![Perugia through the ages](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Perugia_through_the_ages.jpg)
Associazione Calcistica Perugia Calcio, or simply Perugia, is a professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club based in
Perugia
Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia.
The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...
,
Umbria
it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman)
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, Italy, that competes in the .
Founded in 1905 as Associazione Calcistica Perugia, the club folded in 2005 and were re-founded the same year as Perugia Calcio, before dissolving once again in 2010, taking on its current name.
The club has played 13 times in the Serie A; their best placement was finishing runners-up in 1978–79 year unbeaten, becoming the first team under the round-robin format to finish the Serie A season without defeats. In addition to various minor league titles, the club has won the
2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup
The 2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Schalke 04, Villarreal, and Perugia. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it a ...
, and has made two
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
appearances. In its Serie A spell under club president
Luciano Gaucci
Luciano Gaucci (December 28, 1938 – February 1, 2020) was an Italian entrepreneur and sportsman. He was the owner of various clubs:
* Perugia Calcio, a football club based in Perugia, Umbria.
* Viterbese Calcio, a football club based in Viterbo, ...
around the turn of the century Perugia had some upset wins at home, most notably against
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...
on the final day in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
, which lead to their opponents dropping the title win to
Lazio
it, Laziale
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. Gaucci's era ended with relegation in
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
after which bankruptcy unfolded.
The club's players are nicknamed "biancorossi" (red and whites) due to their historical kit colours, which include red shirts and socks accompanied by white shorts, and "grifoni" (griffins), inspired by their city's heraldic symbol. They play their home matches at the 28,000-capacity
Stadio Renato Curi. In the 1979–80 season, they became the first Italian football team to show a kit sponsorship.
History
A.C. Perugia (1905–2004)
A.C. Perugia were founded on 9 June 1905, after the merger of ''U.S. Fortebraccio'' and ''Libertas''.
![Associazione Calcio Perugia 1933-34](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Associazione_Calcio_Perugia_1933-34.jpg)
Promotion to Serie B in 1966 would mark the beginning of one of the club's most successful periods. Perugia spent the next eight years in Serie B before promotion to Serie A for the first time in 1975.
In the club's first Serie A season, Perugia finished eighth with 31 points – just short of a European place. Star players in the side included defender
Pierluigi Frosio and midfielders
Renato Curi
Renato Curi (20 September 1953 – 30 October 1977) was an Italian footballer who played as a midfielder. He is best known for his tenure as a Perugia mainstay in the 1970s until his death during a league game against Juventus.
Biography
Renat ...
and
Franco Vannini. The side remained in the top half of the table for the rest of the decade, finishing runners-up in 1979 with 11 wins and 19 draws, resulting in the only unbeaten side not to win a title. However, tragedy and scandal marred this period. In 1977, Curi died of a heart attack during a league match with
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...
, while Vannini's career was ended by injury in 1979. The
Totonero scandal in 1980 led to a 5-point penalty and relegation in 1981.
Ilario Castagner
Ilario Castagner (born 18 December 1940) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a striker.
References
External links
1940 births
People from Vittorio Veneto
A.C. Reggiana 1919 players
A.C. Perugia Calcio p ...
was coach during this period.
The club spent the first half of the 1980s trying to get back to Serie A, nearly succeeding in 1984–85. Another scandal in 1986 forced Perugia down to Serie C2. It was during this time that
Fabrizio Ravanelli
Fabrizio Ravanelli (; born 11 December 1968) is an Italian football manager and former international player.
A former striker, Ravanelli started and ended his playing career at hometown club Perugia Calcio, and also played for Middlesbrough, J ...
would be discovered, he would later go on to a career with Reggiana, Juventus, Middlesbrough and several other clubs before returning to Perugia.
The controversial and eccentric
Luciano Gaucci
Luciano Gaucci (December 28, 1938 – February 1, 2020) was an Italian entrepreneur and sportsman. He was the owner of various clubs:
* Perugia Calcio, a football club based in Perugia, Umbria.
* Viterbese Calcio, a football club based in Viterbo, ...
took control of the club. The side returned to Serie B in 1994 and under the guidance of
Giovanni Galeone
Giovanni Galeone (born 25 January 1941) is an Italian football manager and former player.
Playing career
Galeone, born in Naples, moved to Northern Italy in his youth years, and played as a midfielder for Ponziana Trieste, Monza and Udinese, whe ...
reached Serie A in 1996. Perugia started well before Gaucci's decision to replace Galeone with
Nevio Scala
Nevio Scala (; born 22 November 1947) is an Italian football sporting director, coach and former player.
Throughout his footballing career, he played as a midfielder for several Italian clubs, and won several titles during his time with A.C. Mil ...
. The side's form subsequently declined before a late rally gave them a chance of survival- a 2–1 defeat at Piacenza in the final round sealed their fate. With Castagner back in charge, Perugia won a play-off with Torino to secure a return to the top flight.
![1974–75 Associazione Calcio Perugia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/1974%E2%80%9375_Associazione_Calcio_Perugia.jpg)
The next six seasons saw Perugia hold their own in Serie A with foreign imports including the Japanese international
Hidetoshi Nakata
is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest Asian players of all time.
Nakata began his professional career in 1995 and won the Asian Football Confederation Player ...
in 1998. The team came under scrutiny when Gaucci criticised and eventually terminated the contract of his own player,
Ahn Jung-Hwan of South Korea, for scoring the
golden goal
The golden goal or golden point is a rule used in association football, lacrosse, field hockey, and ice hockey to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the end of normal time. It is a type of sud ...
that knocked Italy out of the
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
, and allegedly insulting the Italian nation. Ahn's national manager
Guus Hiddink
Guus Hiddink (; born 8 November 1946) is a Dutch former football manager and professional player. He enjoyed a long career playing as a midfielder in his native Netherlands. Retired as player in 1982, Hiddink went into management, leading both c ...
spoke out against the sacking. Following the outcry, it however transpired that Ahn was only ever on a season-long contract and by the time of the World
Cup, was no longer under contract to Perugia and the "sacking" was all a publicity stunt by Gaucci.
In the summer of 2003, Perugia signed English striker
Jay Bothroyd
Jay Bothroyd (born 7 May 1982) is a former English professional footballer who last played as a striker for J1 League club Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo.
A product of the Arsenal Academy, he left in 2000 and signed with Coventry City, spending th ...
, and
Al-Saadi Gaddafi
Al-Saadi Muammar Gaddafi , also spelt as Al-Saadi Moammer Al-Gaddafi ( ar, الساعدي معمر القذافي; born 25 May 1973) is a Libyan retired professional football player. He captained the national team, but his career was widely att ...
(the son of Libyan dictator
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...
). Soon after, the club were one of three winners of the
2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup
The 2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Schalke 04, Villarreal, and Perugia. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it a ...
after beating
VfL Wolfsburg
Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...
of Germany 3–0 on aggregate. This qualified the team to the
2003–04 UEFA Cup
The 2003–04 UEFA Cup was won by Valencia in the final against Marseille. It wrapped up a league and UEFA Cup double for Valencia.
Porto could not defend their title as they automatically qualified for the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League and al ...
, in which they were eliminated in the third round by
PSV Eindhoven
Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...
.
Perugia Calcio (2005–2010)
The new chairman Vincenzo Silvestrini had re-established the club in 2005 as ''Perugia Calcio''.
After a takeover, in 2009 Perugia Calcio property passed to Perugian entrepreneur and former
Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
owner and chairman Leonardo Covarelli. On 21 May 2010 the Court of Perugia declared the bankruptcy of Perugia Calcio srl.
Nobody decided to take over the society at the subsequent auction and on 30 June 2010 the club was unable to join the Italian third level championship 2010–2011. The
Italian Football Federation
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 ...
decided on 8 July 2010 to revoke the affiliation of the bankrupt ''Perugia Calcio Srl''.
From A.S.D. Perugia Calcio to A.C. Perugia Calcio (2010–present)
During the summer break 2010, this new club with the same denomination and inheriting the old side history, was entered into the
Serie D
The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...
Girone E.
On 10 April 2011, Perugia became the first team of the season to get promoted from Serie D to the
Lega Pro Seconda Divisione 2011–12, after a 3–2 home victory against
Castel Rigone
Castel Rigone is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' (municipality) of Passignano sul Trasimeno, Umbria, central Italy.
As of 2001, it had 406 inhabitants, and is located 12 km from Passignano. According to tradition, the name derives from that ...
. They eventually won the Girone E. The club also won the 2010–11
Coppa Italia Serie D
Coppa Italia Serie D (Italian for Serie D Italian Cup) is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie D in Italian football. The competition is held since the 1999–2000, when Serie D clubs split from Coppa Italia Dilettant ...
, beating
Turris
''Turris'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Turridae, the turrids.
Description
The generally large shells are variegated with spots. The fusiform shell is turriculated with a long, sharp spire. The aperture is ...
1–0 in the final.
In summer 2011 the club was renamed ''Associazione Calcistica Perugia Calcio'', thus becoming a professional company, to play in the
Lega Pro Seconda Divisione/B obtaining immediate promotion to
Lega Pro Prima Divisione
Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest 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.
Before the 1978 ...
. On 4 May 2014, beating Frosinone 1–0, A.C. Perugia won the 2013–14 Lega Pro Prima Divisione championship and gained promotion to Serie B after a 9-year absence from Italy's second highest football division.
On 2 May 2021, Perugia finished in first place in group B of the
2020–21 Serie C
The 2020–21 Serie C was the seventh season of the unified Serie C division, the third tier of the Italian football league system.
Teams
The league was initially to be contested by 60 teams, but was reduced to 59 following the exclusion of Trap ...
, and were promoted back to the Serie B.
Their promotion came after consecutive wins in the last five games on the season, having been in third place, six points from first place.
Players
Current squad
Other players under contract
Out on loan
Coaching staff
Honours
League
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 ...
:
:*Winner:
1974-75
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 ...
:
:*Winner:
1932-33,
1945-46,
1966-67,
1993-94,
2013-14,
2020-21
The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...
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 ...
:
:*Winner:
1987-88,
2011-12,
Serie D
The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...
:
:*Winner:
2010-11,
Cups
Supercoppa di Lega Pro:
:*Winner: 2014
Supercoppa di Serie C2:
:*Winner: 2012
Coppa Italia Serie D
Coppa Italia Serie D (Italian for Serie D Italian Cup) is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie D in Italian football. The competition is held since the 1999–2000, when Serie D clubs split from Coppa Italia Dilettant ...
:
:*Winner: 2010–11
European
UEFA Intertoto Cup
The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...
:
:*Winner:
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
,
Divisional movements
Records
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...
:
:*Runners-up and unbeaten:
1978–79
European record
UEFA Cup
UEFA Intertoto Cup
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perugia
Football clubs in Italy
Football clubs in Umbria
Association football clubs established in 1905
Serie B clubs
1905 establishments in Italy
Phoenix clubs (association football)
P