Cosenza Calcio 1914 was a professional

Italian football Football ( it, calcio ) is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italy national football team is considered to be one of the best national teams in the world. They have won the FIFA World Cup four times (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), trailing only ...

club based in

Cosenza Cosenza (; local dialect: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000; the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza, which has a populati ...

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. It starts in 1912 when was founded Società Sportiva Fortitudo (the year 1914 is a reference to the first historic match played by the club on 23 February 1914). The club was expelled from the professional leagues in 2003, only readmitted a year later in

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 ...

. In 2005 the club folded, ended its 91 years of history. From 2003 to 2007 A.S. Cosenza Calcio claimed as the successor, which was relocated from nearby town. Again 2007,

Fortitudo Cosenza Cosenza Calcio S.r.l. is an Italian football club, based in Cosenza, Calabria. Currently the team plays in . Found in 2011 as Nuova Cosenza Calcio as the phoenix club of Cosenza Calcio 1914 S.r.l., the spiritual successor of the original Cose ...

was relocated from Rende as the new successor, and renamed to Cosenza Calcio 1914 Srl in 2008. However, the spiritual successor folded again in 2011, which yet another new club

Nuova Cosenza Calcio Cosenza Calcio S.r.l. is an Italian football club, based in Cosenza, Calabria. Currently the team plays in . Found in 2011 as Nuova Cosenza Calcio as the phoenix club of Cosenza Calcio 1914 S.r.l., the spiritual successor of the original Cosenza ...

was refound using Article 52 of N.O.I.F. in 2011–12 Serie D.

From 1912 to 2005

Cosenza Calcio 1914 SpA

Early times and Serie B

The club was founded on 18 November 1912 as Società Sportiva Fortitudo (the year 1914 is a reference to the first historic match played by the club on 23 February 1914) and enjoyed a long time in the professional leagues, spending several years in the

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 ...

and launching several famous players. They also won the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1983. During the 1980s and the 1990s, the Calabrian side barely missed promotion to the Italian top flight several times, most notably in 1989, when they ended with the same points than fourth-placed Cremonese and

Reggina Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are n ...

, but being not admitted to the promotion playoff as having the worst results of the three in head-to-head matches. In 1991–92, Cosenza lost promotion again, with a final fifth place only two points behind of

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

Serie D times

Following these highs, the club successively started experiencing hard times, being ultimately excluded in July 2003 by the federation due to financial issues, leaving Cosenza suddenly without a club. In 2004, it franchise was however admitted back into Serie D following a judicial sentence, together the new A.S. Cosenza F.C.: this caused the city of Cosenza to have two different "rival" clubs into the same division. This lasted only one year, as Cosenza 1914 finally folded.

Notable former players

International footballers of Cosenza Calcio 1914 *

Stefano Fiore Stefano Fiore (; born 17 April 1975) is an Italian Association football, football manager and former player, who played as an attacking midfielder or on the winger (association football), right wing. He was in charge as manager technical area of ...

Gianluigi Lentini Gianluigi Lentini (; born 27 March 1969) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a winger, usually on the left flank. He was once the world's most expensive footballer, when he moved from Torino to Silvio Berlusconi's Milan ...

Cristiano Lucarelli Cristiano Lucarelli (; born 4 October 1975) is an Italian football manager and a former player who played as a striker from 1992 until 2012. He was most recently the manager of Serie B club Ternana. Club career Lucarelli was born in Livorno, ...

Christian Manfredini Christian José Manfredini Sisostri (born 1 May 1975) is an Ivorian retired footballer who played as a left midfielder or left winger. Manfredini also holds Italian citizenship, having been raised in Italy. Personal life Christian Manfredini ...

* Mark Edusei * Marius Stankevičius *

Rubén Maldonado Rubén Dario Maldonado Brizuela (born 29 April 1979 in Asunción) is a former Paraguayan football defender who last played for Nacional in the Paraguayan Primera División. He made his Italian Serie A debut on 11 March 2000, against Bologna ...

* Massimo Margiotta

Colors and badge

The team's official colours were red and blue.

Honours

* Anglo-Italian Cup: 1 (1983) *

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 ...

: 1 (1960–61) *

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 ...

: 2 (1987–88), (1997–98) *

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 ...

: 1 (1979–80) *

: 2 (1957–58, 1974–75)

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Spiritual Successors

A.S. Cosenza Calcio (2003–07)

Castrovillari was relocated to Cosenza in 2003. The club spent 4 seasons in Serie D.

Fortitudo Cosenza (2007–11)

In 2007 A.S. Cosenza Calcio gave up its Serie D membership, but all the team players later joined new club "Fortitudo Cosenza", which is relocated from

Rende Rende is a town, city and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza, Calabria, southern Italy, home to the headquarters of the University of Calabria. It has a population of about 35,000, or more than 60,000 if the university students living there ar ...

. Following this, the new club renamed itself, taking the old historical denomination of "Cosenza Calcio 1914 S.r.l." with the aim to rise up the Italian football pyramid. In 2011 the team was then excluded from professional championship by Co.Vi.So.C. of

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 ...

and it didn't appeal. Another phoenix club was started in

, as

Nuova Cosenza Calcio

In summer 2011 a new club was founded as

and restarted from

It wins promotion playoffs, but it is not automatically promoted.

Footnotes

References

{{reflist Football clubs in Calabria Cosenza Calcio 1914 establishments in Italy 2005 disestablishments in Italy