From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Associazione Calcio Mantova is an Italian football club, based in Mantua, Lombardy. The club was founded in 1911. AC Mantova played the 2005-06 season in Serie B, after having been promoted from Serie C1 thanks to play-offs won in a double final match against A.C. Pavia (3-0, 3-1; 6-1 on aggregate).
Mantova played in Serie A for 7 seasons (1961/62 - 1964/65, 1966/67 - 1967/68, 1971/72), being nicknamed in its initial period as Little Brazil (Piccolo Brasile). The third team shirt, green and yellow, actually remembers that period, by far the best one in the team history. Mantova also played for 8 seasons in Serie B, and won it in 1970/71.
Mantova was cancelled two times from the Italian football panorama, in 1983 and 1994, both times because of insolvency.
Former famous players include Dino Zoff, Angelo Sormani, Roberto Boninsegna and Karl-Heinz Schnellinger.
Mantova promoted from Serie C2 to Serie B in two consecutive seasons, in 2003-2004 season as league champions and in 2004-2005 as runners-up and playoff winners. Mantova begun the 2005/06 Serie B football campaign introducing itself as a strong potential candidate for promotion to Serie A, despite its lack of players experienced with these levels (almost the same squad which promoted to Serie B the previous season) and a coach, Domenico Di Carlo, on just his second year as first team football trainer. The team led the Serie B table for a long part of the season, gaining an unexpected interest by the media. However, Mantova was not able to maintain the head of the league in the end, and the team concluded its season in fourth place, gaining a spot in the promotion playoffs. Successively, AC Mantova won its playoff semifinal against Modena F.C. after two ties (0-0, 1-1), being qualified thanks to its best placement in the regular season. The first playoff final, against Torino, saw Mantova winning at home 4-2. However, Mantova was not able to maintain this advantage in the return match, lost 3-1 in Turin after extra time, which allowed Torino FC to be promoted in Serie A because of a better placement in the regular season.
During the 2006-07 season, they became the first team to beat Juventus F.C., La Vecchia Signora, in a Serie B match. They ended the season in eighth place, confirming themselves in the top side of the league table. Following Di Carlo's resignations, Mantova appointed Attilio Tesser as new head coach for their 2007-08 Serie B campaign. As part of an ambitious summer transfer market, Mantova signed on 23 August 2007 the former Italian international Stefano Fiore. However their campaign proved to be disappointing as the team failed to break into the promotion playoff zone, resulting in the sacking of Tesser in the mid-season.
[edit] Current squad
As of May 8, 2008[1]
[edit] Notable former players
[edit] Notable former coaches
[edit] Titles
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Fabrizio Lori
