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UC AlbinoLeffe

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AlbinoLeffe
Full nameUnione Calcio AlbinoLeffe S.r.l.
Nickname(s)La Celeste (The Light-Blue)
Seriani (People from Val Seriana)
Blucelesti
Founded1995
GroundAlbinoLeffe Stadium
Capacity1,791
OwnerGianfranco Andreoletti
Head coachGiovanni Lopez
LeagueSerie C Group A
2023–24Serie C Group A, 13th of 20
Websitehttps://www.albinoleffe.com/
Current season

Unione Calcio AlbinoLeffe is an Italian association football club representing Albino and Leffe, two small towns located in Val Seriana, Lombardy. The club played in Serie B for nine consecutive years and narrowly missed promotion in Serie A at the end of the 2007–08 season. It currently plays in Serie C and has been in the Italian third tier since its relegation in 2011–12.

History

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The performance of AlbinoLeffe in the Italian football league structure since the first season of a unified Serie A (1929/30). The club's first season was 1998/99.

The club was created in 1998 as a result of the merger between former Serie C2 (fourth division) teams Albinese Calcio and Società Calcio Leffe, respectively from Albino and Leffe, two neighboring towns. In their first season, the club finished 2nd in the Serie C2 and won a promotion having defeated A.C. Prato in the Girone A Play-offs final. After rising to Serie C1 (the Italian third division), they performed at the middle of the pack, finishing 9th in 2000 and 13th in 2001.

However, in 2002, the Seriani went to the finals of the Coppa Italia Serie C, where they defeated Livorno 2–1 at home before losing 2–3 on the road. They won the tournament on the tiebreaker (most away goals scored). In league play they again finished 13th. In 2003, AlbinoLeffe, under coach Elio Gustinetti, finished second in league play before heading to the promotion play-off. There, they defeated Padua in the semifinals, then had a surprising triumph over Pisa Calcio, which pushed them up to Serie B.

The team moved from the small Martinelli Stadium in Leffe, where they used to play home matches before promotion to Serie B, to the bigger Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia located in Bergamo, the chief-town of the province where both Albino and Leffe are located. Even though AlbinoLeffe was considered to be an outsider in Serie B, which historically includes several former Scudetto winners, the team remarkably managed to avoid relegation in the last two seasons. In 2005–2006, after a great comeback in the second half of the season following the appointment of Emiliano Mondonico as new head coach, Albinoleffe ended the season in eighteenth place and managed to save itself from relegation by prevailing in the playouts against Avellino (score: 2–0, 2–3). The 2006–2007 Serie B campaign, the fourth consecutive for the small Lombard team, ended with a good tenth place, well ahead of the relegation zone.

Historically, AlbinoLeffe's home games have been characterized by very low attendance, as shown by the average 2,400 spectators per game in the 2006–07 season, the most successful in the club history.[1]

With local hero Gustinetti back in charge of the team and despite a lineup composed of relative unknowns, the club's 2007–08 campaign started surprisingly well, with the team leading the Serie B table for a few weeks and arousing the interest of the national media, which began providing regular coverage of the team's games. This has thus far failed to improve the club's low home attendance, however. During the season, AlbinoLeffe confirmed as a potential candidate for direct promotion to Serie A, however a string of poor results, ended with four consecutive home defeats, the final one being a 0–4 loss to Rimini, denied them the chance to achieve a place in the top two, and persuaded club chairman Gianfranco Andreoletti to sack Gustinetti, who then confirmed not to be in good relationships with the chairman, and appoint youth team coach Armando Madonna as caretaker boss for the final regular season match and the following promotion playoffs.[2] Even after a 1–0 loss to Brescia, AlbinoLeffe managed to win at home in the second leg (2–1) and qualified for the final against Lecce. In the first leg they suffered a 1–0 loss. On 15 June, the second match was played in Lecce and its result was 1–1, so AlbinoLeffe did not reach Serie A.

At the end of the 2011–12 season, it was relegated to Lega Pro Prima Divisione after 9 consecutive years in Serie B.

AlbinoLeffe following the systematic match fixing as a club controlled by Singapore-based organized crime[3][4][5] was penalized 10 points in the 2012–13 Lega Pro Prima Divisione.

Stadium and colors

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From the 2003–04 Serie B season and until 2019, AlbinoLeffe played its home games at the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia stadium in the city of Bergamo. Previously they played in Stadio Carlo Martelli of Leffe.

Following Atalanta's renovation works on the stadium, the club reached a venue sharing agreement with Giana Erminio from the nearby city of Gorgonzola allowing the club to play their home matches for the 2019–20 Serie C season at the Stadio Città di Gorgonzola.[6]

In 2021, the club opened a brand-new stadium in the town of Zanica with a capacity of 1,791 (with possibility of expansion to up to 5,500 in case of a promotion in Serie B) built next to the club's headquarters and training centre; the stadium was formally approved by the Italian National Olympic Committee in March 2019.[7] The stadium makes AlbinoLeffe the first Serie C team to own their home stadium. the inauguration match was played on 21 December 2021, a Serie C league game against Pro Patria.[8]

The club's official colors are dark blue and azure blue, also used for home matches, while the outfit worn by the players for away matches is red and yellow. Up until the 2022/2023 season, the official stadium speaker of the club was Simone Altrocchi.[9]

Honours

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Domestic

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Players

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Current squad

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As of 30 August 2024[10]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Italy ITA Lorenzo Facchetti
3 DF Italy ITA Enrico Giannini
4 DF Italy ITA Simone Potop
5 DF Italy ITA Francesco Zambelli
6 DF Romania ROU Gabriele Boloca
7 FW Italy ITA Mattia Mustacchio
8 MF Italy ITA Matteo Zanini
9 FW Italy ITA Salvatore Longo
10 FW Ivory Coast CIV Mohamed Alì Zoma
11 FW Italy ITA Andrea Capelli
14 MF Italy ITA Marco Fossati
15 DF Italy ITA Andrea Astrologo
16 DF Romania ROU Mihai Gușu
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 MF Italy ITA Samuele Parlati
19 MF Italy ITA Mattia Agostinelli
21 MF Italy ITA Tommaso Ricordi
22 GK Italy ITA Christian Marietta
24 DF Italy ITA Nicolò Evangelisti
26 FW Italy ITA Mattia Angeloni
27 MF Italy ITA Davide Munari
28 MF Italy ITA Tommaso Vinzioli
30 DF Italy ITA Riccardo Baroni
33 DF Italy ITA Diego Borghini
73 DF Italy ITA Lorenzo Bosia
77 DF Italy ITA Giacomo Freri

Out on loan

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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
— FW Albania ALB Rrok Toma (at Teuta until 30 June 2025)

Club officials

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Seasons

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Season Div Pos League record Other
P W D L F A Pts
1998–99 Serie C2/A 2nd 34 16 10 8 44 35 58 [13]
1999-00 Serie C1/A 9th 34 11 12 11 36 37 45
2000–01 Serie C1/A 13th 34 7 18 9 27 31 39
2001–02 Serie C1/A 13th 34 8 17 9 33 35 41
2002–03 Serie C1/A 2nd 34 17 12 5 62 36 63 [13]
2003–04 Serie B 18th 46 13 15 18 47 59 54
2004–05 Serie B 11th 38 14 13 15 55 51 55
2005–06 Serie B 18th 38 10 16 16 38 52 46 [14]
2006–07 Serie B 10th 38 11 20 11 46 48 53
2007–08 Serie B 4th 38 23 9 10 67 48 78 [15]
2008–09 Serie B 9th 38 15 13 14 49 49 58
2009–10 Serie B 11th 42 14 13 15 59 56 55
2010–11 Serie B 18th 42 13 10 19 55 66 49 [16]
2011–12 Serie B 22nd 42 6 12 24 39 60 30 [17]
2012–13 Serie C1/A 6th 32 13 14 5 44 27 47
2013–14 Serie C1/A 7th 30 12 7 11 42 40 43 [18]
2014–15 Lega Pro/A 20th 38 7 11 20 27 51 32 [19]
2015–16 Lega Pro/A 17th 34 4 8 22 23 57 20 [20]
2016–17 Lega Pro/B 9th 38 12 16 10 38 34 52
2017–18 Serie C/B 5th 34 13 10 11 36 31 49
2018–19 Serie C/B 14th 38 9 16 13 31 35 43
2019–20 Serie C/B 8th 27 10 9 8 29 24 39
2020–21 Serie C/A 7th 38 14 15 9 43 36 57

Notable former players

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The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level and/or a significant number of caps and goals accumulated throughout a certain number of seasons for UC AlbinoLeffe.

For all former and current UC AlbinoLeffe players with a Wikipedia article, see Category:UC AlbinoLeffe players.

Notable former managers

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For a list of all former and current UC AlbinoLeffe coaches with a Wikipedia article, see Category:UC AlbinoLeffe managers.

References

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  1. ^ "Serie B 06-07 attendances". Retrieved 20 June 2007.
  2. ^ "Albinoleffe, via Gustinetti" (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport. 26 May 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2008.
  3. ^ "La gola profonda: "L'organizzazione controllava l'Albinoleffe"". Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  4. ^ "Un pari dell'AlbinoLeffe valeva 6,5 milioni di euro". Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  5. ^ "Il caso AlbinoLeffe: "Oltre sei milioni su quel pareggio con il Piacenza"". 21 December 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  6. ^ "L'ALBINOLEFFE ALLO STADIO CITTÀ DI GORGONZOLA" (in Italian). AS Giana Erminio. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  7. ^ "Stadio dell'AlbinoLeffe a Zanica Via libera dal Coni al progetto" (in Italian). L'Eco di Bergamo. 2 March 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  8. ^ "Zanica, debutta lo stadio dell'AlbinoLeffe: è il primo impianto di proprietà in serie C" (in Italian). L'Eco di Bergamo. 18 December 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  9. ^ "Dall'ottobre scorso, sono lo Speaker, la voce dell'Albinoleffe" (in Italian). Simone Altrocchi. 12 January 2022. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  10. ^ "Rosa AlbinoLeffe - Serie C 2020/21". www.albinoleffe.com (in Italian). Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  11. ^ "STAFF" (in Italian). UC AlbinoLeffe. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  12. ^ "STAFF" (in Italian). UC AlbinoLeffe. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  13. ^ a b promoted through playoffs
  14. ^ won relegation playoffs to Avellino
  15. ^ lost promotion playoff finals to Lecce
  16. ^ won relegation playoff against Piacenza
  17. ^ relegated to Lega Pro Prima Divisione
  18. ^ lost in quarterfinals of promotion playoffs to Cremonese
  19. ^ relegated to Serie D, but reinstated in Lega Pro by Italian Football Federation
  20. ^ relegated to Serie D for the second time, but reinstated one more time in Lega Pro by Italian Football Federation
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