The performance of Udinese in the Italian football league structure since the first season of a unified Serie A (1929/30).
Udinese Calcio (Italian pronunciation:[udiˈneːzeˈkaltʃo,-eːse-]; "Udinese Football") is a professionalfootball club based inUdine,Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in theSerie A, the first tier ofItalian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a football club.
The traditional team home kit is black and white striped shirt, black shorts, and white socks. The club broadcasts on channel 110 (Udinese Channel) ondigital terrestrial television in the north-east of Italy. It has many fans inFriuli and the surrounding areas.
Udinese Calcio was established in 1896 as part of theSocietà Udinese di Ginnastica e Scherma, (Udinese Society of Gymnastics and Fencing). In its inaugural year, the club won the Torneo FNGI inTreviso beating Ferrara 2–0; however, this title is not recognised as official.
On 5 July 1911, some gymnasts of Udinese, headed by Luigi Dal Dan, founded the A.C. Udinese, which joined theFIGC. The new side made its debut in a friendly match againstJuventus, and won 6–0.
It was only in1912–13 that Udinese first took part in an official FIGC championship. In that year they enrolled in theCampionato Veneto di Promozione, which consisted of just three teams (the others were Petrarca and Padova). With two victories against Padova (3–1 and 5–0), Udinese finished the tournament in second place behind Petrarca and were promoted to first-levelPrima Categoria. In Prima Categoria, Udinese failed to reach the national stage, always knocked out in theEliminatoria Veneta.
The1920–21 season, which ended with the Friulani eliminated in theEliminatoria Veneta, was memorable because it was the debut of Gino Bellotto, who is still the player who has played the most seasons with Udinese, spending 17 seasons with theZebrette.
In the league, Udinese finished second inGirone Eliminatorio Veneto, which allowed them to remain in the top flight for the next season, despite a reform of the championships that reduced the number of teams in the competition.
The1922–23 season was a disastrous one for Udinese, as they came last in and were relegated to the second division. The team risked failure for debts in 1923. On 24 August 1923, AS Udinese separated from AC Udinese Friuli, and the club was forced to set up a budget and an autonomous board. All debts were paid by President Alessandro Del Torso through the sale of some of his paintings and Udinese could thus join theSecond Division in which they came fourth.
The 1924–25 season was memorable. The team was included in Group F II Division. The championship was very even and at the end of the tournament three teams were in contention to win: Udinese,Vicenza and Olympia River. Playoffs were needed to determine who would reach the final round.
Udinese beat Olympia in a playoff 1–0 and drew 1–1 with Vicenza. In the play-off standings, Udinese and Vicenza were still in the lead with 3 points each. Another play-off was then played to determine the winner. After a first encounter finished 0–0, Udinese lost a replay 2–1 but were awarded the win as Vicenza fielded an ineligible player, a Hungarian called Horwart. Udinese reached the finals in place of Vicenza.
In the final round, Udinese finished first and was promoted, alongsideParma, toFirst Division. In the following season, Udinese finished 10th and was relegated again. However, the format of the championship was again reformed and Udinese had another chance to reclaim their place in the top flight. They competed in play-offs with seven other sides for the right to play in Serie A. The winner would remain in the top flight. The club, however, lost the playoff against Legnano and lost their place in the top flight.
They remained in Second Division until the end of the 1928–29 season whenSerie A andSerie B were created, with Udinese falling into the third tier (Terza Serie). The first season in Terza Serie was a triumphant one and Udinese were promoted up to Serie B.
The stay in Serie B lasted only two years, and after the 1931–32 season, the team returned to the third division. Udinese remained in the third tier (later renamedSerie C in 1935) until 1938–39, when coming second in Girone Finale Nord di Serie C, they were promoted to Serie B.
The Zebrette remained in Serie B for a dozen years, with average performances and were relegated to Serie C at the end of the 1947–48 season due to a reform of the championships. This relegation, however, was followed by two consecutive promotions, and thanks to an excellent second-place finish in theSerie B 1949-50, the Friulani won a historic promotion toSerie A.
1950s: second place in A, and relegation back to B
Udinese remained in Serie A for five seasons and almost claimed an historic Scudetto in the1954–55 season, when they came second only behindMilan. It was after that season, however, that Udinese was relegated because of an offence committed on 31 May 1953, the last day of the championship, which was exposed two years later. The Friuliani returned to Serie A after one season in B and in the following season was confirmed among the best Italian teams with an excellent fourth-place finish.
A decline followed those good seasons, however, with Udinese first relegated back down to Serie B in 1961–62 and then to Serie C in 1963–64. Udinese remained in C for about fifteen years, missing promotion back to B on numerous occasions. It was only after the 1977–78 season that the Friuliani, led by managerMassimo Giacomini, returned to B winning Girone A. In the same season, they won theCoppa Italia Semiprofessionisti, beatingReggina and also won theAnglo-Italian Cup.
During the next season, Udinese withMassimo Giacomini as their manager, wonSerie B and returned after more than two decades toSerie A. In their first year back after so long, the team survived after a disappointing 15th-place finish. In Europe, they fared much better, winning theMitropa Cup, a European Cup for teams that had won the previous season of Serie B.
In subsequent seasons the team managed to survive relegation without any particular difficulty also managing an impressive sixth place in1982–83. At that time Udinese had on its books one of the club's all-time greatest players, the Brazilian midfielderZico.
At the end of the1985–86 season, the team was embroiled in a betting scandal and was penalised nine points for the1986–87 season. Despite a desperate comeback towards the end of the season, Udinese were relegated toSerie B. Had they not been deducted points, Udinese would have survived.
During the following years, Udinese were promoted to Serie A and relegated back to B on several occasions. This situation lasted until the1995–96 season, from which point on, they established themselves in Serie A.
In March 2001,Luciano Spalletti was appointed manager, replacingLuigi De Canio. Spalletti managed to lead the team to survival on the penultimate matchday. Following brief periods withRoy Hodgson andGiampiero Ventura on the bench, Spalletti was again appointed manager of Udinese at the beginning of the2002–03 season, finding an organised and ambitious club which again reached theUEFA Cup, playing attacking and entertaining football.
The surprising fourth-place finish at the end of the2004–05 season saw Udinese achieve their first qualification for theUEFA Champions League in the history of the club. At the end of that same season, Spalletti announced his intention to leave Udinese.
The following season, Udinese played in the Champions League preliminary round, beatingSporting CP 4–2 on aggregate. Udinese were drawn in a tough group alongsidePanathinaikos,Werder Bremen andBarcelona.
Despite a 3–0 win overPanathinaikos in their first match, courtesy of aVincenzo Iaquintahat trick, the team failed to qualify for the knockout rounds, coming in third in their group, equal on points with second placed Werder and behind eventual champions Barcelona.
After a year in the Champions League, Udinese finished tenth and returned once more to mid-table mediocrity. The turning point occurred during the summer of 2007, when the club announced the appointment ofSicilian managerPasquale Marino and also made various quality purchases includingFabio Quagliarella andGökhan Inler.
Striker Antonio Di Natale was the club's captain from 2007 until his retirement in 2016.
The2007–08 season started well with a draw at home against championsInternazionale, but the enthusiasm was quickly erased after the first home match which finished in a 5–0 loss to newly promotedNapoli. After this match, Udinese's fortunes changed, starting with a victory overJuventus thanks to a lateAntonio Di Natale goal. Udinese remained in contention for the fourth Champions League spot withMilan,Fiorentina, andSampdoria until the end of the season, but ultimately finished in seventh place, qualifying for theUEFA Cup.
At the start of the2008–09 season, during the press conference to present the new season's kit, the new official website was also presented, and an absolute novelty in the Italian championship, the first Web TV channel dedicated to a football club called Udinese Channel was launched, totally free and visible worldwide.
In the 2008–09 season, Udinese had a mixed bag of results in Serie A with a 3–1 win atRoma and a 2–1 win overJuventus, but 10 losses against teams includingReggina,Chievo, andTorino dented their hopes of Champions League qualification. In theUEFA Cup, Udinese found themselves in a group with potential favouritesTottenham Hotspur,NEC,Spartak Moscow, andDinamo Zagreb, but eased through the group with a convincing 2–0 win against Tottenham. They beatLech Poznań in the next round 4–3 on aggregate, and then beat holdersZenit Saint Petersburg 2–1 on aggregate. In the quarter-final againstWerder Bremen, with injuries to star players Antonio Di Natale,Samir Handanovič, andFelipe, they lost 6–4 on aggregate.Fabio Quagliarella managed eight goals in the campaign. They finished the season in seventh place, missing out on any European football the following year.
The2009–10 season was an extremely disappointing one for players and fans alike. Even though Antonio Di Natale managed to score 29 goals in the league and finished top goalscorer, the season was spent battling against relegation. In the end, they finished in 15th, nine points and three places clear of the relegation zone. The only highlight of the campaign was reaching the semi-final of theCoppa Italia, beatingLumezzane in the round of 16,Milan in the quarter-finals, and eventually losing 2–1 toRoma on aggregate.
In the summer transfer window of 2010, Udinese soldGaetano D'Agostino,Simone Pepe,Marco Motta, andAleksandar Luković. They also brought in players that proved to be the key to their success in the2010–11 Serie A;Mehdi Benatia andPablo Armero, a central defender and wingback, respectively. After a poor start to the season, losing their first four games and drawing the fifth, Udinese went on to record their highest points total in history and finished in fourth place, again earning themselves a spot in theChampions League qualifying round. Di Natale, with 28 goals, became the first back-to-backcapocannoniere sinceLazio'sGiuseppe Signori accomplished the feat in1993 and1994. A 0–0 home draw with Milan on the final matchday secured the Champions League spot for Udinese. CoachFrancesco Guidolin kept his promise of "dancing like Boateng" if they qualified for the Champions League and did a little jig in the middle of the pitch. In theCoppa Italia, Udinese lost toSampdoria in the round of 16 on penalties after the match ended 2–2.
The2011–12 season continued in much the same fashion, even though Udinese lost three key players to larger clubs –Alexis Sánchez toBarcelona,Gökhan Inler toNapoli, andCristián Zapata toVillarreal. In the Champions League qualifying round, Udinese were drawn againstArsenal and lost the away leg 1–0. At theStadio Friuli, Udinese lost 2–1, 3–1 on aggregate, and entered theEuropa League group stage, Antonio Di Natale missing a penalty that at the time would have taken Udinese through. Domestically, Udinese started strong but with their quality shown in defence, conceding the least of all teams after 15 games, only seven. For the second consecutive season, Udinese qualified for the Champions League, clinching third place on the final day of the season with a 2–0 away win againstCatania. In the summer transfer window, key playersKwadwo Asamoah andMauricio Isla were both sold to champions Juventus. The club failed to reach the group stage of the year's Champions League, however, losing on penalties after extra time to Portuguese clubSC Braga.Antonio Di Natale scored 23 goals to record his third consecutive season with 20+ goals in Serie A.
Udinese started off the2012–13 Serie A season in mixed form, with seven draws and three losses in their first thirteen games. However, starting in December the team began to pick up wins more frequently, concurrent with Di Natale finding the net on a regular basis. After a period of balancing wins with losses, the team went on a phenomenal eight game winning streak to end the season, withLuis Muriel emerging as a key player. Like the 2011–12 season, Di Natale again finished with 23 goals, becoming the first player sinceGabriel Batistuta, ofFiorentina, to score 20 or more goals in four or more consecutive seasons.
Over the coming years, Udinese would go on to finish middle to lower table inSerie A. In the 2017–18 season, Udinese managerMassimo Oddo was sacked after the club lost 11 straight games. Oddo was then replaced byIgor Tudor who guided the club to safety away from the relegation places.[1]
The official colors of Udinese are white and black, the same as themunicipalcoat of arms, these have been present in the team'skit since its beginnings, although their use has often varied between different styles. At the end of the 19th century, the newly formedSocietà Udinese di Ginnastica e Scherma wore a completely black shirt, adorned only with a whitefive-pointed star pinned to the center of the chest.[2]
In the 1910s, the shirt was split vertically in half between the two colors,[2] later, white became the dominant color, with black relegated to decorations.[3] Since the 1930s the typical black and white striped shirt has been almost permanently used, often accompanied by black shorts and socks,[4] or by white shorts and black socks.[5]
The only significant innovations came in the 1980s when the Friulian team's clothing diverged from tradition, presenting more imaginative solutions: notably, the white shirts with a black central bar used in the first part of the decade, followed by black shirts with a massive white stripe across them.[6][2] From the 1990s onwards, there was a gradual return to simplicity, although experiments like "curved" stripes along the upper edge were made in the mid-2000s.[7]
As for away uniforms, these do not follow fixed patterns except for the solid color, with the club changing colors every year, using blue, yellow, orange, sky blue, pink, and even the same black and white as the home kit.[2]
Throughout its history, Udinese has used numerouscrests that share the colors and heraldry of theFriulian city. In a photo taken around 1896,[8] likely during an FGNI Tournament, the citycoat of arms appears on the chest, with a white star on a black shirt. However, there is not enough information to confirm if this was used officially or continuously over the years. Indeed, in later photos from the early 20th century, no emblem appears on the shirts.
The first official emblems date back to the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, but since they were not depicted on the shirts, it is difficult to determine the exact period. All these emblems depicted a shield filled with black and white verticalstripes, first with the inscription "AC Udinese" and later with the "ACU" (Associazione Calcistica Udinese)monogram. The first emblem visible on the shirt appeared in 1979, depicting azebra inside a green circle. The second symbol, introduced in the early 1980s under President Lamberto Mazza, featured a white shield enclosing a blackchevron — the same design that represents the city ofUdine — with the "Z" logo ofZanussi (the company that owned the club at the time) below it and the lowercase inscription "udinese calcio".[9] Despite this being the official emblem, for the1981-1982 season, the shirts displayed only the large "Z" on the chest.
The third emblem was a variation of the second one: after Zanussi's departure, following the club's acquisition byGiampaolo Pozzo, the "Z" was removed, and only the shield with the city's emblem remained. Then, between 1992 and 1995, the club introduced a circular emblem for the first time, with the city’s coat of arms in the center, surrounded by a gray circle.
Finally, in the1995-1996 season, the emblem currently in use made its debut: a shield surrounded by a circle, first gray, then black, and from the2010-2011 season, gray again, with twolaurel branches wrapped around it.
Fans have repeatedly requested that theFriulian eagle should be added to the black and white shirts, but the club has never accepted this request, partly due to existing regulations. In 2008, the club's decision to include the emblem ofFriuli-Venezia Giulia on the shirts was strongly contested by fans, as it was perceived as the emblem of rivalTrieste rather than representing onlyFriuli.
Anthem
The club's official anthem is "Vinci per noi" (Win for Us), performed by singer Connie Del Colle. The song is played before every home game at theStadio Friuli.[10]
Previously, the anthem was "Alè Udin," performed by Dario Zampa. Its chorus became a distinctive chant of the Friulian fans.[11]
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.
