Associazione Sportiva Dilettantisica S.S. Leonzio 1909, also commonly known as Leonzio, is an Italian
football club
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all- ...
located in
Lentini
Lentini ( scn, Lintini, historically Liuntini; la, Leontīnī; grc, Λεοντῖνοι) is a town and in the Province of Syracuse, South East of Sicily (Southern Italy).
History
The city was founded by colonists from Naxos as Leontini in 72 ...
.
They participate in the
2022–23 Eccellenza, the fifth level of the
Italian football league system
The Italian football league system, also known as the Italian football pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for association football in Italy. It consists of nine national and regional tournaments, the first three b ...
.
History
Origins (1909–1980s)
![Leonzio1909](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Leonzio1909.jpg)
The club was founded in 1909 as Sport Club Leonzio by some students attending the Technical and Commercial Institute of Augusta. Among them, Giuseppe Messina, Angelino Nobile and Francesco Siracusano were from Lentini. They chose black and white as the club's colours.
In 1914, the marchioness Riso organised a four-team competition that saw the participation of
US Catanese, Megara Augusta, Leonzio, and Carlentini. The award consisted of a diploma and a gold medal. Leonzio reached the final, in which they had to face Carlentini in an away match in the nearby
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
in what was the first
derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
of Leonzio's history. However, the first match was suspended because a brawl erupted. The organizers decided to replay the game in the neutral venue of
Agnone Bagni
Agnone Bagni ( scn, Agnuni) is a southern Italian beach resort and hamlet (''frazione'') of Augusta, a municipality part of the Province of Syracuse, Sicily.
In 2011, it had a population of 120.
Geography
Agnone Bagni is located by the Ionian Se ...
. Leonzio eventually won the competition, managing to attract the first interest of ''Lentinesi'' towards football.
After having participated in regional and juvenile tournaments for decades, Leonzio was admitted to the
1945–46 Serie C The 1945–46 Serie C was a special edition of Serie C, the third highest league in the Italian football league system. Best clubs of Northern Italy were admitted as special guests into the 1945–46 Serie B-C Alta Italia.
Legend
Northern Italy ...
. At the end of the season, economic troubles, which have characterized the club throughout its history, prevented Leonzio from renewing the registration to the league.
After 10 additional years spent in minor regional championships, the club was admitted through a
repechage
Repechage (; french: repêchage, "fishing out, rescuing") is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round. A well known example is the wild car ...
to
1956–57 Promozione Sicilia, the higher tier of regional tournaments in
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
. The permanence in this league lasted for three seasons, as Leonzio was relegated to
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 t ...
during the 1959–60 season. Leonzio had to wait until the 1968–69 season to be promoted back on the fourth tier of the Italian football league system, conquering the
1969–70 Serie D under the management of
Adelmo Prenna
Adelmo Prenna (born 27 May 1930 – 14 December 2008) was an Italian professional football player and coach.
He played for 6 seasons (128 games, 37 goals) in the Serie A for A.S. Roma, SPAL 1907 and Calcio Catania.
He holds the records for mo ...
, who was also a playing footballer of the team.
Starting from the 1969–70 season, Leonzio competed for ten consecutive seasons 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 ...
, achieving a second place as the best result in the
1972–73 Serie D.
Atletico Leonzio era (1988–1994)
One of the most prominent eras of the ''Lentinese'' club started in 1988, when Società Sportiva Atletico Leonzio was formed after the fusion between ''Società Sportiva Leonzio'' (which would have been relegated to the
Seconda Categoria Sicilia for the 1988–89 season) and ''
Società Sportiva Atletico Catania''.
This new society joined the
1988–89 Serie C2
The 1988–89 Serie C2 was the eleventh edition of Serie C2, the fourth highest league in the Italian football league system.
A total of 72 teams contested the league, divided into four groups (in Italian: ''Gironi'') of 18 teams.
League tables
...
. In the fifth consecutive season in Serie C2, Atletico Leonzio achieved second place in Girone C,
being promoted to
1993–94 Serie C1
The 1993–94 Serie C1 was the sixteenth edition of Serie C1, the third highest league in the Italian football league system.
A total of 36 teams contested the league, divided into two groups (in Italian: ''Gironi'') of 18 teams. The season was c ...
. However, the chairman Franco Proto decided to move the club to
Catania
Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
at the end of the season.
The fusion with Atletico Catania was, therefore, disrupted. The old club was reformed by the name of Società Sportiva Leonzio 1909, which enrolled the
1994–95 Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti
The 1994–95 Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti was the forty-seventh edition of Serie D, at the time the fifth highest league in the Italian football league system.
A total of 162 teams contested the league, divided into nine groups (in Italian: '' ...
.
Refoundations and return to regional leagues (1995–2013)
At the end of the season, S.S. Leonzio 1909 were relegated to the 1995–96
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 ...
,
in which they will remain for six seasons before being relegated again 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 ...
at the end of the season 2000–01. In the summer of 2002, the title of the freshly promoted to
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 ...
Misterbanco was moved to Lentini under the nomination of ''Associazione Calcio Lentini'', This new team participated in the
2002–03 Serie D
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
, but at the end of the season it was relegated to Eccellenza after losing relegation playoffs to Nuova Vibonese. In the meanwhile, S.S. Leonzio 1909 had participated in 2002–03 Promozione, being relegated to 2003–04 Prima Categoria at the end of the season.
A new denomination, Associazione Calcio Sporting Leonzio 1909, was given to ''A.C. Lentini'' in the 2003 summer. A.C.S. Leonzio 1909 enrolled in the
2003–04 Serie D.
Even though the relegation was barely avoided by winning the relegation playoffs,
the endless financial problems of the club forced them to join the 2004–05 Eccellenza instead with the name Associazione Calcio Leonzio 1909. By the 2009–10 season, Leonzio, which in the meanwhile had taken the name Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Leonzio, sank to
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 t ...
. In this season, they reached but lost promotion playoffs against Real San Cristoforo because of a tough 0–5 at home. However, Leonzio was admitted to the 2010–11 Promozione through a repechage.
On April 2, 2011, Leonzio was promoted to Eccellenza by winning 1–0 against Comiso.
Leonzio ended the 2011–12 Eccellenza at the fifteenth place with only 6 points. In August 2012, Leonzio remained without a chairman and did not enrol in any league. As a consequence, Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Atletico Leonzio restarted from
Terza Categoria
The Terza Categoria is the lowest level of amateur football in Italy. It is the ninth level in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Terza Categoria level progresses to their closest regional league in th ...
, the bottom of the Italian league system.
Sicula Leonzio era and return to Serie C (2013–2017)
On July 1, 2013, a new club, named Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Sicula Leonzio and formed from the title of Real Belpassese, was admitted to Promozione. Sicula Leonzio achieved third place at the end of the season, but they lost the promotion playoffs against
Comprensorio Normanno, missing the promotion to Eccellenza. However, Sicula Leonzio achieved two promotions in a row in the following two seasons. During the 2014–15 season, the club obtained first place and was directly promoted. During the 2015–16 season, Sicula Leonzio achieved third place and then beat 3–1 (
a.e.t.
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...
)
Troina
Troina ( Sicilian: ''Traina'') is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Enna, Sicily, southern Italy. It is located in the Nebrodi Park.
History
Excavations have proved that the area of Troina was settled as early as the 7t ...
in the semifinal and 1–0
Acireale
Acireale (; scn, Jaciriali, locally shortened to ''Jaci'' or ''Aci'') is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the north-east of the Metropolitan City of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy, at the foot of Mount Etna, on the coast facing the Ionian Sea. ...
in the final of the promotion playoffs. As a result, the team qualified for the national playoffs for the promotion to
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 ...
, when they beat
San Giorgio 1926 in the semi-final and
Real Metapontino in the final.
Sicula Leonzio managed to keep a clean sheet for the first six league games of the
2016–17 Serie D (Girone I), receiving attention from the national Italian media as being the only team among the 264 professional football clubs in the first four tiers of
Italian football league system
The Italian football league system, also known as the Italian football pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for association football in Italy. It consists of nine national and regional tournaments, the first three b ...
having not conceded a goal up to that point. On November 22, 2016,
Francesco Cozza was appointed as a new manager, replacing Seby Catania. Under the new management, Sicula Leonzio achieved a record 15 winning streak,
and obtained the promotion – the third in a row – to the
2017–18 Serie C
The 2017–18 Serie C was the fourth season of the unified Serie C (formerly Lega Pro) division, the third tier of the Italian football league system.
Teams
A total of 60 teams were expected to contest the league, including 4 sides relegated f ...
with three games to spare.
This result meant a return to the third tier of Italian football after 23 years of absence for the club of Lentini.
As a result, the club became 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 ...
(S.r.l.), changing the name to Sicula Leonzio. After the ''Poule Scudetto'', in which Leonzio lost to Monza in the semi-final, Cozza resigned his managerial position to become the manager of
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 ...
, being replaced by Pino Rigoli.
Serie C and dismissal (2017–2020)
![Siracusa-SiculaLeonzio1-0](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Siracusa-SiculaLeonzio1-0.jpg)
After a difficult start in season
2017–18, in which Leonzio had won only three out of 16 matches, on December 5, 2017, Rigoli was replaced by
Aimo Diana as manager of the club. With Diana as a manager, Sicula Leonzio achieved a final tenth place, which meant participating in the promotion playoffs that the club, however, lost against
Cosenza Calcio
Cosenza Calcio S.r.l. is an Italian football club, based in Cosenza, Calabria. Currently the team plays in .
Found in 2011 as Nuova Cosenza Calcio as the phoenix club of Cosenza Calcio 1914 S.r.l., the spiritual successor of the original Cosenza ...
.
For the
new season, Leonzio appointed
Paolo Bianco
Paolo Bianco (born 20 August 1977) is an Italian football coach and former Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender.
Career
U.S. Foggia
Bianco started his career within the junior ranks of U.S ...
as a new manager starting in July 2018. However, Bianco resigned in December 2018, replaced by
Vincenzo Torrente. Torrente leaves the managerial role at the end of the season, with the club finishing 13th in the league.
The
2019–20 season saw
Vito Grieco appointed as manager, temporarily replaced by
Giovanni Bucaro amid disappointing results. Although the team managed to avoid relegation by winning the playoffs against
Bisceglie
Bisceglie (; nap, label= Biscegliese, Vescégghie) is a city and municipality of 55,251 inhabitants in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, in the Apulia region (''Italian'': ''Puglia''), in southern Italy. The municipality has the fourth hig ...
,
the club was dismissed in August 2020 following the failure to register the team to the
2020–21 Serie C
The 2020–21 Serie C was the seventh season of the unified Serie C division, the third tier of the Italian football league system.
Teams
The league was initially to be contested by 60 teams, but was reduced to 59 following the exclusion of Trap ...
season because of judiciary issues faced by President Giuseppe Leonardi.
The short-lived F.C. Leonzio 1909 (2021)
In August 2021, a new club, named Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica F.C. Leonzio 1909 and formed from the title of
A.S.D. Siracusa, was admitted to
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 Ao ...
. After two consecutive withdrawals, Leonzio was excluded from the league by the
Lega Nazionale Dilettanti
The Lega Nazionale Dilettanti (National Amateur League) is the league which rules amateur football of Italian Football Federation (FIGC) in Italy.
Founded in 1959 in Rome, it has many leagues inside: a national league, the Inter-regional Committ ...
.
Another refoundation: S.S. Leonzio 1909 (2022–)
In the summer of 2022, the club was once again refounded under the denomination of Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica S.S. Leonzio 1909 and the presidency of Gaetano Vinci.
They have been admitted to
2022–23 Eccellenza.
Colours and badge
Sicula Leonzio's colours were black and white.
Stadium
![Stadio Angelino Nobile](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Stadio_Angelino_Nobile.jpg)
Sicula Leonzio played their home matches at the Sicula Trasporti Stadium–Stadio Angelino Nobile, before July 2018 known as Stadio Angelino Nobile, which has a capacity of 3,500.
Honours
Sub-national titles
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 ...
*Promoted:
1992–93
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 ...
*Promoted:
2016–17
*''Runners-up'':
1972–73 (Girone I)
References
Further reading
* {{cite book , last=Cannone , first=Pippo , date=1989 , title=S.S. LEONZIO (1909–1989), location=Syracuse , publisher=Soc. Coop. Tip. Siracusa , language=it
Leonzio
Leonzio
Leonzio
1909 establishments in Italy