Piacenza F.C.

Piacenza Calcio 1919, commonly referred to as Piacenza, is an Italian football club based in Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna. The club currently plays in Serie C.

Re-founded in 2012, Piacenza Calcio 1919 acquired the rights to use the brand of the original club Piacenza Calcio (also known as Piacenza F.C.) from Salva Piace.

History

Foundation of Piacenza F.C.

Piacenza Football Club was founded in 1919 with ''Giovanni Dosi'' as the first club president. Dosi was an ambitious manager, taking control of every social, technical, and administrative aspect of the club, with the sole focus at bringing the club into the national championship under the FIGC.

After spending much of the club's early life in the regional leagues, they entered into Serie C for the 1935–36 season, coming close to gaining promotion into Serie B during 1938 but lost out to Fanfulla.

From Serie B to Serie D

After World War II, Piacenza competed in Serie B for the first time, competing there for two seasons before falling back down to Serie C in 1948.

The club were punished for illicit sportsmanship in 1956 and were relegated to Serie D. This proved to be quite a heavy blow for the club as they would continue to yo-yo between Serie C and D until 1964. Piacenza finally returned to Serie B in 1969, under coach Tino Molina and president Vincenzo Romagnoli.

Piacenza's history until recent times was mostly undistinguished, with brief spells in Serie B in the 1940s and further spells in 1969–70, 1975–76, and 1987–88 to 1988–89.

Between Serie A and Serie B

Promotion in 1991 saw a rise in the side's fortunes under coach Gigi Cagni, with the club promoted to Serie A for the first time in 1993, but was immediately relegated in the next season, despite the presence of players such as midfielder Daniele Moretti, winger Francesco Turrini, and forward Giampietro Piovani. For much of the season, Piacenza had battled into mid-table and were even a few points short of a European place, but were relegated on the last day of the season in a tight scrap. The club wisely chose to retain Cagni and most of his squad, and they would achieve promotion as Serie B champions in 1995.

The following five years saw the club win many supporters with its all-Italian lineup and successful battles against relegation. This period also saw Piacenza produce a generation of talented players from its youth academy, such as future Italian international players Filippo Inzaghi, Simone Inzaghi, Alberto Gilardino, as well as Alessandro Lucarelli. In 1997 the club acquired legendary hard man defender Pietro Vierchowod. Despite his advancing years, Vierchowod proved an outstanding purchase, more than holding his own in defence and even scoring decisive goals in the relegation battle. Relegation in 2000 was followed by an instant return to Serie A for two years with outstanding form shown by players like midfielder Enzo Maresca, as the club reached as high as 12th place in the 2001-02 season.

Piacenza was relegated in 2002-03, finishing in 16th position and thus returned to Serie B. The club remained in Serie B without threatening to mount a promotion challenge.

However following a poor 2010–11 Serie B season, Piacenza found themselves in a relegation playoff against Albinoleffe which they lost due to Albinoleffe's higher league position.

2012: Final bankruptcy after relegation

On 22 March 2012 Piacenza Calcio in strong financial difficulty was declared bankrupt by the court of Piacenza. In this season it was ranked 15th and relegated from Lega Pro Prima Divisione to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione after play-out. On 19 June 2012 the club was finally declared bankrupt and the team was disbanded.

The refoundation: from Lupa Piacenza to Piacenza Calcio 1919

Following the bankruptcy of Piacenza Football Club, regional amateur club ''A.C.D. LibertaSpes'', recently promoted in the season 2011–12 to Eccellenza Emilia–Romagna after winning Promozione Emilia–Romagna Group A, was renamed to Lupa Piacenza after the obtaining the brand for four years from an association "Salva Piace", in order to continue the football history of Piacenza Football Club (aka Piacenza Calcio).
In mid-2013 Lupa Piacenza was renamed Piacenza Calcio 1919. In 2013–14 Serie D season Piacenza Calcio was placed in the group B along with other team of the same city Pro Piacenza 1919 (formerly Atletico B.P. Pro Piacenza). In the 2015–16 Serie D season, Piacenza Calcio secured promotion to Lega Pro by winning the Group B title with 96 points and 30 wins over the course of the season, beating second placed Lecco by 16 points.

Stadium

Piacenza Calcio 1919 and Piacenza Calcio play their home matches at the 21,668-capacity Stadio Leonardo Garilli, located in the city of Piacenza.

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Former players

Notable former managers

:''See .''

Honours

Anglo-Italian Cup
*Winners: 1986
Serie B
*Winners: 1994–95
*Runners-up: 2000–01
*Promoted: 1992–93
Serie C
*Winners: 1968–69, 1974–75, 1986–87, 1990–91
*Runners-up: 1936–37, 1937–38
Serie D
*Winners: 1963–64, 2015–16
Seconda Divisione
*Promoted: 1927–28
*Group runners-up: 1922–23, 1924–25
Emilian Championship
*Winners: 1919–20

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Piacenza

Sport in Piacenza
Football clubs in Italy
Football clubs in Emilia-Romagna
Association football clubs established in 1919
Association football clubs established in 2012
Italian football First Division clubs
Serie A clubs
Serie B clubs
Serie C clubs
1919 establishments in Italy
2012 establishments in Italy
Phoenix clubs (association football)