Virtus Entella, commonly referred to as Entella, is an Italian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

Chiavari Chiavari (; lij, Ciävai ) is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, in Italy. It has about 28,000 inhabitants. It is situated near the river Entella. History Pre-Roman and Roman Era A pre-Roman necropolis, which dates ...

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

. Founded in 1914, the club currently competes in the .

History

1914: Foundation

The club was founded in 1914 as Foot-Ball Club Entella. It took its name from the river Entella, flowing between

and

Lavagna Lavagna is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, Italy. History and Culture The village, unlike nearby Chiavari which has pre- Roman evidence, seems to have developed in Roman times with the Latin name of ''Lavania''. ...

2001: Bankruptcy

Foot-Ball Club Entella went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

in 2001.

2002: Refoundation

It was refounded in 2002 as Unione Sportiva Valle Sturla Entella. In the summer of 2010 it was renamed Virtus Entella, after it had been admitted 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 ...

. In summer 2012, Virtus Entella was promoted, for the first time, 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 ...

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 fill the vacancies created. They completed the 2012–13 season in style, taking part to the promotion playoff, where they were defeated by Lecce in the semi-finals. In the 2013–14 season, Virtus Entella took part to the ''Girone A'' of the Italian third tier, and topped the league for most of the season. On 4 May 2014, a 2–1 away win at Cremonese in the final day of the season ensured Virtus Entella the league championship title and a spot in the 2014–15 Serie B, in what will be the club's first appearance ever in the Italian second tier.

2014: Serie B Period

The team was promoted in Serie B for the first time in history in 2014. In the 2014–15 season they got relegated once again, in the relegation playoffs as they lost to

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

. But after the relegation of

Calcio Catania Catania S.S.D., commonly known as Catania, is an Italian football club based in the city of Catania, Sicily, that plays in . Originally founded in 1908 as ''Associazione Sportiva pro Educazione Fisica'', the club boasts 17 appearances in the ...

Lega Pro 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 ...

for sporting fraud it was readmitted to Serie B. Virtus Entella finished 19th at the conclusion of the 2017–18 season and lost a relegation playoff to

Ascoli Ascoli may refer to: Places in Italy *Ascoli Satriano, a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region *Province of Ascoli Piceno, a province of the Marche region ** Ascoli Piceno, a city which is the seat of the province above ...

by virtue of being the lower ranked team after the two-legged tie finished 0–0 on aggregate.

2018: Return to Serie C

The team returned to the Italian third tier, now named Serie C for the 2018-19 season. During the season, they also achieved a surprise qualification to the round of 16 of the 2018–19 Coppa Italia, defeating

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

on penalties during the process. That season they won the Serie C and thus earned promotion to the

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 ...

Current squad

Out on loan

Honours

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), 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 ...

: :*Winner: 2013-14, 2018-19,

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 ...

: :*Winner: 1959-60, 1963-64, 1984-85,

Notable former players

* Naser Aliji * Nicolas Cinalli *

Cristiano Bacci Cristiano Bacci (born 6 July 1975) is an Italian retired footballer and current assistant coach of PAOK FC, PAOK. He has played as central defender. Career a player During his career he has played for A.S. Roma, Roma and for various Serie C2 an ...

* Manlio Bacigalupo * Gianpaolo Castorina * Francesco Conti * Gino Ferrer Callegari * Rosario Di Vincenzo * Matteo Matteazzi * Simone Pasticcio *

Silvano Raggio Garibaldi Silvano Raggio Garibaldi (born 27 April 1989) is an Italian footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Sestri Levante. Born in Chiavari, he has represented Italy at Under-18, Under-19 and Under-20 levels. Club career Raggio Garibaldi made h ...

* Luciano Spalletti * Giuliano Taccola * Stefano Vavoli

Presidents and managers

Antonio Gozzi use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = ...

has been the President of the Virtus Entella since 2007. He was arrested and released in March 2015.

References

External links

Official site
{{Football in Italy Football clubs in Liguria Association football clubs established in 1914 1914 establishments in Italy