Trapani Calcio

Trapani C.
Full name Trapani Calcio
Nickname(s) Granata (Maroons)
Founded 1905
Ground Stadio Polisportivo Provinciale,
Erice, Italy
(Capacity: 7,000)
Chairman Vittorio Morace
Manager Roberto Boscaglia
League Lega Pro Prima Divisione B
2010-11 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione C, 2nd (promoted after play-off)
Home colours
Away colours

Trapani Calcio is an Italian football club located in Trapani, Sicily. The traditional club colours of Trapani is maroon, known in Italian language as granata. During the club's history they have played mostly in the Serie C and D leagues, and currently play in Lega Pro Prima Divisione.

To date the highest league position the club has finished was 4th in Serie C1 during the 1994–95 season. Throughout their long history, Trapani have won at least six recorded league championships in various divisions.

Contents

History

The club's roots can be traced back to 1905[1]; on 2 April of that year, local newspaper the Gazzetta di Trapani ran an advert requesting young people to form a football association for Trapani.[2] The club founded, by professor Ugolino Montagna and young native Abele Mazzarese to represent the West-Sicilian town was named Unione Sportiva Trapanese. It is one of the oldest teams on the island, after Palermo and Messina.

U.S. Trapanese's first president was Giuseppe Platamone and the club played their games at Via Spalti. The first official game for the club came against Palermo in October 1908, the more experienced Palermitan team won emphatically scoring 12 goals. Trapanese bounced back however, playing local derby's against teams from Marsala and Erice. By 1915 play was stopped because of World War I.

Post-war times

After the war, in 1921 three teams had risen up; Vigor, Bencivegna and Drepanum. During the 1921–22 season Vigor finished 6th in the Sicilian section of the national championship of the C.C.I. (Confederazione Calcistica Italiana). On 22 January 1923 a fusion took place between Vigor and Drepanum, the club decided to revive the previous name U.S. Trapanese.

By June 1926, the name of the club was changed to A.S. Trapani. In the 1930–31 season, under the name Juventus Trapani, the club won promotion from III Divisione into II Divisione, the following season they achieved promotion again this time into the early 1930s equivalent of Serie C. They finished 8th in Serie C during the 1942–43, but then football in Italy was put on hold for the Second World War.

1940s, 50s and 60s

Just after World War II, the club were using the name A.S. Trapani for one season, before changing its name to A.S. Drepanum. They were entered into Serie C, which at the time was divided into many regional groups. For the 1947–48 season, they qualified for the new, smaller Serie C; even finishing above Messina. Unfortunately for the club, they were relegated down to level which Serie D currently stands, in the 1949–50 after finishing second from bottom.

1990s: peak and decline

With former Serie A player Ignazio Arcoleo as head coach, Trapani experienced two consecutive promotions from Serie D to Serie C1 in the early 1990s.

In 1995, a strong and qualified team composed mostly by young promising players such as Marco Materazzi and more experienced local footballers such as Francesco Galeoto qualified to the promotion playoff, but ultimately lost to Walter Novellino's Gualdo in the semifinals with a late goal scored on injury time. Since then, Trapani experienced a slow but continuous decline, despite attempts to repeat past successes: Arcoleo left Trapani to coach Palermo along some of the best players, including Galeoto. The club then relegated to Serie C2 in 1997, Serie D in 2000 and even Eccellenza in the 2005–06 season, despite a late attempt by Arcoleo and former star Gaetano Vasari to save the team from relegation. In addition, the club also received a 12-points deduction for the 2006–07 season following a matchfixing attempt recognized by the Football Federation. In its 2006–07 Eccellenza campaign Trapani, coached by former Parma midfielder Tarcisio Catanese, ended the regular season phase to eleventh place, and saved from relegation after having won relegation playoffs to Terrasini in a 5–0 single-legged win. From 2007 onwards Trapani competed in the Serie D, notably ending their 2009–10 campaign as runners-up behind winners Milazzo.

From Serie D to Lega Pro Prima Divisione

On August 2010, due to the high number of club cancellations in the higher ranks, the Italian football federation decided to pick Trapani as one of the clubs chosen to fill such vacancies and admitted the club into the 2010–11 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione (formerly Serie C2), thus putting an end to a 13-year absence from the professional ranks. In this season 2010-11 from Lega Pro Seconda Divisione group C, promoted in the play-off to Lega Pro Prima Divisione.

Rivalries

Trapani's main rival clubs are S.C. Marsala 1912 and G.S. Mazara 1946, from the neighbouring cities of Marsala and Mazara del Vallo. A rivalry with U.S. Città di Palermo is also existing, but lightened by the distance in terms of divisions; Palermo and Trapani have in fact both played together Serie C1 for a very short amount of years.

Current squad

As of 31 August 2011 Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
GK Antonio Castelli
GK Gaetano Dolenti
DF Alessio Alletto
DF Salvatore Colletto
DF Antonino Daì
DF Giacomo Filippi
DF Francesco Lo Bue
DF Massimo Lo Monaco
DF Luca Pagliarulo
DF Giusto Priola
MF Dario Barraco
MF Cristian Caccetta
MF Josè Francesco Cianni
No. Position Player
MF Vincenzo Coco
MF Frank Domicolo
MF Luca Ficarrotta
MF Paolo Gancitano
MF Corrado Montalbano
MF Giuseppe Pirrone
MF Girolamo Provenzano
MF Giacomo Tedesco
FW Giovanni Abate
FW Salvatore Gambino
FW Giuseppe Madonia
FW Mattia Mastrolilli
FW Giuseppe Perrone

Notable former players

Notable former managers

Honours

Serie C2

Serie D

II Divisione

III Divisione

Interregionale

References

  1. ^ RSSSF.com
  2. ^ AleGranata.com

External links