Calcio Catania
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| Full name | Calcio Catania SpA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Rossazzurri (Red and light-blues), Gli Elefanti, Etnei |
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| Founded | 1946 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Stadio Angelo Massimino, Catania, Italy |
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| Capacity | 20,800 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Antonino Pulvirenti |
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| Manager | Pasquale Marino |
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| League | Serie A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | Serie B, 2nd (promoted) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Calcio Catania is an Italian football club based in Catania, Sicily. The club was formed in 1946 and played 2005/2006 in Italian Serie B, having returned there in 2002 after years in Serie C. Its last Serie A stint ended in 1984. The team's colours are red and blue.
Catania will play Serie A in 2006/2007, after having ended its 2005/2006 Serie B campaign in second place.
The team became popular during the late 1970s and the early 1980s during its Serie A time, when led by local chairman Angelo Massimino, considered a popular icon of Italian football of the period. Massimino led the team to six promotions, two in Serie A, having rebuilt the team after its exclusion from the national divisions in 1993. The following year, after a long legal struggle, the club was judged not to be insolvent, as the Italian football federation had claimed, and Catania was admitted back to football, and included to the Eccellenza (6th division). The team then concluded its climb of the Italian football pyramid returning to Serie B in 2001. Since 2004, the team is owned by Antonino Pulvirenti, better known as founder and president of Windjet, one of the most popular low-cost flight companies in Italy.
The Falange d'Assalto is a group of ultras of Calcio Catania.
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[edit] Golden years
Catania's golden years were the 1950s and 1960s, when the club managed two promotions to Serie A. The first was in 1954, and they would manage a respectable 12th place in their first Serie A season but were forcibly relegated due to scandal.
They returned in 1960 under the stewardship of Carmelo di Bella and enjoyed a six-year stay in Serie A with 8th place finishes in 1961 and 1965. This was the club's golden age with stars like midfielders Alvaro Biagini and Cinesinho, and wingers Carlo Facchin and Giancarlo Danova in the side, more than holding its own amongst the giants of Italian football.
After relegation in 1966, Catania returned to the Serie A twice: in 1970-71 and 1983-84, with the latter proving especially dismal with only one win and 12 points despite the presence of Claudio Ranieri and Brazilian imports Luvanor and Pedrinho.
[edit] Decline and revival
The decline of Catania started immediately after its last relegation to Serie B. The team was no longer able to reach the top division, and instead continued to decline, being relegated to Serie C1 and even Serie C2 within a few years. The bottom of the club's history, however, was reached in 1993, when the team was cancelled by the FIGC because of financial irregularities. However, after a long judicial battle, the magistrature declared the Italian Federation decision as invalid, and forced it to include the team back into the footballing fold. Catania was thus included in the Sicilian Eccellenza (6th Division), but in the meantime a Sicilian football team, Atletico Leonzio from Lentini, had been relocated in the city and renamed Atletico Catania. Despite all this, the "real" Catania was able to rise back to Serie C in a relatively small number of years, and even back to Serie B in 2002. In 2004, Antonino Pulvirenti, chairman of the flight company Windjet and owner of A.S. Acireale, a Serie C1 team from a neighbouring city, bought the club from Luciano Gaucci. The new ownership let the team enjoy a revival, and in 2005/2006 Catania ended in second position, earning promotion to Serie A. The 2006/2007 season will therefore see Catania in the Serie A for its first appearance in 22 years.
[edit] Caso Catania
In 2003, Catania was in the centre of a controversy that led to the enlargement of Serie B from 20 to 24 teams, known as Caso Catania. The club claimed that Siena used an ineligible player in a 1-1 tie, a result that got Catania relegated, whereas the two extra points from a victory would have kept them safe. They were awarded a 2-0 victory, before the result being reverted, and then re-awarded again. In August, the FIGC decided to let Catania stay in Serie B. Relegated Genoa and Salernitana stayed as well, and the inclusion of newly-reborn Fiorentina expanded the league to 24 for 2003-04. The ruling led to protests and boycotts by the other Serie B clubs that delayed the start of the season. The league went down to 22 teams for 2004-05, while at the same time Serie A expanded from 18 to 20 teams.
[edit] Current first team squad
As of July 14, 2006[1]
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[edit] 2006/2007 transfers
In:
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DF | Gennaro Sardo (from Piacenza) (co-ownership) | |
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DF | Juan Manuel Vargas (from Colón de Santa Fe) | |
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MF | Mark Edusei (from Sampdoria) (co-ownership) | |
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MF | Mariano Julio Izco (from San Telmo) | |
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MF | Francesco Millesi (from Avellino) | |
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FW | Giorgio Corona (from Catanzaro) | |
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FW | Gianvito Plasmati (from Andria BAT) (co-ownership) | |
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FW | Takayuki Morimoto (from Tokyo Verdy 1969) (on loan) | |
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FW | Fausto Rossini (from Udinese) | |
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DF | Lorenzo Stovini (from Lecce) | |
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DF | Walter Ariel García (from Rubin Kazan) | |
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GK | Vincenzo Ferrante (from Arzachena, return from loan) |
[edit] Notable former players
- Enzo Bearzot
- Amedeo Biavati
- Riccardo Carapellese
Cinesinho- Fabio Gatti
- Ennio Mastalli
Luis Oliveira- Pedrinho
- Claudio Ranieri
- Giovanni Vavassori
- Johan Walem
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.calciocatania.com/artman/publish/article_3461.php & http://www.gazzetta.it/gazzetta/scalcio/ricerca_index.jhtml?PageToLoad=ElencoGiocatori&IdSquadra=22
[edit] External links
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