Unione Sportiva Dilettantistica Atletico Catania is an Italian association football club founded in 1967 and based in

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. Throughout its history, the club played extensively at

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1 ...

and

Serie C2 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...

professional level, almost gaining promotion to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

on two occasions during the 1990s. The club is currently part of the regionally organized amateur

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football. It is a regional league, composed of 28 divisions divided geographically. All 20 regions are represented by at least one division except for Piedmont and Ao ...

league, following two disbandments that led Atletico Catania down to the bottom ranks of national football.

History

The club was founded in 1967 as Sport Club Mascalucia, then renamed and relocated in 1986 by the Catanese entrepreneur Salvatore Tabita. They won their local title and were thus promoted to

. After finishing in 10th place in their first season, they went on to change their name in 1989 to

Atletico Leonzio ASD SS Leonzio 1909, also commonly known as Leonzio, is an Italian football club located in Lentini. They participate in the 2022–23 Eccellenza, the fifth level of the Italian football league system. History Origins (1909–1980s) The clu ...

and moved to

Lentini Lentini ( scn, Lintini, historically Liuntini; la, Leontīnī; grc, Λεοντῖνοι) is a town and in the Province of Syracuse, South East of Sicily (Southern Italy). History The city was founded by colonists from Naxos as Leontini in 72 ...

. The team was then acquired by Franco Proto, and won promotion into

in 1993. In 1994 Proto, trying to satisfy the absence of a football club in the city of

, brought the club from

. Their home games were moved to the 21,000 capacity stadium of

Stadio Angelo Massimino Stadio Angelo Massimino (previously known as Stadio Cibali) is a multi-use stadium in Catania, Italy. It is used mostly for football matches and the home of Calcio Catania. The stadium was built in 1935 by architect Raffaele Leone on behalf of ...

. This was because Catania's primary and historical club,

Calcio Catania Catania S.S.D., commonly known as Catania, is an Italian football club based in the city of Catania, Sicily, that plays in . Originally founded in 1908 as ''Associazione Sportiva pro Educazione Fisica'', the club boasts 17 appearances in the ...

, had been cancelled in 1993 by the

FIGC The Italian Football Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio; FIGC), known colloquially as ''Federcalcio'', is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It ...

; Calcio Catania were however later entered into the Sicilian

due to a court decision. The club changed their name from Atletico Leonzio to Atletico Catania, doing a controversial move, specially in the eyes of the club's fans from Lentini. They played for seven seasons in

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

, coming close to promotion to

twice, reaching the playoffs in both 1996–97 and 1997–98, but missing out both times.

Recent times

The 2000s have been far more difficult for the club. They were relegated down to the Sicilian Eccellenza in 2001 because of financial difficulties. In 2002 Proto sold the club to Paolo Pinazzo and Gianfranco Vullo. Atletico Catania went on sliding further down, and was again cancelled in 2005, when a group of supporters led by Santino Crisafi founded a new club with the current denomination and registered it to

Terza Categoria The Terza Categoria is the lowest level of amateur football in Italy. It is the ninth level in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Terza Categoria level progresses to their closest regional league in the ...

, the lowest division in Italian football, for the 2005–06 season. That year Atletico Catania reached a fourth place, not enough for gaining promotion. However, little before the beginning of season 2006–07, Atletico Catania won the title of the

Sant'Agata li Battiati Sant'Agata li Battiati ( Sicilian: ''Sant'Àita li Vattiati'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located very near to Catania. Sant'Agata li Battiati borders the following municipal ...

making them applicable to play in the

Prima Categoria The Prima Categoria is a level of football in Italy. It is the seventh level (since 2014–15) in the Italian football league system and is organized by the National Amateur League by the Regional Committees. Each individual league winner within t ...

. The new club ended its 2006–07 campaign in eighth place. The club was renamed as U.S.D. Atletico Catania for the 2007–08 season, that saw the ''atletisti'' winning the Round F of

league, being thus promoted to Promozione for the 2008–09 season. They completed their first Promozione season in eighth place, playing their home games in the neighbouring town of

Aci Bonaccorsi Aci Bonaccorsi ( scn, Jaci Bonaccossi) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo and about northeast of Catania. Aci Bonaccorsi borders the following ...

. They have moved back to Catania for the 2009–10 season, playing at the ''Campo Comunale "Zia Lisa"''. They promoted to

Eccellenza Sicily Eccellenza Sicily ( it, Eccellenza Sicilia) is the regional Eccellenza football division for clubs in Sicily, Italy. It is competed amongst 32 teams, in two different groups (A and B). The winners of the Groups are promoted to Serie D. The clubs w ...

in 2010–11 season but relegated back to Promozione at next season after finishing 14th. Atletico Catania returned to Eccellenza in 2015, as they were admitted to fill a vacancy in the league. After an immediate relegation, they successively were promoted once again to Eccellenza in 2017 as Promozione winners.

Notable former managers

Francesco D'Arrigo Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sever ...

Roberto Morinini Roberto Morinini (18 July 1951 – 16 March 2012) was a Swiss football striker Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a te ...

Pietro Paolo Virdis Antonio Pietro Paolo Virdis (born 26 June 1957) is an Italian association football, football manager and former player, who played as a forward (association football), forward. Throughout his career, he played for A.S. Nuorese Calcio, Nuorese, b ...

Sources

History of Atletico Catania
(from Atletico Catania official website)

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atletico Catania Football clubs in Italy Football clubs in Sicily Association football clubs established in 1967 Serie C clubs Italian football clubs established in 1967