Società Sportiva Dilettantistica Nissa Football Club, commonly known as Nissa, is an Italian association football club, based in Caltanissetta, Sicily.

History

Foundation

The club was founded in 1962, as heir of former local club ''Unione Sportiva Nissena'', who lived from 1947 to 1962 and assumed the original denomination of ''Nissa Sport Club 1962''.

Serie D

Nissa played in a minor amateur league before reaching

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 1967, where it spent five seasons before relegating in 1972. It returned to play Serie D only in 1979, later starting plans for a historical entry into Italian professional football. Nissa were however relegated in 1983, only to be readmitted to fill a league vacancy; it consequently decided to take advantage of the opportunity and build a strong team that promptly won the 1984 Serie D league, and finally ensuring promotion to

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 C2

Nissa's debut as a professional team came in a

Coppa Italia Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C ( it, Serie C Italian Cup), formerly named Coppa Italia Lega Pro, is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie C in Italian football first held in 1972. Format There are a total of six rounds in the c ...

match against

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 nic ...

, which ended in a 2–2 home tie. In its first Serie C2 season, it barely escaped relegation by winning the four final matches. The following campaign was far more successful, as Nissa achieved a good sixth place in the final place. However, Nissa's time in professional football came to an end in 1987, as it was relegated back to Interregionale. This was followed by a financial crisis that caused a relegation to

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 ...

in 1989; the club promptly returned to Interregionale the following season, but only to be cancelled from football due to bankruptcy in 1992. A minor

club, Caltanissetta, was consequently admitted to Eccellenza under the denomination of Nuova Nissa, being promoted to Serie D in 1995. However, this club folded three years later, in 1998, due to financial issues.

The refoundation

After a year without a major football team in Caltanissetta, minor clubs Sommatino and Nissena 1996 merged to found the current club in 1999, thus gaining the right to play

and immediately winning promotion to Eccellenza. In the following years, Nissa fought hard to go on its rise into the football pyramid, without succeeding in it until 2008, when it won the ''Girone A'' of

Eccellenza Sicily Eccellenza Sicily ( it, Eccellenza Sicilia) is the regional Eccellenza football division for clubs in Sicily, Italy. It is competed amongst 32 teams, in two different groups (A and B). The winners of the Groups are promoted to Serie D. The clubs w ...

after a long battle with

Trapani Trapani ( , ; scn, Tràpani ; lat, Drepanum; grc, Δρέπανον) is a city and municipality (''comune'') on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an impor ...

Liquidation, another refoundation and return to Serie D

In the summer of 2013, the club could not enter 2013–14 Eccellenza after the relegation and was so subsequently liquidated. In 2014, however, it restarted in Prima Categoria Sicily under the current name. In 2024, Nissa were crowned

champions, thus winning promotion to Serie D.

Colors and badge

Its official colours are red and yellow.

Stadium

Nissa plays their home matches at

Stadio Marco Tomaselli Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Sport Club Nissa 1962, commonly known as Nissa, is an Italian association football club, based in Caltanissetta, Sicily. History Foundation The club was founded in 1962, as heir of former local club ' ...

, informally known as ''Pian del Lago'', with a capacity of 11,950. This venue also hosted an

Italy national under-21 football team The Italy national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, held every two years. Italy (along with ...

match in 1994, which ended in a 2–1 win for the ''azzurrini'' against Croatia national under-21 football team, but is best remembered for seeing the Italian team play with Nissa's red-coloured home shirts due to both teams having very similar jersey colours and lacking the corresponding reserve kits. Nissa played their home games between 2013 and 2022 at Stadio Palmintelli, the second-largest stadium in Caltanissetta.

References

External links

Official site
{{Serie C Nissa Nissa Caltanissetta Nissa Nissa 1962 establishments in Italy