 | |||
| Full name | Unione Sportiva Livorno 1915[1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | Gli Amaranto (transl. The Dark Reds) I Labronici (transl. The Lighbourners) Le Triglie (transl. The Mullets) | ||
| Founded | 1915; 110 years ago (1915) | ||
| Ground | Armando Picchi | ||
| Capacity | 14,267 | ||
| Owner | Joel Esciua | ||
| Manager | Alessandro Formisano | ||
| League | Serie C Group B | ||
| 2024–25 | Serie D Group E, 1st of 18 (promoted) | ||
| Website | uslivorno | ||
 Current season | |||
Unione Sportiva Livorno 1915 (formerlyA.S. Livorno Calcio, commonly known asLivorno), is a professionalfootball club based inLivorno,Tuscany, Italy. They compete inSerie C, the third tier of professional Italian football after their promotion from the semi-professionalSerie D league. The team's colour is dark red (amaranto in Italian, from which the team nickname derives).
Livorno were one of the original sides ofSerie A, the top flight of Italian football, but have beenrelegated seven times from the top flight and have undergone two club refoundings in 1991 and 2021, necessitating a rise from the regionalEccellenza leagues. Their longest spells in the top division were from 1940 to 1949 (accounting for seven seasons) and from 2004 to 2008. Theamaranto have wonSerie B on two occasions, theLega Pro Prima Divisione andLega Pro Seconda Divisione once each, and theSupercoppa di Serie C once as well. Livorno play their home matches at theStadio Armando Picchi.
Founded on 15 February 1915, the club ended theItalian Football Championship 1919–20 in second place, losing the final toInternazionale. One year later, they were defeated in the semi-final by arch-rivalsPisa. In 1933, the club moved to the current stadium, originally named afterEdda Ciano Mussolini, daughter of fascist dictatorBenito Mussolini. Livorno was one of the original Serie A teams. They played at top level during periods of 1929–31, 1933–35 and 1937–39. Successively, Livorno ended as Serie A runners-up in the1942–43 season, finishing afterTorino. Livorno left Serie A in 1949 after seven consecutive seasons. They were relegated toSerie C soon after (1951–52 season), making a return to Serie B in 1955 for a single season and again from 1964 to 1972. They were relegated to Serie C2 in 1982–83 and played again in the third level between 1984 and 1989. The club was then canceled in 1991, being forced to start fromEccellenza; two consecutive promotions led the team back toSerie C2. The club was promoted toSerie C1 in 1997 and was acquired byAldo Spinelli two years later. Under the new property, Livorno returned to Serie B in 2001.
Livorno was promoted to Serie A after finishing third in theSerie B 2003–04, one of six clubs to be promoted that season. It had been 55 years since Livorno's last season in the top flight, and as a result of this, most were predicting an instant return to Serie B for the club. The first match in the major league was attended byItalian PresidentCarlo Azeglio Ciampi, a Livorno citizen and team supporter in his childhood. There were spells of struggle during the season, but there were many more good performances shown, and Livorno finished a surprise and creditable ninth place in the league for theSerie A 2004–05, also thanks to goals by strikerCristiano Lucarelli, who won the Serie A top scorer award that season, outscoring even the likes ofAndriy Shevchenko andAdriano.
TheSerie A 2005–06 saw Livorno in sixth place after the first half of the season the team, being involved for qualification to the nextUEFA Cup. Shortly after,Roberto Donadoni announced his resignation after having been criticized by club's chairman Aldo Spinelli. Donadoni was replaced by veteran coachCarlo Mazzone, who was only able to save a UEFA Cup place due to the expulsion of three teams from Europe in theCalciopoli scandal. Mazzone then saw his team suffer a run of seven straight defeats. In May 2006,Daniele Arrigoni was appointed the new coach for the next season.
In theSerie A 2006–07 season, Livorno took part in theUEFA Cup for the first time. The Tuscan side was drawn to face the Austrian teamSV Pasching in the first round, beating them comfortably 3–0 on aggregate. They thus qualified for the group stages being drawn in Group A, along withRangers,Auxerre,FK Partizan, andMaccabi Haifa. After a home loss to Rangers (2–3) and two 1–1 draws against Partizan inBelgrade (wheregoalkeeperMarco Amelia scored in the 87th minute) and Maccabi (in Livorno), the Tuscan side gained a 1–0 victory over Auxerre in the last game played in France, thus earning a spot in theRound of 32 of the competition. However, the Spanish teamEspanyol knocked out Livorno from the UEFA Cup by winning 4–1 on aggregate.
After day 19 of the Serie A, Arrigoni was sacked by chairman Spinelli, but his position was kept due to the strong opposition by the team. His dismissal was, however, only delayed, as Arrigoni was eventually fired on 21 March 2007, and replaced byFernando Orsi, who managed to keep the team away from the relegation battle. For the2007–08 campaign, Orsi was confirmed as head coach and a number of notable signings such asFrancesco Tavano,Diego Tristan andVikash Dhorasoo were finalised, but also the transfer of Lucarelli toUkrainian clubShakhtar Donetsk. The club, however, did not start well, making a mere two points in the first seven matches, and Orsi was sacked on 9 October and replaced byGiancarlo Camolese. Despite showing some positive signals at the beginning, Livorno found himself again at the bottom of league table. On 28 April 2008, Camolese was fired as Orsi was re-appointed, but in the penultimate day of the season, the team could not avoid relegation, due to a 1–0 home defeat againstTorino. They finished last in the Serie A standings of the 2007–08 season. Thus, being relegated to Serie B. They finished Serie B as the third place team in 2008–09 season and returned to Serie A after winning promotion play-offs after defeating successivelyGrosseto with a 4–3 aggregate score andBrescia with a 5–2 aggregate score. However, this return was short-lived and one season later they relegated again to Serie B after finishing last. Livorno were promoted again after they beatEmpoli 2–1 on aggregate to get the Serie A promotion.[2]
In the 2019–20 season of Serie B, Livorno ended up last, leading them to be relegated toSerie C. In the 2020–21 Serie C season, Livorno finished in last place with 29 points following a five-point deduction due to failure to pay player wages on time, and was relegated toSerie D. However, due to the club's bankruptcy, they could not pay the admission fee for Serie D and disbanded.
The club joined theEccellenza Toscana for the 2021-22 season under the new denomination ofUnione Sportiva Livorno 1915 and the ownership of formerPrato chairman Paolo Toccafondi.[3] In the 2021-22 season, Livorno finished first in Group B of the Eccellenza Toscana, but were narrowly defeated in the national playoffs byS.S.D. Pomezia Calcio. However, Livorno were later admitted back to Serie D in place ofFigline, who were barred from promotion afterthrowing a game against Tau Calcio Altopascio which influenced the promotion tournament seeding.[4] In their first Serie D season, Livorno finished 5th of 18 teams in Group E.[5] They would marginally improve the next season by finishing 4th, before being the first Italian side to secure promotion from the 2024-25 season of Serie D, having clinched Group E four matches early.[6]
| Position | Name | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Head coach | Paolo Indiani |  Italy |
| Assistant coach | Niccolò Pascali | Italy |
| Goalkeeper coach | Riccardo Di Pisello | Italy |
| Sporting director | Egidio Bicchierai | Italy |
| Physiotherapist | Fabiano Giannini | Italy |
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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No Serie A club's supporters wear their political allegiance more boldly than Livorno's, whose leanings are strongly to the left, the city of Livorno being the birthplace of Italy's Communist party.
Livorno's supporters are well known for theirleft-wing politics. The origins of the club's association with left-wing politics can be traced to Livorno being the birthplace of theItalian Communist Party in 1921.[9] Livorno’s ultra group Brigate Autonome Livornesi (BAL), founded in 1999, exemplified this. BAL celebrated events such asStalin’s birthday in the stands and expressed support for working-class causes, anti-fascism, and anti-capitalism. BAL were involved in confrontations with Milan fans and made critical remarks aboutSilvio Berlusconi, resulting in multiple banning orders. BAL's leader, former boxer Lenny Bottai, was reported to have attacked Sampdoria fans alone. BAL dissolved in 2003 following continued bans on its members.[9]
Cristiano Lucarelli, Livorno’s most notable player and a committed Communist, is closely tied to the club’s political identity. Raised in a Livorno housing project, he played for several clubs before returning to his hometown team. In 1997, during an Italy under-21 match at Livorno’s stadium, he revealed aChe Guevara t-shirt after scoring, which led to his exclusion from the senior national team for many years. Lucarelli eventually joined Livorno, taking a significant pay cut to play for the club he supported. He chose the No. 99 shirt to honour the year the club’s left-wing ultra group Brigate Autonome Livornesi was founded. His performance helped Livorno gain promotion to Serie A, and he became the league’s top scorer the following season. Despite earlier exclusion, Lucarelli later earned six senior caps for Italy, scoring three goals. Lucarelli helped cement the left-wing identity of Livorno.[9]
Livorno's ideological orientation has led to clashes with clubs associated with right-wing politics, especially those ofLazio andVerona. FormerLazio strikerPaolo Di Canio once made aRoman salute to his own fans during a match against Livorno, when tensions were running high between the two clubs'ultra groups.[10]
Since 2005, a group of migrant Livorno supporters resident in northern Europe have styled themselvesPartigiani Livornesi Scandinavia (transl. Livornian partisans of Scandinavia). A so-called "triangle of brotherhood" has developed between the most heavily supported left-wing fan clubs ofMarseille, Livorno, andAEK Athens, namely between Commando Ultras 84, Brigate Autonome Livornesi 99, andOriginal 21.[9] Their connection is mostly an ideological one. They also have a connection withAdana Demirspor (Şimşekler) andCeltic.[9]
| Season | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006–07 | First round |  Pasching | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | [11] |
| Group A |  Rangers | 2–3 | — | 3rd | ||
 Partizan | — | 1–1 | ||||
 Maccabi Haifa | 1–1 | — | ||||
 Auxerre | — | 1–0 | ||||
| Round of 32 |  Espanyol | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–4 |
| Series | Years | Last | Promotions | Relegations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 18 | 2013–14 | - |  7 (1931,1935,1939,1949,2008,2010,2014) |
| B | 27 | 2019–20 |  6 (1933,1937,1940,2004,2009,2013) | 5 (1952,1956,1972,2016,2020) |
| C +C2 | 35 +7 | 2020–21 | 4 (1955,1964,2002,2018) 2 (1984 C2,1997 C2) | 3 (1983 C1,1989 C1,2021✟) 1 (1991✟) |
| 87 out of 92 years of professional football in Italy since 1929 | ||||
| D | 3 | 2024–25 | 2 (1993,2025) | never |
| E | 2 | 2021–22 | 1 (1992,2022) | never |
