Cagliari Calcio

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Cagliari
logo
Full name Cagliari Calcio SpA
Nickname(s) Rossoblu (Red-blues)
Isolani (Islanders)
Founded August 20, 1920
Ground Stadio Sant'Elia,
Cagliari, Italy
Capacity 23,486
Chairman Flag of Italy Massimo Cellino
Head Coach Flag of Italy Marco Giampaolo
League Serie A
2005-06 Serie A, 16th (14th)
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Away colours

Cagliari Calcio is an Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia. The club was formed in 1920 and currently plays in Italian Serie A, having spent a large part of recent years bouncing between Italy's top division and Serie B. They won their only scudetto in 1970, when they were led by Italian national team all-time leading scorer, Gigi Riva. The team's colors are blue and red. The club's stadium is the 23,486 seater Stadio Sant'Elia.

In 2003, Cagliari signed Sardinian-born star and former Italian international Gianfranco Zola from Chelsea F.C. Zola promptly led the club to a Serie A promotion in his first year with the team. Another prominent player on the team is Mauro Esposito, who is also a forward on the Italian national team, and the hope of the Sardinian team in this season is David Suazo, who is also a forward on the Honduran National team..

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Before Serie A

Cagliari spent the 1950s in Serie B, losing a promotion play-off in 1954. After descending to Serie C in the early 1960s, Cagliari's rise would be meteoric- eventually achieving promotion to Serie A in 1964.

[edit] The first Serie A adventure: 1964-1976

The squad for the Rossoblu's debut season in Serie A featured players like defender Mario Martiradonna, midfielders Pierluigi Cera and Riccioti Greatti, and forward Luigi Riva. A poor first half of the season saw Cagliari in last place with 9 points at the halfway mark. An astonishing second half of the season saw Cagliari defeat the likes of Juventus and Milan and finish in 7th place with 34 points. Two seasons later Riva finished Serie A top scorer for the first time while Cagliari finished with the league's best defensive record.

During the summer of 1967, Cagliari played a season in North America as part of a fledgling league called the United Soccer Association. This league imported twelve entire clubs from Europe and South America to play in American and Canadian cities, with each club bearing a local name. Cagliari played as the "Chicago Mustangs", and finished tied for second position in the league's Western Division with 13 points, two behind the division champion and eventual league champion Los Angeles Wolves (Wolverhampton Wanderers of England) . The league's leading scorer was Chicago/Cagliari's Roberto Boninsegna, who scored 10 goals while playing in 9 of the team's 12 games. (This FIFA-sanctioned league merged the following season with the non-sanctioned National Professional Soccer League, which had also begun in 1967, to form the North American Soccer League.)

Cagliari first emerged as serious Serie A title contenders in 1968-69 with a three-horse race involving them, Fiorentina and Milan. Fiorentina would win the league, but the following season would bring ultimate glory. With Angelo Domenghini joining the side, Cagliari would win the title in 1970 with only two games lost, 11 goals conceded (the fewest in any major European league to date) and Riva as league top scorer once more. Players like Cera, Domenghini and Riva played in Italy's 1970 World Cup Final team.

The 1970s would see a gradual decline (though were title contenders two years after their one and only scudetto win) Cagliari were finally relegated in 1976 with Riva's career having effectively ended during that season.

[edit] Up and down again: 1976-87

After relegation, Cagliari lost a play-off for promotion the following season and would return to Serie A in 1979. Players like Franco Selvaggi, Mario Brugnera (a survivor of the 1970 team) and Alberto Marchetti ensured a respectable four-year stay in the top flight before a second relegation in 1983. The 80s would then prove to be a darker time compared to the previous two decades with relegation to Serie C1 in 1987.

[edit] There and back: 1987-2000

Cagliari spent two seasons in Serie C1. In the first one it barely avoided relegation in Serie C2. In 1988, Claudio Ranieri was appointed coach, and led the team to two successive promotions, to Serie B in 1989 and to Serie A in 1990. The first two seasons back in Serie A saw Cagliari fight relegation, with safety being achieved by excellent second half runs. But season 1992-93 would see Cagliari fight for a European place and succeed under the management of Carlo Mazzone. The following season saw a run to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, unprecedented for the Sardinian club.

The next few years would see Cagliari return to mid-table anonymity, before a struggle in 1996-97 saw Cagliari relegated after losing a play-off to Piacenza. Once more they bounced back after just one year, but their next stay in Serie A lasted just two seasons.

[edit] Once and again: 2000 onwards

Cagliari spent the next four seasons in Serie B, for most part in mid-table mediocrity. But 2003-04 would see the Rossoblu, led by Gianfranco Zola, mount a successful promotion challenge and the following season saw Cagliari hold their own in Serie A with a respectable mid-table finish. The following season (2004-05) was a quiet one for the Sardinians, that obtained a good mid-table position (12th place).

The 2005/2006 season, the first without Zola, started in the worst way possible for Cagliari, which changed its manager for three times, with Attilio Tesser, Daniele Arrigoni and Davide Ballardini alternating to the position of coach, before Nedo Sonetti, appointed in November, who was able to save the team from a relegation also thanks to goals of Honduran striker David Suazo. For the 2006/2007 season, Marco Giampaolo was signed as head coach, however he was fired after the 17th matchday and replaced by Franco Colomba. However, after a number of poor performances ending in a 2-0 home defeat to Lazio, Colomba was sacked, and chairman Cellino chose to reinstate Giampaolo as head coach.

[edit] Current first team squad

As of February 26, 2007[1]

No. Position Player
1 Flag of Italy GK Simone Aresti (from youth team)
2 Flag of Italy MF Davide Marchini (on loan from Triestina)
3 Flag of Italy DF Michele Canini
4 Flag of Italy MF Alessandro Budel
5 Flag of Italy MF Daniele Conti
6 Flag of Uruguay DF Diego López
7 Flag of Italy FW Mauro Esposito
8 Flag of Italy MF Alessandro Conticchio
9 Flag of Honduras FW David Suazo
10 Flag of Italy FW Andrea Capone
13 Flag of Italy DF Cristiano Del Grosso
14 Flag of Italy DF Francesco Pisano
15 Flag of Portugal DF José Semedo (on loan from Sporting Clube de Portugal)
16 Flag of Italy MF Davide Biondini (on loan from Reggina)
No. Position Player
18 Flag of Italy FW Simone Pepe (on loan from Palermo & Udinese)
19 Flag of Italy FW Tiziano Bruzzone
20 Flag of Italy DF Paolo Bianco
21 Flag of Italy MF Leonardo Colucci
22 Flag of Uruguay DF Joe Bizera
23 Flag of Italy FW Antonio Langella
24 Flag of Italy MF Antonino D'Agostino (on loan from Atalanta)
25 Flag of Italy GK Antonio Chimenti
26 Flag of Italy GK Marco Fortin
27 Flag of Italy DF Giacomo Garau (from youth team)
28 Flag of Italy MF Salvatore Burrai (from youth team)
29 Flag of Italy DF Michele Ferri
31 Flag of Italy DF Alessandro Agostini
32 Flag of Argentina MF Gabriel Peñalba
33 Flag of Italy FW Roberto Puddu (from youth team)

[edit] Retired numbers

[edit] Notable former players

[edit] Coaches

[edit] References

  1. ^ Prima squadra

[edit] External links

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