U.S. Triestina Calcio

Triestina
Full name Unione Sportiva Triestina
Calcio SpA
Nickname(s) Unione (The Union),
Alabardati (Halberded),
Giuliani (Julians)
Founded 1918
Ground Stadio Nereo Rocco,
Trieste, Italy
(Capacity: 32,454[1])
Chairman Sergio Aletti
Manager Giuseppe Galderisi
League Lega Pro Prima Divisione B
2010–11 Serie B, 20th (relegated)
Home colours
Away colours

Unione Sportiva Triestina is an Italian football club based in Trieste, in the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

It is in the season 2010-11 from Serie B, having returned there in 2002 after 11 seasons in Serie C and Serie D, the club was relegated to Lega Pro Prima Divisione.

Contents

History

The club was founded in 1918 as merger of local teams Ponziana and Foot-Ball Club Trieste. The club reached Seconda Divisione (now known as Serie B) in 1924. The club successively featured in the first-ever Serie A season in 1929, and played consecutively to the Italian top flight until 1956. During those successful times, the team also featured the likes of local Trieste native Nereo Rocco, who played as winger for Triestina from 1930 to 1937, becoming also the first player from the team to become part of the Azzurri squad (in 1934). Successively, Rocco returned to Triestina as a head coach in 1947, and completed the 1947–48 as Serie A runners-up, only behind Torino; this is still, as of today, the best result in history for the Trieste-based club. Rocco then left in 1950 to be replaced by Hungarian Béla Guttman, who managed to save the club from relegation only in the final matchday. Another struggling season followed in 1951–52, with Triestina escaping relegation only after winning playoffs against Lucchese and Brescia. During the 1952–53 season, Cesare Maldini made his Serie A debut as a Triestina jersey. In 1953 Rocco returned to Triestina, but was sacked after 21 matchdays due to poor results. Three more mid-table seasons followed before Triestina suffered its first relegation in 1957. Successively, Triestina returned to Serie A in 1958, but were relegated in their first comeback season, which is also their last top flight campaign to date.

The club successively went relegated to Serie C in 1961 once, in 1965 twice, and even Serie D in 1971, forcing the alabardati to a local derby with Ponziana in 1975 which was quite unknown to local people in modern times. The club returned to Serie C in 1976, and was admitted to Serie C1 in 1978, and finally returned to Serie B in 1983, missing promotion to the top flight for a few seasons before being relegated in 1988. Triestina also played in second level between 1962–1965 and 1989–1991.

In 1994, the team was forced to fold, because of financial insolvency, and was re-founded by Giorgio Del Sabato. The team restarted from Serie D, and was readmitted to Serie C2 by the federation one year later. In 2001, after six seasons in Serie C2, the club won promotion to Serie C1 after playoffs; this was followed by a second consecutive promotion, this time to Serie B, both under head coach Ezio Rossi.

In the 2005–06 season, Triestina changed its manager five times. The list include the tandem Alessandro Calori-Adriano Buffoni, Pietro Vierchowod, caretaker Francesco De Falco, youth team coach Vittorio Russo and Andrea Agostinelli.

In addition, Triestina's owner Flaviano Tonellotto was forced to resign on 1 February 2006 by the magistrates because of a pending court procedure for bankruptcy, and his wife Jeannine Koevoets was named to replace him at the helm of the club. However, Tonellotto was successively ordered to leave the association because of financial troubles. The magistrates named Francesco De Falco as caretaker chairman with the idea of finding somebody interested to buy the club. Curiously, in the 2005–06 De Falco, a player for Triestina in the 80's, covered three different roles in the club: director of football, manager and chairman. In April 2006 the team was purchased by the Fantinel family, owners of a wine company in the region.

In recent years, Triestina struggled to mount a promotion campaign to end half-century absence from the Italian top flight. Triestina finished 8th in 2008–2009 season. However failed to remain in Serie B in the 2009–10 season, with a crashing 3–0 defeat to Padova at the play-outs, and was relegated to Lega Pro Prima Divisione after 8 years of endeavour in the second tier of Italian football, only to be readmitted to Serie B after Ancona filed for bankruptcy.

On May 21, 2011, after a disastrous campaign, Triestina was relegated to Lega Pro Prima Divisione.

In the season 2011-12 it plays in Lega Pro Prima Divisione group B.

Colors and badge

The team's colours are red and white.

League Participations (Since 1929)

Serie A: 1929–1957 (Serie A wasn't played between 1943–1946 due to Second World War), 1958–1959

Serie B 1957–1958, 1959–1961, 1962–1965, 1983–1988, 1989–1991, 2002–2011

Serie C/Serie C1/L. Pro I Div.: 1961–1962, 1965–1971, 1972–1974, 1976–1983, 1991–1994, 2001–2002, 2011-

Serie D/C2: 1971–1972, 1974–1976, 1995–2001

Serie D (as fifth level): 1994–1995

Current squad

As of 29 October, 2011[2]

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 Sergio Viotti (on loan from Chievo)
GK Fabio Gadignani (on loan from Lecco)
DF Dan Thomassen
DF Ildefons Lima
DF Armando Izzo (on loan from Napoli)
DF Luca Cecchini
DF Alessio Tombesi
DF Federico Mannini (on loan from Siena)
DF Conor Morrissey (on loan from Man City)
DF Gianluca Galasso
DF Enrico Pezzi
DF Dario D'Ambrosio
MF Riccardo Gissi
MF Riccardo Allegretti (captain)
MF Filippo Forò (on loan from Vicenza)
No. Position Player
MF Davide Miani (on loan from Chievo)
MF Daniele Mattielig
MF Francesco Evola (on loan from Novara)
MF Luca Villanovich
MF Nicola Princivalli
MF Lorenzo Rossetti
MF Stefano D'Agostino
FW Emmanuel Danso
FW Alessandro De Vena (on loan from Napoli)
FW César Pinares (on loan from Chievo)
FW Ricardo Villar
FW Simone Motta (on loan from Novara)
FW Davis Curiale
FW Carlo De Micco

Notable former players

This list of former players includes those who received international caps while playing for the team, made significant contributions to the team in terms of appearances or goals while playing for the team, or who made significant contributions to the sport either before they played for the team, or after they left. It is clearly not yet complete and all inclusive, and additions and refinements will continue to be made over time.

See also Category:U.S. Triestina Calcio players.

Notable former managers

See Category:U.S. Triestina Calcio managers.

References

External links