Unione Sportiva Città di Pontedera (formerly Unione Sportiva Pontedera 1912) is an Italian association football club located in

Pontedera Pontedera (; la, Pons Herae) is an italian comune with a population of 29.270 inhabitants, located in the province of Pisa, Tuscany, Central Italy, central Italy. The town is located 20 km (12 miles) from Pisa and 50 km (31 miles) from Florenc ...

, Tuscany. Currently it plays in

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 ...

, the third tier of Italian football.

History

Founded in 1912, Pontedera, a team from a city in the

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

neighbourhood, played

for several years without never gaining a single promotion to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

. In 1993/1994, a second place in Serie C2/B allowed Pontedera to be promoted to Serie C1: during that season, the team was known for having longily been the only undefeated team in all Italian professional leagues, and for having incredibly won 2–1 to the

Italy national football team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

coached by

Arrigo Sacchi Arrigo Sacchi (born 1 April 1946) is an Italian former professional football coach. He has twice managed AC Milan (1987–1991, 1996–1997), with great success. He won the Serie A title in his 1987–88 debut season and then dominated European ...

in a friendly match played in April 1994. Pontedera played Serie C1 just in 1994/1995, and relegated to Serie D in 2001, and even

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 ...

in 2002. Pontedera returned to Serie D in 2005, after having won its Eccellenza round. In 2006

Maurizio Mian Maurizio Mian (born 25 March 1956) is an Italian entrepreneur and pharmaceutical heir who is the CEO of The Gunther Corporation. A noted eccentric, Mian has often used his dog Gunther as a figurehead for his investments in sports clubs, propert ...

's Gunther Corporation briefly held a controlling interest in Pontedera.

Pornographic film actor A pornographic film actor or actress, pornographic performer, adult entertainer, or porn star is a person who performs sex acts in video that is usually characterized as a pornographic movie. Such videos tend to be made in a number of dist ...

Ilona Staller Ilona Staller (born 26 November 1951), widely known by her stage name Cicciolina ("little chubby one"), is a Hungarian-Italian former porn star, politician, and singer. Early life Ilona was born in Budapest, Hungary. Her father, László Stal ...

("Cicciolina") was installed as the club "godmother", while another pornographic actress

Valentine Demy Valentine Demy (born 24 January 1963) is an Italian mainstream and pornographic actress. Born as Marisa Parra in Pisa, Demy started her film career in the late 1980s, appearing often in main roles in several genre films, mainly of erotic genre ...

served as one of three club Presidents, alongside a Polish lap dancer named Karolcia and a British rapper named Prodigal1. The performance was related to Mian's left-libertarian views on

reproductive rights Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows: Reproductive rights rest on t ...

and his upcoming appearance in the

2006 Italian general election The 2006 Italian general election was held on 9 and 10 April 2006. Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-left coalition The Union, narrowly defeated the incumbent Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the centre-right coalition House of Freedo ...

Marcello Lippi Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional football player and manager, who led the Italian national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was appointed as Italy head coach in the summer of 2004 and 2 ...

, head coach of Italy national team and World Cup champion in the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, started his professional managing career as Pontedera head coach in 1985–1986.

Serie D 2010–11

At the end of the

2010-11 Serie D 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season, Pontedera gained access to the Serie D play-off for promotion in

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione 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 ...

, but they were eliminated in the third round.

Back into professionalism

In the

2012-13 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

season, Pontedera finished second in Girone B, and was promoted to

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1. Before the 1978� ...

. This was the second consecutive promotion for the team. The 2013–14 season saw Pontedera topping the Lega Pro Prima Divisione table for the earlier weeks of the season, and then completing the regular season in eighth place and thus ensuring a Serie B promotion playoff spot, then losing to

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

on penalties in the first round.

Colors and badge

Its colours are all-dark red.

Current squad

''As of 25 January 2024''

Out on loan

Notable former managers

References

External links

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