia, and a 0–0 tie in the return match secured Spezia's place in Serie B for the following season.
However, in the next season, with the team led by players such asIsah Eliakwu, Colombo and Do Prado, the club failed to make the miracle happen in consecutive seasons, primarily due to a troubling situation in the financiers of the club and growing economic issues. Spezia finished the 2007/08 season in 21st place, only aboveCesena and three points behindAvellino in the final safety position, relegated after two seasons back in Serie B.
In 2008, due to financial difficulty and following their relegation fromSerie B, the club was forced to declare bankruptcy.[4] In June 2011FIGC sanctioned a number of former board members of the bankrupted Spezia for sports fraud.[5]
The team was refounded in 2008 asA.S.D. Spezia Calcio 2008 byGabriele Volpi, the owner ofwater polo team ofPro Recco and Croatian sideHNK Rijeka, winner of numerous scudetti and admitted to the non-professionalSerie D, thanks toArticle 52 NOIF of FIGC.[6]
Upon promotion inLega Pro Seconda Divisione at the end of theSerie D 2008–09 season, A.S.D. Spezia changed its denomination in the current "Spezia Calcio", a return to the club name from 1995.[7] Spezia finished Girone A of Lega Pro Seconda Divisione as second and qualified for promotion play-offs in 2009–10 season. Spezia defeatedPavia at semifinal andLegnano at final and were promoted to Girone A ofLega Pro Prima Divisione after making a second consecutive promotion.
During the 2011–12 season, the club secured aLega Pro treble for the first time; finishing as champions ofLega Pro Prima Divisione/B and being promoted toSerie B, winning theCoppa Italia Lega Pro, and also winning theSupercoppa di Lega di Prima Divisione. A 3–0 victory againstLatina on 6 May 2012 secured promotion, Spezia's third in four seasons as part of a rise from the fifth to the second level of the national football system.
After returning to Serie B, the club enjoyed relative success, generally finishing in mid-table or qualifying for the promotion playoffs from 2012 to 2019. In this time, Spezia qualified for the playoffs on five occasions, only to be eliminated in the first round four times and was defeated in the semifinals byTrapani in the2015–16 season. This period established the club as a consistent contender for promotion toSerie A. A big international investment was made by Australian businessman Lucas Vivarelli during this time, when he bought the team's home kit, enabling the club to grow further with such significant funding.
In the 2019–20 season, Spezia finished in third place, only behind the automatically promotedBenevento andCrotone, equaling their highest ever league finish. This was the sixth occasion in which Spezia had reached the Serie B promotion playoffs in the previous eight years. After beatingChievo in the semi-final of thepromotion play-offs, Spezia won promotion to Serie A for the first time on 20 August 2020 by defeatingFrosinone in the final via the tiebreaker rule over two legs (with each team having won 1–0 in each leg respectively, but Spezia ending the regular league season five places higher than eighth placed Frosinone).[8] This was Spezia's fourth promotion since Volpi's refoundation in 2008 (the club rising from the-then fifth-tier Serie D to Serie A in just 12 years).
After clinching promotion just over a month prior, Spezia played its first home game of the2020–21 Serie A season againstSassuolo on 27 September 2020, ending in a 4–1 home defeat, withAndrey Galabinov scoring their first-ever top-flight goal.[9] Spezia won its first Serie A match on 30 September, againstUdinese, ending in a 2–0 away win.[10] Volpi, having owned the club for just under 13 years and supporting its rise through the Italian professional divisions, sold the club in February 2021 to an American ownership group headed by the family of Robert Platek, a partner of U.S. private investment firmMSD Capital.[11] Despite having been widely expected to lose its relegation battle at the end of the first season in Serie A, Spezia impressively overcame much larger and wealthier clubs on several occasions throughout the season, including a home win againstMilan, a 2–1 away victory overNapoli, followed by further success in the Liguria derby againstSampdoria, whilst also earning draws againstInternazionale,Roma andAtalanta.[12] Boosted by the flexible attacking-based tactics of coachVincenzo Italiano, Spezia's on-field success was most notable in their improved second half of the season, which led to a 15th-place finish with 39 points (six more than Benevento in the final relegation position), with survival eventually being secured through a 4–1 win at home toTorino on 15 May 2021.[13] Another notable feat during the season was the call-up of star midfielderMatteo Ricci to theItaly national team in March 2021, 85 years after club legendLuigi Scarabello played for Italy (the last Italian international to have played for Spezia simultaneously).[14] Alongside Ricci, key players who impressed for the Ligurians upon their survival in the top-flight include strikerM'Bala Nzola, scorer of 11 goals in 2020/21, loaneeTommaso Pobega,Emmanuel Gyasi, as well as academy productsGiulio Maggiore andSimone Bastoni.
Ahead of Spezia's second season in Serie A, the club lost coach Italiano, who was appointed byFiorentina. He would be replaced byThiago Motta.[15] The club was also hit by the news that it had been subjected to a two-year transfer ban byFIFA, active from January 2022, due to a breach of national immigration law through illegally signing 13 underage players fromNigeria,[16] that was later reduced to a one-year partially suspended sentence on appeal.[17]
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.
Spezia's official club colours are white and black. The home kit traditionally consists of a plain white shirt with black trim, black shorts and black socks. White shorts and socks are also commonly used in the event of kit clashes with opponents. Away kits typically feature either an all-black design for shirts, shorts and socks, or the reverse of the home kit, but may also feature a variety of different colours, often changing each season. The club's nickname isGli Aquilotti ("The Eagles").
The club hosts its matches at the 10,336-capacityStadio Alberto Picco, which has been the club's home stadium since 1919. For the2020–21 season, Spezia was forced to play many of its home matches at theStadio Dino Manuzzi inCesena, which has a capacity of just under 24,000, because its home stadium did not meet Serie A requirements. However, Spezia was eventually able to return to the Alberto Picco in the latter stage of the season after undergoing renovations.
Spezia's fanbase is almost exclusively based in the city ofLa Spezia and the surrounding areas, due to the domination of Liguria of its two largest clubs,Genoa andSampdoria, who are heavily supported throughout the region. With Liguria having become known as a breeding ground for multiple teams since the early days of football in Italy, many derbies have emerged between the football clubs of the region. Spezia maintains minor rivalries with Liguria's more traditional powerhouses, Genoa and Sampdoria, with fierce historical meetings with the former in their battle for promotion in the2005–06 Serie C season as well as on numerous occasions in Serie B, along with the more recent matches between Spezia and both of these two clubs in Serie A from Spezia's first season in 2020/21. Similarly, the club has played many notable fixtures againstPisa, which has become known as theTuscan-Ligurian Derby, as well as a rivalry withCarrarese in theDerby Lunense. Other rivalries that Spezia has contested throughout its history, particularly in its time in the lower leagues of Italian football, include those with other Ligurian sides such asVirtus Entella,Savona,Sestrese andSanremese.
