Manfredonia Calcio S.r.l. Sportiva Dilettantistica commonly known as Manfredonia Calcio or just Manfredonia is an Italian association football club, based in

Manfredonia Manfredonia is a town and commune of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, from which it is northeast by rail. Manfredonia is situated on the coast, facing east, to the south of Monte Gargano, and gives its name to the gulf to the east of i ...

, in the Province of Foggia, Apulia. Currently it 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

Foundation

The club, founded in 1932 as Associazione Sportiva Manfredonia. Manfredonia is known for having been the first Italian professional team to play its home matches on a synthetic football field. The club also used Polisportiva Manfredonia as its denomination in 1940–41. Manfredonia returned to play in the professional leagues only in 2004 (as S.S. Manfredonia Calcio S.r.l.), following 64 years of absence from

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 ...

. In 2004–05 Manfredonia won promotion from

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 ...

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 ...

, but finished last in its division in 2007–08 and was directly relegated back down to

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione 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 ...

(ex-Serie C2). The club also won the appeal to remain in the professional league in July 2008. The club was initially fail the financial inspection by the ''Commissione di Vigilanza sulle Società di Calcio'' (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 ...

. At the end of 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 tw ...

season, the company had major financial problems that led the team to failure. According to FIGC, the club had a capital shortfall of €918,661, in May 2010. The membership of the old company in FIGC was finally revoked in 2013.

Refoundation

Thanks to Article 52 of N.O.I.F., a phoenix club was founded in the summer of 2010 as A.S.D. Manfredonia Football 1932 and began the season in the

Eccellenza Apulia Eccellenza Apulia ( it, Eccellenza Puglia) is the regional Eccellenza football division for clubs in the Southern Italian region of Apulia, Italy. It is competed among 18 teams, in one group. The winners of the Groups are promoted to Serie D. The ...

. In the following year the club was renamed as A.S.D. Manfredonia Calcio. In July 2016 the football club was incorporated again as a ''

società a responsabilità limitata ''Società a responsabilità limitata'' (S.r.l. or srl) is a kind of legal corporate entity in Italy, which literally means (but is not entirely equal to) limited liability company. It has a similar form to ''società sportiva dilettantistica a ...

'' (means limited liability company): Manfredonia Calcio S.r.l. Sportiva Dilettantistica.Entry
in Registro Imprese (in Italian), Accessed on 6 September 2016

Colors and badge

The team's colors are light blue and white.

Rivalry

Manfredonia had a local rivalry with

Foggia Calcio Calcio Foggia 1920, commonly referred to as Foggia, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Foggia, Apulia. It currently plays in Serie C, having last been in the top level Serie A in 1995. The team gained nationwide popularity ...

. They both from the same province. In 2007 the match ended with multiple injuries among the journalists.

Notable players

;former players with international caps * Ahmed Barusso *

Simone Rota Simone Mondiali Rota (born November 6, 1984) is a Filipino footballer who plays as a defender or a midfielder for Philippines Football League club Kaya-Iloilo. Early life Rota was left in an orphanage of Buklod Kalinga run by Franciscan sist ...

Marco Sau Marco Sau (, ; born 3 November 1987) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker. Early life Sau has been nicknamed ''Pattolino'' (Duckling) since childhood. His idol growing up was the striker Gianfranco Zola, also from his na ...

;former players who played in Serie A *

Eugênio Rômulo Togni Eugênio, sometimes Eugénio, is a Portuguese masculine given name equivalent to Spanish Eugenio. People *Eugênio Sales (1920–2012), Brazilian cardinal *Eugênio Izecksohn (1932–2013), Brazilian herpetologist * Eugénio Fernando Bila, ...

* Marco Sansovini

References

External links

* Football clubs in Apulia Calcio Association football clubs established in 1932 Serie C clubs 1932 establishments in Italy {{Italy-footyclub-stub