Empoli F.C.
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| Empoli | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Empoli Football Club SpA |
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| Nickname(s) | Azzurri (the Blues) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1920 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Stadio Carlo Castellani, Empoli, Italy |
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| Capacity | 19,847 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Fabrizio Corsi |
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| Manager | Luigi Cagni |
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| League | Serie A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | Serie A, 11th (8th) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Empoli F.C. is a football club based in Empoli, Tuscany, and formed in 1920, although its first official match was in 1921. The club has spent a large part of recent years bouncing between Italy's two top divisions. Most recently, Empoli was relegated from Serie A to Serie B in 2004, but secured promotion back to Serie A at the first opportunity, finishing first after the recoiling of Genoa at last position in Serie B, and this August it will start its 7th season in serie A, quite a record for a town of about 45,000 inhabitants, whose team founds its fortunes on its youth division, one of the most renowned in Italy.
The team's colors are blue and white; for the 2005-2006 season, home shirt for the team is completely blue, as well as shorts and socks; away shirt is instead completely white with a big blue strip on the front-left side of the shirt.
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[edit] History
Empoli's history was relatively obscure before the 1980s when they attained Serie B status. In 1986, they managed the remarkable feat for a small-town club of promotion to Serie A. Playing their first few home games in Florence, Empoli's Serie A debut resulted in a 1-0 win over Inter. Helped by Udinese's 9-point deduction, they managed to avoid relegation with only 23 points and 13 goals scored in 30 games. Empoli themselves would receive a 5-point penalty the following season, and were relegated despite an improved showing with another relegation in 1989.
They spent several seasons after that in Serie C1, returning to Serie B in 1996 and achieving a second successive promotion in 1997. With Luciano Spalletti at the helm, Empoli defied the odds to avoid relegation in 12th place. Relegation the following year saw a three-year stay in Serie B in which the club became notable for nurturing outstanding young talent.
Promotions to Serie A in 2002 and 2005 have seen the club emerge as brave battlers against relegation. They ended the 2005-06 Serie A season in a respectable 10th place. As a result of the Serie A match-fixing scandal at the end of that season, they gained qualification for the UEFA Cup for the following season.
[edit] Current first team squad
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- Out on loan
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DF | Andrea Coda (co-ownership at Udinese) | |
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MF | Francesco Lodi (on loan at Frosinone) | |
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MF | Paolo Zanetti (co-ownership at Ascoli) |
[edit] Notable former players
- Gianluca Berti
Marco Bresciano- Antonio Di Natale
Johnny Ekström- Vincenzo Grella
- Massimo Maccarone
- Vincenzo Montella
- Tommaso Rocchi
- Francesco Tavano
- Luca Toni
Marcelo Zalayeta- See also: Category:Empoli F.C. players
