A.S. Livorno Calcio
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| Full name | Associazione Sportiva Livorno Calcio S.r.l. |
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| Nickname(s) | Amaranto (Dark red) Labronici (Lighbourners) |
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| Founded | 1915 | |||
| Ground | Stadio Armando Picchi, Livorno, Italy (Capacity: 19,238) |
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| Chairman |  Aldo Spinelli |
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| Manager | Giuseppe Pillon |
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| League | Serie B | |||
| 2009–10 | Serie A, 20th (relegated) | |||
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Associazione Sportiva Livorno Calcio is an Italian football club based in Livorno, Tuscany. The club was formed in 1915 and currently plays in Italian Serie A, just achieving promotion last year. The team's colors are dark red or maroon (amaranto in Italian, from which the team nickname derives). The best placement in Italian Serie A was second place in 1942–43 season, during which the amaranto gave life to a head-to-head competition with Torino. The team play their home matches at the 18,200 seater Stadio Armando Picchi.
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History
Founded in 1915 as U.S. Livorno, the club ended the Italian Football Championship 1919–20 in second place, losing the final to Internazionale. One year later, they were defeated in the semi-final by arch-rivals Pisa. In 1933, the club moved to the current stadium, originally named after Edda Ciano Mussolini, daughter of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Successively, Livorno ended as Serie A runners-up in the 1942–43 season. Livorno left Serie A in 1949 after seven consecutive seasons. They relegated to Serie C soon after, making a return to Serie B in 1955 for a single season and again from 1964 to 1972. The club was then cancelled in 1991, being forced to start from Eccellenza; two consecutive promotions led the team back to Serie C2. The club was promoted to Serie C1 in 1997 and was acquired by Aldo Spinelli two years later. Under the new property, Livorno returned to Serie B in 2001.
Livorno were promoted to Serie A after finishing third in the Serie B 2003–04, one of six clubs to be promoted that season. It had been 55 years since Livorno's last season in the top flight, and as a result of this, most were predicting an instant return to Serie B for the club. The first match in the major league was attended by Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, a Livorno's citizen and team supporter in his childhood. There were spells of struggle during the season, but there were many more good performances shown, and Livorno finished a surprise and creditable ninth place in the league for the Serie A 2004–05, also thanks to goals by striker Cristiano Lucarelli, who won the Serie A top scorer award that season, outscoring even the likes of Andriy Shevchenko and Adriano.
The Serie A 2005–06 saw Livorno in sixth place after the first half of the season the team, being involved for qualification to the next UEFA Cup. However, shortly after Roberto Donadoni announced his resignations after having been criticised by club's chairman Aldo Spinelli. Donadoni was replaced by veteran coach Carlo Mazzone, who was only able to save a UEFA Cup place due to the expulsion of three teams from Europe in the 2006 Serie A match fixing scandal. Mazzone then saw his team suffer a run of seven straight defeats. In May 2006, Daniele Arrigoni was appointed new coach for the next season.
In the Serie A 2006–07 season, Livorno took part to the UEFA Cup for their first time ever. The Tuscan side were drawn to face Austrian team SV Pasching in the first round, beating them comfortably 3–0 on aggregate. They thus qualified for the group stages being drawn in Group A, along with Rangers, Auxerre, FK Partizan, and Maccabi Haifa. After a home loss to Rangers (2–3) and two 1–1 draws against Partizan in Belgrade (where goalkeeper Marco Amelia scored in the 87th minute) and Maccabi (in Livorno), the Tuscan side gained a 1–0 victory over Auxerre in the last game played in France, thus earning a spot in the Round of 32 of the competition. However, Spanish team RCD Espanyol knocked out Livorno from the UEFA Cup by winning 4–1 on aggregate.
After day 19 of the Italian Serie A, Arrigoni was sacked by chairman Spinelli, but his position was kept due to the strong opposition by the team. His dismissal was, however, only delayed, as Arrigoni was eventually fired on 21 March 2007, and replaced by Fernando Orsi, who managed to keep the team away from the relegation battle. For the 2007–08 campaign, Orsi was confirmed as head coach and a number of notable signings such as Francesco Tavano, Diego Tristan and Vikash Dhorasoo were finalized, but also the transfer of Lucarelli to Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk. The club, however, did not start well, making a mere two points in the first seven matches, and Orsi was sacked on 9 October and replaced by Giancarlo Camolese. Despite showing some positive signals at the beginning, Livorno found himself again at the bottom of league table. On 28 April 2008 Camolese was fired as Orsi was re-appointed, but in the penultimate day of the season, the team could not avoid relegation, due to a 1–0 home defeat against Torino. They finished last in the Serie A standings of the 2007–08 season. Thus, being relegated to Serie B. They finished Serie B as the third place team in 2008–09 season and returned to Serie A after winning promotion play-offs after defeating successively Grosseto with a 4–3 aggregate score and Brescia with a 5–2 aggregate score. However, this return was lasted one season and they relegated again to Serie B after finishing last.
Players
Current squad
As of 17 July 2010[1] Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Retired numbers
In December 2005, Livorno officially retired the #10 jersey previously issued to striker Igor Protti, who played with Livorno from 1985 to 1988 and then from 1999 until his retirement from football in 2005. However, Protti, who led the forward line and captained his side in two promotions from Serie C1 to Serie A, quickly gaining a reputation as a fan favourite, announced his willingness to see the #10 number reissued to another player, in order to "give anybody back a dream to dress it one day." This was made effective starting from the 2007–08 season, in which Francesco Tavano played with the #10 number.[2]
Notable former players
- See also Category:A.S. Livorno Calcio players
- Alessandro Diamanti
- Marco Amelia
- Giorgio Chiellini
- Alessandro Doga
- Armando Picchi
- Igor Protti
Managers
Notable former managers
- See also .
Jack Kirwan (1923–24)- Roberto Donadoni (2002–03, 2004–06)
Supporters
No Serie A club’s supporters wear their political allegiance more boldly than Livorno’s, whose leanings are strongly to the left, the city of Livorno being the birthplace of Italy’s Communist party.
Livorno's supporters are well known for their left-wing politics which often spark fiercely violent clashes with opposing right-wing supporter groups, especially those of Roma, Lazio, Internazionale and Verona. The notorious right-wing Lazio striker Paolo Di Canio once made a fascist salute to his own fans during a match against Livorno, when tensions were running high between the two clubs' ultra groups.[4]
Since 2005, a group of migrant Livorno supporters resident in northern Europe have styled themselves Partigiani Livornesi Scandinavia (Livornian partisans of Scandinavia). A so-called "triangle of brotherhood" has developed between the most heavily supported left-wing fan clubs of Olympique de Marseille, Livorno, and AEK Athens, namely between Commando Ultras 84, Brigate Autonome Livornesi 99, and Original 21. Their connection is mostly an ideological one. They also have a connection with Adana Demirspor (Şimşekler), St. Pauli, Glasgow Celtic and Omonoia of Nicosia. The team's friendly game in September 2009 with Adana Demirspor created a leftist rally in the city of Adana, surprising everyone in Turkey.
References
- ↑ "La rosa della squadra 2010/2011" (in Italian). AS Livorno Calcio. http://www.livornocalcio.it/giocatori/delucia.php. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
- ↑ "Protti rimanda in campo il 10. A Livorno lo avrà Tavano" (in Italian). Gazzetta dello Sport. 2007-07-20. http://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/SerieA/Squadre/Livorno/Primo_Piano/2007/07_Luglio/20/10_tavano.shtml. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
- ↑ Livorno Fans see Red – all the Time by Ian Hawkey, The National, February 5, 2010
- ↑ Hawkey, Ian (2005-04-03). "Political Football". The Times (London: TimesOnline). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article376707.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
External links
- Official Website (Italian)
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