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| Full name | Football Club CrotoneS.r.l. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | I Pitagorici (The Pythagoreans) Gli Squali orLo Squalo Calabrese (The Sharks or The Shark of Calabria) Rossoblù (Red and Blue) | |||
| Founded | 1910; 115 years ago (1910) | |||
| Ground | Stadio Ezio Scida | |||
| Capacity | 16,647 | |||
| Chairman | Gianni Vrenna[1] | |||
| Head coach | Emilio Longo | |||
| League | Serie C Group C | |||
| 2024–25 | Serie C Group C, 4th of 20 | |||
| Website | www | |||
 Current season | ||||
Football Club Crotone S.r.l., commonly referred to asCrotone, is anItalian football club based inCrotone,Calabria. They play in the third division of Italian football, theSerie C. Founded on 20 September 1910, it holds its home games atStadio Ezio Scida, which has a 16,647-seat capacity.
The club is based in the ancient Greek settlement ofKroton, one of the first Greek colonies in what is now known as modern day Italy. The club is proud of their Greek origins with their banners and slogans and regularly depicting Greek icons such assoldiers of Sparta.[2]
The first team from Crotone,Società sportiva Crotona, was founded on 20 September 1910, but without adhering toItalian Football Federation, and the following main teams of Crotone, likeMilone Crotone, did not participate before 1921 in several minor leagues includingPrima Divisione (which later would be known asSerie C). FollowingWorld War II, a new club,Unione Sportiva Crotone replaced the previous one, playing seven seasons in Serie C.
In 1963, the club was relegated toSerie D, but returned to the third division the following year, remaining there for fourteen consecutive seasons, missing promotion in 1977 when finishing third behindBari andPaganese. In 1978, following the Italian football league reorganisation, Crotone was relegated to Serie C2 and the following year was declaredbankrupt. A new club,Associazione Sportiva Crotone, began competing again in thePrima Categoria (eighth division).
Crotone was promoted toSerie C2 in 1984–85, but only for one season. The team's name was changed toKroton Calcio, and the club was promoted again to C2 after the 1986–87 season, where it played until 1991. A second bankruptcy led to the foundation of Football Club Crotone Calcio with Raffaele Vrenna as chairman, starting in thePromozione (7th level). Crotone gained successive promotions to Serie C2 and C1, winning in the play-offs against Locri andBenevento, respectively.
UnderAntonello Cuccureddu, Crotone first reachedSerie B in 2000, returning to the second level two seasons later. Again in division two in 2004, after disposing ofViterbese in the promotion play-offs, it remained in the category until the2006–07 season.
After being beaten byTaranto in the 2008 play-offs, Crotone returned to the second division the following season, defeatingBenevento.
The team was promoted toSerie A, the Italian top flight, for the first time in its history in 2016.[3] In the2016–17 season, the club finished 17th, securing a place in thenext Serie A season. This was despite the Calabrian side only winning two points from the first ten matches, one of the poorest starts the Italian top-flight had seen in years. Crotone remained in the relegation positions for almost the entire season before an impressive revival saw the club achieve a seven-match unbeaten run from matchdays 30 to 36, including five wins in that time, and the season was concluded with a 3-1 victory overLazio on the last matchday, a result that saw Crotone jump aboveEmpoli to 17th place and thus secured another season in Serie A in what was hailed as a football miracle, led by 13-goal top scorerDiego Falcinelli and coachDavide Nicola.[4]
In the following season, Crotone failed to avoid relegation after losing againstNapoli in the last match of the Serie A campaign, returning toSerie B after two seasons.
Following the2019-20 season, the club was promoted to Serie A once more in second place, only behindBenevento in the table. However, the club's top-flight campaign was less than satisfactory. After spending the majority of the season in the last spot of the table, and losing incredible matches that were an early indicator of the hardship the club would endure, Crotone was mathematically relegated to Serie B after 34 games, following a loss to would-be champions Inter. This relegation came in contrast with several excellent performances from individual players, particularly strikerSimy, who scored 20 league goals during the season, a record for a relegated team.[5] Nevertheless, the 92 goals Crotone conceded was one more thanCasale conceded in1933-34, setting a new Serie A record for goals against in a single season.[6]
To reduce wage bills following relegation to Serie B, the club loaned out attacking midfielderJunior Messias toAC Milan with an option for the latter to buy, and strikerSimy toSalernitana (sold to the latter in January 2022). The team's attacking power weakened. Crotone finished 19th in the league and suffered a second successive relegation to2022–23 Serie C.
In September 2025, the club was placed in judicial administration, due to the’Ndrangheta infiltrating the club's security and ticketing operations.[7]
Team colours are dark blue and white, due to their Greek origins, and also red. The club's kits are traditionally dark blue and red stripes.Some of the team's mottos are "Salutate la Magna Grecia" ("Salute Greater Greece")[8][9] and "Noi siamo la Magna Grecia" ("We are Greater Greece").[10] Fans of FC Crotone pride themselves as being ”La Capitale Della Magna Grecia” ("The capital of Greater Greece").[9] The team's nickname is "the Pythagoreans", deriving from the well-known Greek philosopherPythagoras.[11]
FC Crotone has a fierce rivalry againstLFA Reggio Calabria in what's called the "Magna Graecia derby".[12][13] The club also maintains rivalries againstCosenza Calcio andUS Catanzaro 1929.[14][15]
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 |  Emilio Longo |
| Assistant coach | Vincenzo Migliaccio |
| Assistant coach | Giuseppe Brescia |
| Goalkeeper coach | Nicola Barasso |
| Fitness coach | Fabio Allevi |
| Fitness coach | Elmiro Trombino |
| Physiotherapist | Armando Cistaro |
| Physiotherapist | Matteo Errico |
| Physiotherapist | Riccardo Pupo |
| Chief doctor | Massimo Iera |
| Club doctor | Massimo Bisceglia |
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Giorgio Tricoli (1954–1955)Bruno Giordano (1996–1997)Antonello Cuccureddu (1999–2001)Giuseppe Papadopulo (2000–2001)Antonio Cabrini (2001)Stefano Cuoghi (2001–2002)Franco Selvaggi (2002)Gian Piero Gasperini (2003–2004)Andrea Agostinelli (2004–2005)Gian Piero Gasperini (2005–2006)Elio Gustinetti (2006–2007)Guido Carboni (2007)Francesco Moriero (2008–2009)Franco Lerda (2009–2010)Leonardo Menichini (2010)Eugenio Corini (2010–2011)Leonardo Menichini (2010–2012)Massimo Drago (2012–2015)
Ivan Jurić (2015–2016)Davide Nicola (2016–2017)Walter Zenga (2017–2018)Giovanni Stroppa (2018–2021)Serse Cosmi (2021)Francesco Modesto (2021)Pasquale Marino (2021)Francesco Modesto (2021-)
