S.S. Audace Cerignola, commonly known as Audace Cerignola or simply Cerignola, is an Italian association football club from

Cerignola Cerignola (; nap, label= Cerignolano, Ceregnòule ) is a town and ''comune'' of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, southeast from the town of Foggia. It has the third-largest land area of any ''comune'' in Italy, at , after Rome and Ra ...

, Apulia. They play in the .

History

The club was originally founded in 1912 as ''Gruppo Sportivo Cerignola''. They played

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 ...

from 1935 to 1937, after which they exclusively took part at amateur leagues. The club voluntarily stepped out in 2013 due to financial issues, and restarted from

Prima Categoria The Prima Categoria is a level of football in Italy. It is the seventh level (since 2014–15) in the Italian football league system and is organized by the National Amateur League by the Regional Committees. Each individual league winner within ...

only a year later. In 2017 they returned to play

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 ...

, a league they had not played since the year 2000. In 2019, Audace Cerignola ended the season in an impressive second place, behind

AZ Picerno AZ Picerno, or simply Picerno, is an Football in Italy, Italian association football club, representing the town of Picerno, Province of Potenza, Basilicata. It is currently playing in Serie C. History Founded in 1973, AZ Picerno mostly langu ...

; in the following playoffs, they made it to the final, where they defeated

Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...

, thus ensuring a priority slot in the

repechages. However, due to a number stadium-related issues, the Italian Football Federation denied Serie C entry to the club. After winning a first appeal to the

Italian National Olympic Committee The Italian National Olympic Committee ( it, Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano, CONI), founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the development and management of sports activity in Italy. ...

Court, and FIGC declining Audace Cerignola's admission due to other stadium-related technicalities, on 5 August 2019 the CONI Court once again overturned the latter's decision, confirming Audace Cerignola's right to take part in the

2019–20 Serie C The 2019–20 Serie C was the sixth season of the unified Serie C division, the third tier of the Italian football league system. The season was scheduled to run from 24 August 2019 to 26 April 2020, however, on 9 March 2020, the Italian governmen ...

. Audace Cerignola were finally promoted to Serie C in the

2021–22 Serie D The 2021–22 Serie D is the seventy-third season of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represents the fourth tier in the Italian football league system. Teams The composition of the league involves nine division ...

season, as Group H champions, under the guidance of head coach Michele Pazienza.

Current squad

Out on loan

References

External links

Official website
Football clubs in Apulia Association football clubs established in 1912 1912 establishments in Italy Serie C clubs {{Italy-footyclub-stub