Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to as Triestina, is an

Italian football Football ( it, calcio ) is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italy national football team is considered to be one of the best national teams in the world. They have won the FIFA World Cup four times (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), trailing only ...

club based in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Originally founded in 1918, the club has been re-established several times in its history. As of the 2019–20 season, 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

From the foundation to Serie A

The club was founded in 1918 as merger of local teams "Ponziana" and "Foot-Ball Club Trieste". The club reached Seconda Divisione (now known as

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie 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 season. It had been ...

) in 1924. The club successively featured in the first-ever

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

season in 1929, and played consecutively to the Italian top flight until 1956. During those successful times, the team also featured the likes of local Trieste native Nereo Rocco, who played as winger for Triestina from 1930 to 1937, becoming also the first player from the team to become part of the ''Azzurri'' squad (in 1934). Successively, Rocco returned to Triestina as a head coach in 1947, and completed the 1947–48 as Serie A runners-up, only behind

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 ...

; this is still, as of today, the best result in history for the Trieste-based club. Rocco then left in 1950 to be replaced by Hungarian coach Béla Guttman, who managed to save the club from relegation only in the final matchday. Another struggling season followed in 1951–52, with Triestina escaping relegation only after winning playoffs against Lucchese and

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

. During the 1952–53 season, Cesare Maldini made his Serie A debut as a Triestina jersey. In 1953 Rocco returned to Triestina, but was sacked after 21 matchdays due to poor results. Three more mid-table seasons followed before Triestina suffered its first relegation in 1957. Successively, Triestina returned to Serie A in 1958, but were relegated in their first comeback season, which is also their last top flight campaign to date. US Triestina - 1930s - Nereo Rocco

The club were successively relegated to

in 1961 once, in 1965 twice, and even

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 ...

in 1971, forcing the ''alabardati'' to a local derby with "Ponziana" in 1975. The club returned to Serie C in 1976, and was admitted to Serie C1 in 1978, and finally returned to Serie B in 1983, missing promotion to the top flight for a few seasons before being relegated in 1988. Triestina also played in second level between 1962–1965 and 1989–1991.

The first refoundation in 1994

In 1994, the team was forced to fold, because of financial insolvency, and was re-founded by Giorgio Del Sabato. The team restarted as U.S. Triestina Calcio from Serie D and was readmitted to Serie C2 by the federation one year later. In 2001, after six seasons in Serie C2, the club won promotion to Serie C1 after playoffs; this was followed by a second consecutive promotion, this time to Serie B, both under head coach Ezio Rossi. In the 2005–06 season, Triestina changed its manager five times. The list include the tandem Alessandro Calori- Adriano Buffoni,

Pietro Vierchowod Pietro Vierchowod (, born 6 April 1959) is an Italian former footballer who played as a defender, and a current manager. He also represented the Italian national side during his career, and was a member of the Italian squad that won the 198 ...

, caretaker Francesco De Falco, youth team coach Vittorio Russo and Andrea Agostinelli. In addition, Triestina's owner Flaviano Tonellotto was forced to resign on 1 February 2006 by the magistrates because of a pending court procedure for bankruptcy, and his wife Jeannine Koevoets was named to replace him at the helm of the club. However, Tonellotto was successively ordered to leave the association because of financial troubles. The magistrates named Francesco De Falco as caretaker chairman with the idea of finding somebody interested to buy the club. Curiously, in the 2005–06 De Falco, a player for Triestina in the 80's, covered three different roles in the club: director of football, manager and chairman. In April 2006 the team was purchased by the Fantinel family, owners of a wine company in the region. In recent years, Triestina struggled to mount a promotion campaign to end half-century absence from the Italian top flight. Triestina finished 8th in 2008–2009 season. However failed to remain in Serie B in the 2009–10 season, with a crashing 3–0 defeat to

Padova Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

at the play-outs, and was relegated 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 ...

after 8 years of endeavour in the second tier of Italian football, only to be readmitted to Serie B after

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

filed for bankruptcy. On 21 May 2011, in the season 2010–11, after a disastrous campaign, Triestina was relegated from

, having returned there in 2002 after 11 seasons in

and

2012: Relegation and bankruptcy

On 25 January 2012 the club in strong financial difficulty, has been declared bankrupt by the court of Trieste. In the season 2011–12 Triestina was relegated from Lega Pro Prima Divisione group B to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione. On 19 June 2012 the club was finally declared bankrupt and the team was disbanded. Stefano Mario Fantinel, former chairman of the club, was suspended from football activities for 5 years after the prosecutor found accounting irregularities of the club. In July, three more months were added due to player transfer irregularities. Fantinel was also suspended for 3 months in 2006–07 Serie B, also causing the club 1 point, for irregularities on preparing quarterly management report on 30 March 2006.

Unione Triestina 2012 / U.S. Triestina Calcio 1918

On 31 July 2012 was founded the new company Unione Triestina 2012 S.S.D. a. r.l. that restarted from

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 ...

thanks to Article 52 of N.O.I.F. The sports title was later transferred to another "limited company in amateur sport" ( it, Società Sportiva Dilettantistica a responsabilità limitata) U.S. Triestina Calcio 1918 s.s.d. a. r.l. in 2016. After the promotion to

on 4 August 2017, the company dropped the legal suffix "amateur sport" from the name.

Colors and badge

The club's badge features a white spontoon or

halberd A halberd (also called halbard, halbert or Swiss voulge) is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. The word ''halberd'' is cognate with the German word ''Hellebarde'', deriving from ...

—from where the club gets the nickname ''Gli Alabardati'' (The Halberded)—on a red background. This is inspired by the coat of arms and flag of the city of

. Other features of the badge include a shining white star and the words ''U. S. Triestina''. After this badge, the team's colours both home and away are red and white.

Honours

: Winners: 1957–58 * Serie C1 : Winners: 1961–62, 1982–83 *

Coppa Italia Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C ( it, Serie C Italian Cup), formerly named Coppa Italia Lega Pro, is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie C in Italian football first held in 1972. Format There are a total of six rounds in the ...

: Winners: 1993–94

Divisional movements

Current squad

Out on loan

Former managers

* Rudolf Soutchek (1929–30) * István Tóth (1930–31) * Béla Révész (1931–32) * Károly Csapkay (1932–34) * István Tóth (1934–36) * Lajos Kovács (1936–37) * Mario Grassi (1932) *

Luis Monti Luis Felipe Monti (15 May 1901 – 9 September 1983) was an Italian Argentine footballer who played as a midfielder and an Olympian. Monti has the distinction of having played in two FIFA World Cup final matches with two different national teams ...

(1939–40) * Rudolf Soutchek (1940–41) * Mario Villini (1941–42) * Guido Testolina (1943–44) * Mario Villini (1945–46) *

Mario Varglien Mario Varglien (; 26 December 1905 – 11 August 1978), also known as Varglien I, was an Italian football player and manager born in Fiume (today Rijeka), who played as a midfielder. Club career Varglien played club football with Juventus for mos ...

(1946–47) * Nereo Rocco (1947–50) * Béla Guttmann (1950–52) * Mario Perazzolo (1952–53) * Nereo Rocco (1953) * Severino Feruglio (1953–56) * Piero Pasinati (1956–57) *

Aldo Olivieri Aldo Olivieri (; 2 October 1910 – 5 April 2001) was an Italian football goalkeeper from 1931 to 1943, and manager after World War II. Club career Olivieri was born in San Michele Extra, Verona.He played for Hellas Verona, Lucchese, and Bresc ...

(1957–59) * Guglielmo Trevisan (1959–61) * Vasco Tagliavini (1974–79) * Fulvio Varglien (1979–80) * Ottavio Bianchi (1980–81) * Adriano Buffoni (1981–84) *

Massimo Giacomini Massimo Giacomini (born 14 August 1939) is a retired Italian football Football ( it, calcio ) is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italy national football team is considered to be one of the best national teams in the world. They have won ...

(1984–85) *

Enzo Ferrari Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari (; 20 February 1898 – 14 August 1988) was an Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari automobil ...

(1985–88) * Marino Lombardo (1988–90) *

(1990–91) * Franco Veneranda (1991) * Giuliano Zoratti (1991–92) * Attilio Perotti (1992–93) * Vittorio Russo (1993) * Adriano Buffoni (1993–94) * Franco Pezzato (1994–95) *

Giorgio Roselli Giorgio Roselli (born 1 October 1957) is an Italian professional football coach and a former player, who played as a midfielder. Career Born in Montone, Roselli began playing football with local side Spoleto. In 1975, he signed with Internazio ...

(1995–97) *

Adriano Lombardi Adriano Lombardi (7 August 1945 – 30 November 2007), nicknamed ''il rosso di Ponsacco'', was an Italian football player and a football coach, mostly known for his time spent at Avellino. Career He played as a midfielder with many teams, in ...

(1997) *

Giuseppe Marchioro Giuseppe Marchioro (born 13 March 1936) is an Italian professional former footballer and manager. Career Footballer As a footballer, he grew up in A.C. Milan youth team, winning a Torneo di Viareggio in 1957. Later, he played only in lower Ital ...

(1997–98) * Paolo Beruatto & Giuseppe Dossena (1998) * Paolo Ferrario (1998–99) * Andrea Mandorlini (1999) * Maurizio Costantini (1999–2000) * Ezio Rossi (2000–03) *

Attilio Tesser Attilio Tesser (born 10 June 1958) is an Italian association football manager and former defender, who is currently the head coach of Modena. Playing career Tesser, a defender, started his playing career with Treviso. He moved to Napoli in 19 ...

(2003–05) * Adriano Buffoni & Alessandro Calori (2005) *

(2005) * Francesco De Falco (2005) * Vittorio Russo (2005–06) * Andrea Agostinelli (2006–07) * Franco Varrella (2007) * Rolando Maran (2007–09) * Luca Gotti (2009) *

Mario Somma Mario Somma (born 17 September 1963) is an Italian football manager. Career Player Somma, who was born in Latina, Lazio, started his career with Genoa and then spent his later years mostly at the Serie C1 and Serie C2 level, playing for seve ...

(2009–10) *

Daniele Arrigoni Daniele Arrigoni (born 28 August 1959) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a defender. Playing career Arrigoni was born in Cesena. A defender, made fifteen Serie A appearances in his first professional playing ...

(2010) * Ivo Iaconi (2010) *

Sandro Salvioni Valter Alessandro Salvioni (born 8 October 1953), best known as Sandro Salvioni, is an Italian football manager, and a former player, last in charge as head coach of Lugano. Career Playing career Salvioni mostly played into lower ranks of Ital ...

(2010–11) * Massimo Pavanel (2011) * Gian Cesare Discepoli (2011) * Giuseppe Galderisi (2011–12) * Fabio Sambaldi (2012) * Maurizio Costantini (2012–13) * Fabio Rossitto (2013–14) * Stefano Lotti (2014) * Giuseppe Ferazzoli (2014–15) * Gianluca Gagliardi (2015) * Cristiano Masitto (2015) * Stefano Lotti (2015) * Elio Roncelli (2015) * Paolo Doardo (2015–16) * Roberto Bordin (2016) * Antonio Andreucci (2016–17) * Giuseppe Sannino (2017–18) * Nicola Princivalli (2018) * Massimo Pavanel (2018–2019) * Nicola Princivalli (2019) * Carmine Gautieri (2019–2020) *

Giuseppe Pillon Giuseppe "Bepi" Pillon (born 8 February 1956) is an Italian football manager and former player. Career Player Born in Preganziol, Province of Treviso, Pillon moved his first footsteps into football with hometown team Pro Mogliano, before to jo ...

(2020–2021) * Cristian Bucchi (2021–2022) * Andrea Bonatti (2022)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Triestina Football clubs in Italy Football clubs in Friuli-Venezia Giulia Sport in Trieste Association football clubs established in 1918 Serie A clubs Serie B clubs Serie C clubs Serie D clubs Eccellenza 1918 establishments in Italy Phoenix clubs (association football) 1994 establishments in Italy 2012 establishments in Italy Coppa Italia Serie C winning clubs