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| Full name | Novara Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | Gli Azzurri (The Blues/The Light Blues) I Gaudenziani (TheGaudentians) | ||
| Founded | 1908; 117 years ago (1908) | ||
| Ground | Stadio Silvio Piola, Novara,Italy | ||
| Capacity | 17,875 | ||
| Chairman | Famiglia Boveri | ||
| Manager | Andrea Zanchetta | ||
| League | Serie C Group A | ||
| 2024–25 | Serie C Group A, 11th of 20 | ||
| Website | www | ||
 Current season | |||
Novara Football Club, commonly referred to asNovara, is anItalian football club based inNovara,Piedmont.[1]
The club was founded in 2021 by theCity of Novara to replace oldNovara Calcio that lost its professional status.
In December 1908 theF.A.S. (Football Association Studenti) was created by eight students ofLiceo Carlo Alberto, aged between 15 and 16 years; among them an engineer, Gianni Canestrini, and a lawyer, Piero Zorini. In Novara in those days, there were other small clubs likeVoluntas,Pro Scalon,Ginnastica e Scherma,Forza & Speranza,Collegio Gallarini and many other student bodies. The best players from these teams came together to formNovara Calcio, and made their debut in the Italian league on 3 November 1912.
The first match was played against a team already then established asTorino, who won 2–1.
In the years between World War I and World War II, Novara challenged withPro Vercelli,Alessandria andCasale to make the so-called"quadrilatero piemontese" (Piedmont Quadrilateral). Novara played aCoppa Italia final againstInter Milan in 1939.[2] Novara's highest finish came in 1952 when they finished in eighth place inSerie A.
During these years of staying in the top flight, Novara hadSilvio Piola to thank. His many goals (which at the end of his career was over 300), made a huge contribution to the cause of Novara. Following his death in 1996, the stadium at which Novara play was dedicated in his name.
In 1956 came relegation toSerie B, and another five years afterwards, they slipped down toSerie C due to a fraudulent complaint by aSambenedettese player.
A few successful seasons in Serie B followed, but then Novara stumbled again in 1977 with relegation to Serie C and worse in 1981 toSerie C2. In the 1995–96 season, Novara were back in Serie C1, but this joy was short-lived as the following year, thebiancoazzurri again had to deal with relegation.
Years were spent in the shadows of Italian football until more recently when the league was won in the 2002–03 season.
Consolidation in Serie C1 followed, later becomingLega Pro Prima Divisione, until thehistoric promotion of the2009–10 season where the club returned toSerie B after 33 years.[3]
On 12 June 2011, Novara remarkably secured its promotion toSerie A after a 55-year absence from the league, by defeatingPadova in the play-off final.[4] Both consecutive promotions were achieved under the tenure of head coachAttilio Tesser, who was confirmed as Novara boss also for the following 2011–12 top flight campaign.
On 20 September 2011, the first home game inSerie A for 55 years, Novara recorded an historic 3–1 victory overInter.[5]
This remarkable feat, however, was not representative of their season as Novara managed to win only one more game until the end of January, when it won again againstInter inSan Siro. The manager Attilio Tesser was replaced by veteran coachEmiliano Mondonico and re-hired one month later in a desperate and ultimately vain attempt by the owners to save the club from relegation. The club was immediately relegated again toSerie B after one season.Novara finished 5th in 2012–13 season but were eliminated byEmpoli in the promotion play-offs. The following season was terrible for Novara as the club finished 19th in Serie B and lost in a play-out againstVarese, losing 4–2 on aggregate. Thus, Novara were relegated toLega Pro. Novara were crowned as champions of Group A of Lega Pro in 2014–15 and immediately returned to Serie B. In their first season back in Serie B they finished in a playoff spot but they lost to eventual winnersPescara in the semifinal. The following season saw them finish outside the playoffs in 9th, 4 points from a playoff spot. The following season saw Novara get relegated back to Lega Pro following a 20th-place finish in the2017–18 Serie B.
During the summer of 2021, Novara lost its professional status[6][7] and a phoenix club was founded inSerie D according toarticle 52 of FIGC's regulationsNOIF.[8] They were promoted back to Serie C in May 2022, after finishing top of their group inSerie D.[9]
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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The following is a provisional list of players that played internationally or for European top clubs, sorted by nationality.
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Emanuel Gigliotti
Daniel JensenJohannes Pløger
Savino BelliniGino CappelloAndrea CaraccioloRiccardo CarapelleseEmidio CavigioliGiancarlo CellaLuigi CeveniniAntonello CuccuredduAtilio DemaríaMichele Di GregorioPietro FerrarisClaudio GarellaGiuseppe GrabbiSimone InzaghiGiovanni LodettiGiustiniano MaruccoGiuseppe MascaraFrancesco MattuteiaMario MeneghettiFederico MuneratiPietro PasinatiBruno PesaolaSilvio PiolaPietro RavaMario RenostoEttore ReynaudiFrancesco RosettaSeverino RossoNicola VentolaRenato Zaccarelli
Takayuki Morimoto
Bruno Fernandes
George Pușcaș
Kjell Rosén
Haris Seferović
Nicolás FonsecaJorge Andrés Martínez
Ferenc Molnár (1931–32)Árpád Weisz (1934–35)Evaristo Barrera (1956–58)Carlo Parola (1969–74)Bruno Bolchi (1978–79)Angelo Domenghini (1989–90)Luigi Delneri (1992–94)Franco Colomba (1994–95)Alberto Marchetti (1999)Giuliano Zoratti (1999–00)Luciano Foschi (2002–04)Antonio Cabrini (2005–06)Attilio Tesser (2009–12),Emiliano Mondonico (2012),Attilio Tesser (2012)Alfredo Aglietti (2012–13)Alessandro Calori (2013–14)Alfredo Aglietti (2014)Marco Baroni (2015–16)Roberto Boscaglia (2016–17)Eugenio Corini (2017–18)Domenico Di Carlo (2017–18)William Viali (2018–19)Giuseppe Sannino (2018–19)William Viali (2018–19)Simone Banchieri (2019–20)Simone Banchieri (2020–21)Michele Marcolini (2020–21)Simone Banchieri (2020–21)Marco Marchionni (2021–22)Franco Semioli (2022–23)Giacomo Gattuso (2023–24)| Series | Years | Last | Promotions | Relegations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 13 | 2011–12 | - |  5 (1929,1937,1941,1956,2012) |
| B | 34 | 2015–16 |  5 (1927,1936,1938,1948,2011) | 5 (1962,1968,1977,2014,2018) |
| C +C2 | 21 +21 | 2020–21 | 4 (1965,1970,2010,2015) 2 (1996 C2,2003 C2) | 3 (1981 C1,1997 C1,2021✟) |
| 89 out of 90 years of professional football in Italy since 1929 | ||||
| D | 1 | 2021–22 | - | - |
