Società Sportiva Dilettantistica Acireale Calcio 1946 is an
Italian association football club, based in
Acireale, a city of 57,000 inhabitants 18 km away from
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 ...
in
Sicily. The club currently plays in
Serie D, although they have played for two seasons in
Serie B.
History
Foundation
The club's roots can be traced back to a previous club in the city, from whose ashes the current incarnation rose from; the older club in the city played between 1928 and 1935.
The club was founded in 1946 as A.C. Acireale, making its debut in
Serie C.
The team reached its culmination in 1992/1993 when, after a long period played in
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 ...
,
C2 and
D, the team, coached by
Giuseppe Papadopulo, surprisingly gained its first promotion to
Serie B. During its first Serie B season in 1993/1994, Acireale avoided relegation after having won a play-off against
Pisa Calcio
Pisa Sporting Club, commonly referred to as Pisa, is an Italian football club based in Pisa, Tuscany. The team currently plays in Serie B.
The club was founded in 1909 as Pisa Sporting Club and refounded in 1994 as Pisa Calcio (and registered i ...
on penalties. But, in its next season, Acireale was not able to repeat their feat, and were relegated to Serie C1. Acireale successively played consecutively four season in Serie C2, a period which ended in 2003 after being promoted on playoffs. However, after a disappointing Serie C1 season in 2005/2006, ended with a relegation to Serie C2, Acireale dropped because of financial troubles.
The refoundation
A new property registered the club as ''Acireale Calcio'' to the
Promozione
The Promozione (, "promotion") is the sixth level in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Promozione level progresses to their closest regional league in the Eccellenza level. Depending on each league's lo ...
regional league, the 7th level in the
Italian football league system. In its first Promozione season, the club readily won its league round being thus promoted to
Eccellenza. The club was renamed to the current denomination in August 2007, and will take part to the
Sicilian Group B of Eccellenza in 2007–2008, obtaining the promotion in the season 2009–10 to
Serie D.
Notable former managers
*
Walter Mazzarri
*
Giuseppe Papadopulo
*
Francesco Scoglio
Francesco "Franco" Scoglio (; 2 May 1941 – 3 October 2005) was an Italian football manager who coached at both national and international level.
Playing career
Francesco Scoglio was born in Lipari, in the province of Messina, Italy. He p ...
External links
Official homepage
Football clubs in Italy
Football clubs in Sicily
Association football clubs established in 1946
Serie B clubs
Serie C clubs
1946 establishments in Italy
2006 establishments in Italy
2014 establishments in Italy
Serie D clubs
Phoenix clubs (association football)
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