Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Licata Calcio is an Italian association football club located in

Licata Licata (, ; grc, Φιντίας, whence la, Phintias or ''Plintis''), formerly also Alicata (), is a city and ''comune'' located on the south coast of Sicily, at the mouth of the Salso River (the ancient ''Himera''), about midway between Agr ...

, Sicily. Licata is a historical Sicilian team, and one of the six Sicilian football clubs to have ever reached 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 ...

league in Italian football history. The club currently plays 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 ...

History

The club was founded in 1931 as Associazione Calcio Licata by a few local students who discovered the game of association football thanks to some

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

sailors who worked in the area; the official team colours, in fact, refer to the

flag of Sweden The national flag of Sweden ( sv, Sveriges flagga) consists of a yellow or gold Nordic cross (i.e. a horizontal cross extending to the edges, with the crossbar closer to the hoist than the fly) on a field of light blue. The Nordic cross design t ...

. The club was renamed Polisportiva Licata in 1967. The first appearance of Licata in a professional league, is dated in 1982 within

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 ...

. During the 1984–85 season, Licata, coached by a young

Zdeněk Zeman Zdeněk Zeman (; born 12 May 1947) is a Czech-Italian football coach. Known for his exciting, offensive footballing tactics and use of the 4–3–3 formation, Zeman has managed numerous teams over the years, mostly in Italian football. He has ...

, won Serie C2 and was promoted to Serie C1, despite a team composed almost entirely by players from the youth squad. In 1988, with Aldo Cerantola as coach, Licata won also Serie C1/B, and was promoted to

for the first time in the club's history. During its first season in the Italian second division, with

Giuseppe Papadopulo Giuseppe Papadopulo (born 2 February 1948) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a defender. He was last in charge as head coach of Torino. Career Papadopulo was born in Casale Marittimo, Pisa. He played for Livorno, La ...

as a coach, then replaced by Francesco Scorsa, Licata ended in ninth place; finishing above

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

. They also achieved the honor of playing a

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

match at the

Stadio San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in ...

against

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons ...

. The following season however, Licata were relegated to Serie C1 after finishing in 18th position. A couple of seasons later, in 1991–92 they were relegated down to

. They were then relegated in the 1992–94 season, and were set to compete in the CND league, but slow decay for the Sicilian club was complete and they became bankrupt in 1994.

Refoundations

A new club, Licata AC, was then founded and admitted to the regional

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.CalcioDIEcecellenza.it
/ref> But in 1996, after having daringly avoided relegation, Licata AC did not register to Eccellenza and was cancelled too; a new team, Santos Licata (then Nuovo Licata, that finally switched to the current denomination), started from

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 ...

(7th level in the

Italian football league system The Italian football league system, also known as the Italian football pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for association football in Italy. It consists of nine national and regional tournaments, the first three b ...

). During the 2005–06 season, Licata won the round A of Sicilian Eccellenza, consequently returning to

for the first time for a decade. In the season 2010–11 it was promoted from Eccellenza Sicily group A to

. A new club was created in 2014 after another bankruptcy.

Colors and badge

The traditional club colours of Licata is yellow and blue; known in Italy as ''gialloblu''. The club has two other nicknames; I Santi which means The Saints, and I Falchi which translates as The Hawks.

Notable former managers

* Aldo Cerantola *

Honours

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 ...

*Champions: 1987–88

*Champions: 1984–85

References

External links

Official homepage

Fans' site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Licata Football clubs in Italy Football clubs in Sicily Licata Association football clubs established in 1931 Serie B clubs Serie C clubs Serie D clubs 1931 establishments in Italy 2014 establishments in Italy Phoenix clubs (association football)