 | |
| Full name | Associazione Sportiva Dilettantisica Società Sportiva Leonzio 1909 |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1909; founded asSport Club Leonzio 1988; refounded asSocietà Sportiva Atletico Leonzio 1994; refounded asSocietà Sportiva Leonzio 1909 2003; refounded asAssociazione Calcio Sporting Leonzio 1909 2012; refounded asAssociazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Atletico Leonzio 2013; refounded asAssociazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Sicula Leonzio(from 2017 calledSicula Leonzio) 2020 (dissolved) 2021; refounded asAssociazione Sportiva Dilettantistica F.C. Leonzio 1909 2022; refounded asAssociazione Sportiva Dilettantistica S.S. Leonzio 1909 |
| Ground | Sicula Trasporti Stadium–Stadio Angelino Nobile, Lentini,Italy |
| Capacity | 3,500 |
| Chairman | Gaetano Vinci[1] |
| Manager | Fabrizio Daghio[2] |
| League | Eccellenza Sicily Group B |
ASD SS Leonzio 1909, also commonly known asLeonzio, is an Italianfootball club located inLentini.
They participate in the2024–25 Eccellenza, the fifth level of theItalian football league system.
The club was founded in 1909 asSport Club Leonzio by some students attending the Technical and Commercial Institute of Augusta. Among them, Giuseppe Messina, Angelino Nobile and Francesco Siracusano were from Lentini. They chose black and white as the club's colours.[3] In 1914, the marchioness Riso organised a four-team competition that saw the participation ofUS Catanese, Megara Augusta, Leonzio, and Carlentini. The award consisted of a diploma and a gold medal. Leonzio reached the final, in which they had to face Carlentini in an away match in the nearbytown in what was the firstderby of Leonzio's history. However, the first match was suspended because a brawl erupted. The organizers decided to replay the game in the neutral venue ofAgnone Bagni. Leonzio eventually won the competition, managing to attract the first interest ofLentinesi towards football.[3]
After having participated in regional and juvenile tournaments for decades, Leonzio was admitted to the1945–46 Serie C. At the end of the season, economic troubles, which have characterized the club throughout its history, prevented Leonzio from renewing the registration to the league.[3] After 10 additional years spent in minor regional championships, the club was admitted through arepechage to1956–57 Promozione Sicilia, the higher tier of regional tournaments inSicily. The permanence in this league lasted for three seasons, as Leonzio was relegated toPrima Categoria during the 1959–60 season. Leonzio had to wait until the 1968–69 season to be promoted back on the fourth tier of the Italian football league system, conquering the1969–70 Serie D under the management ofAdelmo Prenna, who was also a playing footballer of the team.[3]
Starting from the 1969–70 season, Leonzio competed for ten consecutive seasons inSerie D, achieving a second place as the best result in the1972–73 Serie D.[3]
One of the most prominent eras of theLentinese club started in 1988, whenSocietà Sportiva Atletico Leonzio was formed after the fusion betweenSocietà Sportiva Leonzio (which would have been relegated to theSeconda Categoria Sicilia for the 1988–89 season) andSocietà Sportiva Atletico Catania.[3] This new society joined the1988–89 Serie C2.[4] In the fifth consecutive season in Serie C2, Atletico Leonzio achieved second place in Girone C,[5] being promoted to1993–94 Serie C1.[6] However, the chairman Franco Proto decided to move the club toCatania at the end of the season.[3] The fusion with Atletico Catania was, therefore, disrupted. The old club was reformed by the name ofSocietà Sportiva Leonzio 1909, which enrolled the1994–95 Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti.[3]
At the end of the season, S.S. Leonzio 1909 were relegated to the 1995–96Eccellenza Sicily,[3] in which they will remain for six seasons before being relegated again toPromozione at the end of the season 2000–01.[7] In the summer of 2002, the title of the freshly promoted toSerie D Misterbanco was moved to Lentini under the nomination ofAssociazione Calcio Lentini,[8] This new team participated in the2002–03 Serie D, but at the end of the season it was relegated to Eccellenza after losing relegation playoffs to Nuova Vibonese.[9] In the meanwhile, S.S. Leonzio 1909 had participated in 2002–03 Promozione, being relegated to 2003–04 Prima Categoria at the end of the season.[10]
A new denomination,Associazione Calcio Sporting Leonzio 1909,[11] was given toA.C. Lentini in the 2003 summer.[12] A.C.S. Leonzio 1909 enrolled in the2003–04 Serie D.[13] Even though the relegation was barely avoided by winning the relegation playoffs,[13] the endless financial problems of the club forced them to join the 2004–05 Eccellenza[14] instead with the nameAssociazione Calcio Leonzio 1909.[15] By the 2009–10 season, Leonzio, which in the meanwhile had taken the nameAssociazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Leonzio,[16] sank toPrima Categoria. In this season, they reached but lost promotion playoffs against Real San Cristoforo because of a tough 0–5 at home.[17] However, Leonzio was admitted to the 2010–11 Promozione through a repechage.[18]
On April 2, 2011, Leonzio was promoted to Eccellenza by winning 1–0 against Comiso.[19] Leonzio ended the 2011–12 Eccellenza at the fifteenth place with only 6 points. In August 2012, Leonzio remained without a chairman and did not enrol in any league. As a consequence,Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Atletico Leonzio restarted fromTerza Categoria, the bottom of the Italian league system.[20]
On July 1, 2013, a new club, namedAssociazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Sicula Leonzio and formed from the title of Real Belpassese, was admitted to Promozione.[21][22][23] Sicula Leonzio achieved third place at the end of the season, but they lost the promotion playoffs againstComprensorio Normanno, missing the promotion to Eccellenza.[24] However, Sicula Leonzio achieved two promotions in a row in the following two seasons. During the 2014–15 season, the club obtained first place and was directly promoted.[25][26] During the 2015–16 season, Sicula Leonzio achieved third place and then beat 3–1 (a.e.t.)Troina in the semifinal and 1–0Acireale in the final of the promotion playoffs.[27][28][29] As a result, the team qualified for the national playoffs for the promotion toSerie D, when they beatSan Giorgio 1926 in the semi-final andReal Metapontino in the final.[30][31]
Sicula Leonzio managed to keep a clean sheet for the first six league games of the2016–17 Serie D (Girone I), receiving attention from the national Italian media as being the only team among the 264 professional football clubs in the first four tiers ofItalian football league system having not conceded a goal up to that point.[32] On November 22, 2016,Francesco Cozza was appointed as a new manager, replacing Seby Catania.[33][34] Under the new management, Sicula Leonzio achieved a record 15 winning streak,[35][36][37] and obtained the promotion – the third in a row – to the2017–18 Serie C with three games to spare.[37] This result meant a return to the third tier of Italian football after 23 years of absence for the club of Lentini.[37] As a result, the club became asocietà a responsabilità limitata (S.r.l.), changing the name toSicula Leonzio.[38] After thePoule Scudetto, in which Leonzio lost to Monza in the semi-final,[39] Cozza resigned his managerial position to become the manager ofTaranto,[40] being replaced by Pino Rigoli.[41]
After a difficult start in season2017–18, in which Leonzio had won only three out of 16 matches, on December 5, 2017, Rigoli was replaced byAimo Diana as manager of the club.[42] With Diana as a manager, Sicula Leonzio achieved a final tenth place, which meant participating in the promotion playoffs that the club, however, lost againstCosenza Calcio.[43]
For thenew season, Leonzio appointedPaolo Bianco as a new manager starting in July 2018.[44] However, Bianco resigned in December 2018,[45] replaced byVincenzo Torrente.[46] Torrente leaves the managerial role at the end of the season,[47] with the club finishing 13th in the league.
The2019–20 season sawVito Grieco appointed as manager, temporarily replaced byGiovanni Bucaro amid disappointing results.[48] Although the team managed to avoid relegation by winning the playoffs againstBisceglie,[49] the club was dismissed in August 2020 following the failure to register the team to the2020–21 Serie C season because of judiciary issues faced by President Giuseppe Leonardi.[50][49]
In August 2021, a new club, namedAssociazione Sportiva Dilettantistica FC Leonzio 1909 and formed from the title ofA.S.D. Siracusa, was admitted toEccellenza.[51] After two consecutive withdrawals, Leonzio was excluded from the league by theLega Nazionale Dilettanti.[52]
In the summer of 2022, the club was once again refounded under the denomination ofAssociazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Società Sportiva Leonzio 1909 and the presidency of Gaetano Vinci.[1] They were admitted to the2022–23 Eccellenza,[1] where they finished in 4th place but lost the playoff semifinal to Città di Taormina.[53] In thefollowing season, Leonzio finished 14th, but won the playout final against Messana to avoid relegation.[2]
Sicula Leonzio's colours were black and white.
Leonzio play their home matches at the Stadio Angelino Nobile, which has a capacity ofc. 3,500.[54]
From 2018 to 2020, the stadium was named Sicula Trasporti Stadium–Stadio Angelino Nobile, before July 2018 known as Stadio Angelino Nobile for sponsorship reasons.[55][56]