Football Club Pro Vercelli 1892, commonly referred to as Pro Vercelli, is an

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

Vercelli Vercelli (; pms, Vërsèj ), is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, ...

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. The club is mostly renowned as one of the most successful teams in the early football era of Italy, with seven national titles (all won between 1908 and 1922). They currently play 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 ...

, the third tier of

History

Early league successes and decline

The origins of football in Vercelli go back to 1892 when it was founded as Società Ginnastica Pro Vercelli (''Pro Vercelli Gymnastics Society''), and 1903 with its Football Division. The first official match for the football division of S.G. Pro Vercelli took place on 3 August 1903 against the Forza e Costanza. The club won seven

Italian Football Championship Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) ...

s from 1908 to 1922:

1908 Events January * January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica. * January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 4 ...

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Jan ...

, 1910–11, 1911–12, 1912–13, 1920–21, and 1921–22. The introduction of professionalism in Italian football, and the rise of teams from larger industrial and business cities such as

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

, led Pro Vercelli to a slow but continuous decline. They played Serie A for their last time to date in 1934–35, and went ultimately relegated also from the 1947–48 Serie B, starting a long period out of the two top divisions of Italian football, even being relegated to Italy's amateur league,

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 multiple times. They regained professional status for good after winning promotion and the Scudetto Dilettanti in the season 1993–94.

Bankruptcy and the new Pro Vercelli

In the early 2000s, Pro Vercelli also had to challenge crosstown rivalry from a new team, A.S. Pro Belvedere Vercelli (with the colours yellow and green), founded in the summer of 2006 as a merger between ''A.S. Trino Calcio'' (based in

Trino, Piedmont Trino ( pms, Trin) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vercelli in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about southwest of Vercelli, at the foot of the Montferrat hills. Trino borders the following mun ...

), who played in

and minor league team ''P.G.S. Pro Belvedere'', founded in 1912. In the

2006–07 Serie D The 2006–07 Serie D was the fifty-ninth edition of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represented the fifth tier in the Italian football league system. The regular season started September 17, 2006 and continued t ...

, the team finished 9th in Girone A. A year later, in the

Serie D 2007–08 Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...

season, the team finished 3rd in the same division, qualifying for the Serie D play-offs. It won its way to the group stage of the tournament, but failed qualify as one of the top 5 teams of the play-offs, all of which were later promoted to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione. In the

2008–09 Serie D Serie D, the fifth level of Italian Football, is usually composed of 162 teams divided into nine 18-team divisions. Special relegation of four teams from the professional leagues above Serie D after the team list had been set increased the total n ...

, Pro Belvedere finished first in Girone B, winning direct promotion to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione. Their debut season into professional football also featured, for the first time in the club's history, a crosstown derby with Pro Vercelli, but was not particularly successful, with the team lying in second-last place for most of the time in the

2009–10 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione The 2009–10 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione season was the thirty-second football league season of Italian Lega Pro Seconda Divisione since its establishment in 1978, and the second since the renaming from Serie C to Lega Pro. It was divided into ...

, and promotion winning coach Luca Prina being replaced by the more experienced Gianfranco Motta. Pro Belvedere were relegated after only one season but re-admitted to fill a number of vacancies in the league; at the same time, due to large debts, Pro Vercelli was not allowed to participate in the 2010–11 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione and so folded. In order to keep the old Pro Vercelli alive, Pro Belvedere changed its name to U.S. Vercelli Calcio and weeks later acquired honours and trademarks from the old Pro Vercelli, being thus allowed to switch its denomination to the current one, as well as to maintain the historical names and colours of the original team. In the season 2010–11 the team played in Lega Pro Seconda Divisione ranking 3rd and was eliminated from Pro Patria in the semifinal of the play-off, but on 4 August 2011 it was later admitted 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 ...

to fill vacancies.

New successes: back to Serie B after 64 years

In the season 2011–12 of Lega Pro Prima Divisione the club was promoted to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie 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 season. It had been ...

after 64 years, beating Carpi 3–1 in the final return of the play-off after the 0–0 of the first round. The club had a very unsuccessful return to Serie B, finishing 21st of 22 teams and with a goal difference −30, the worst in the league. Their placing in the league meant that they were relegated to

. In 2013–14 season, Girone A of Lega Pro 1, Pro Vercelli missed out on an immediate automatic promotion back to Serie B by a single point, finishing second in the league to Virtus Entella and eight points above third placed Südtirol. Striker Ettore Marchi starred throughout the season, scoring 15 goals. In the promotion play-offs, Pro Vercelli eliminated FeralpiSalò, Savona and ultimately defeated Südtirol in the final, thus returning to Serie B after only one season away. Pro Vercelli finished 16th in Serie B in the 2014–15 season and 17th in the 2015–16 season. They were again relegated to Serie C after the 2017–18 season. On 11 July 2019, former Italian international striker

Alberto Gilardino Alberto Gilardino (; born 5 July 1982) is an Italian professional football manager and a former player who played as a striker. He is currently in charge as caretaker of Genoa, a club he was contracted with on July 2022 as a youth coach. A p ...

took the job as head coach.

Colors and badge

The historical color of the shirts of Pro Vercelli is white.

Honours

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 Cop ...

:Winners (7):

, 1910–11, 1911–12, 1912–13, 1920–21, 1921–22 *

Seconda Categoria The Seconda Categoria is a level of football in Italy. It is the 8th level (since 2014-15) in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Seconda Categoria level progresses to their closest regional league in the ...

:Winners (1): 1907 *

:Winners (4): 1956–57, 1970–71, 1983–84, 1993–94 * Scudetto Dilettanti: :Winners (1): 1993–94

International

*Tournoi de Pentecôte du Club Français :Winners (1): 1927

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Managers

* Guido Ara (1919–26) * József Nagy (1928–32) * Guido Ara (1932–34) * Pietro Leone (1935) *

Antonio Montico Antonio Montico (; 30 December 1933 – 27 May 2013) was an Italian professional football player and coach, who played as a midfielder. Career Montico played club football for Juventus F.C.In 1962, he played the remainder of the season in the E ...

(1976–77) * Giuliano Zoratti (1986–90) * Bruno Baveni (1995–96) * Agatino Cuttone (1999–2000) * Renzo Gobbo (2002–03) *

Nello Santin Nello Santin (born 3 July 1946) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer, who played as a Defender (association football), defender, and former football Manager (association football), manager. He made 274 appearances in ...

(2003–04) * Roberto Galia (2007) * Gianluca Gaudenzi (2007–08) *

Giancarlo Camolese Giancarlo Camolese (born 25 February 1961 in Turin) is an Italian Association football, football (soccer) manager, TV sports caster, ex footballer, university lecturer at SUISM in Turin and instructor at the Coverciano Training Centre for players ...

(2012–13) * Cristiano Scazzola (2013–15) *

Claudio Foscarini Claudio Foscarini (born 19 November 1958) is an Italian football coach who last was in charge of Padova. Career Early career He started his coaching career as youth coach for Virescit Boccaleone (who later merged with Alzano to form Alzano Vire ...

(2015–16) *

Moreno Longo Moreno Longo (born 14 February 1976) is an Italian football manager and former football player, currently in charge of club Como. Club career Moreno began his playing career with Lascaris youth team before moving to Torino in 1987, with whom h ...

(2016–17) * Gianluca Grassadonia (2017–18) *

Gianluca Atzori Gianluca Atzori (born 6 March 1971) is an Italian football manager and former player, current coach of Floriana. Career Playing Atzori started his professional playing career with Rome-based Serie C side Lodigiani in 1988, then playing mostl ...

(2018) * Gianluca Grassadonia (2018) * Vito Grieco (2018–2019) *

(2019–2020) * Francesco Modesto (2020-)

Bibliography

* * *

References

External links

*
Unofficial website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pro Vercelli Association football clubs established in 1892 Football clubs in Italy Football clubs in Piedmont and Aosta Valley Italian football First Division clubs Serie C clubs Serie A clubs Serie A winning clubs 1892 establishments in Italy