U.S.D. Nuorese Calcio are an Italian association football club from

Nuoro Nuoro ( or less correctly ; sc, Nùgoro ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in central-eastern Sardinia, Italy, situated on the slopes of the Monte Ortobene. It is the capital of the province of Nuoro. With a population of 36,347 (2011), ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

, founded in 1930. The club was known as A.S. Nuorese Calcio until 2006, and F.C. Nuorese Calcio from 2006 to 2008. The colours of the team are blue and green.

History

Nuorese has a long history of playing in Serie C2 and top amateur leagues, and also featured a young

Gianfranco Zola Gianfranco Zola (; born 5 July 1966) is an Italian football manager and former footballer who played predominantly as a forward. He was most recently the assistant manager of Chelsea. He spent the first decade of his playing career playing i ...

during the 1980s. In 2004 the club, then playing in the

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 A ...

league, was acquired by former

Torino 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. T ...

chairman Roberto Goveani, with the aim to lead the ''verdeazzurri'' back into professionalism. Under Goveani, and under the captaincy of former Cagliari mainstay

Gianluca Festa Gianluca Festa (born 15 March 1969) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. Festa played as a defender for clubs such as Internazionale and Roma, and is best known playing for Middlesbrough and Cagliari. Playing career ...

, Nuorese promptly won two promotions in a row, being crowned

Eccellenza Sardinia The Eccellenza Sardinia is the main football championship played on the island. Formerly called Prima Categoria and Promozione, it usually involves the participation of 16 teams. Whoever scores the most points wins the title of Regional Champion ...

champions in 2004–05 and Serie D – Girone B winners in 2005–06, thus returning to play in Serie C2 the following season. Playing in

Serie C2/A 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 ...

in 2006–07, Nuorese finished in fourth place, then losing the promotion playoff semifinal round to third-placed Pergocrema, 3–1 on aggregate. Nuorese played again in Serie C2/A for the 2007–08 season, finishing the season in eighth place; however, due to its failure to present proper documentation to confirm their football membership, the club was dropped from professional leagues for the 2008–09 season. Nuorese was successively admitted to play amateur, regionally based Promozione league in 2008–09. Noted players who spent days at Nuorese include

Pietro Paolo Virdis Antonio Pietro Paolo Virdis (born 26 June 1957) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a forward. Throughout his career, he played for Nuorese, before playing in Serie A with Cagliari Calcio, Juventus, Udinese Calcio, ...

and, more recently,

and former

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

international Luis Oliveira.

External links

Official website
Football clubs in Italy Nuorese Football clubs in Sardinia Association football clubs established in 1930 Serie C clubs 1930 establishments in Italy {{italy-footyclub-stub