Calcio Padova, commonly referred to as Padova, 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 on ...

club based in

Padua 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 ...

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

. Founded in 1910, Padova currently play in , having last been in

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 ...

in 1996. The team's official colours are white and red. The team was refounded in 2014 after the sports title was awarded to Biancoscudati Padova for the 2014–15 Serie D season as a phoenix club. The old holder of the title was in the process of liquidation after it was expelled from 2014–15 Lega Pro. The original Padova was renamed Football Padova in order to allow the new iteration of Padova to use the original name of the club, Calcio Padova in 2015.

History

In the 1940s, the team was coached by

Béla Guttmann Béla Guttmann (; 27 January 1899 – 28 August 1981) was a Hungarian footballer and coach. He was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, and was Jewish. He was deported by the Nazis to a Nazi slave labor camp where he was tortured; he survived the ...

. Padova's golden days were the late 1950s, when the team managed by

Nereo Rocco Nereo Rocco (; 20 May 1912 – 20 February 1979) was an Italian association football player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, he is famous for having been one of the most successful head coaches in Italy, winning s ...

, reached the heights of third place in 1958 thanks to the wing wizardry of Kurt Hamrin. Forwards

Sergio Brighenti Sergio Brighenti (; 23 September 1932 – 10 October 2022) was an Italian football player and coach. As a professional player, Brighenti played as a forward at both club and international level, before beginning his coaching career. Playing car ...

and

Aurelio Milani Aurelio Milani (; 14 May 1934 – 25 November 2014) was an Italian footballer who played as a forward. Milani played for several different Italian clubs in Serie A and Serie B, winning the top scorer award in both divisions. In total, he collect ...

would star as Padova remained a force in Serie A, before relegation in 1962. The rest of the 1960s would see the club in Serie B before going into a serious decline ahead of a 1980s revival. The revival would see Padova return to Serie B in the early 1980s, and within a decade they would be serious promotion contenders. A play-off win over

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and '' comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. History Cesena was ...

in 1994 saw the club return to Serie A after 32 years. After a dire start to the 1994–95 season, Padova looked like fulfilling most experts' predictions of a swift return to Serie B. They nonetheless found their form in the second half of the year and when they recorded a 1–0 win away to

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

, they were six points clear of the drop zone. However, they eventually ended up contesting the relegation play-off against

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

, due to a late Inter Milan goal assisted by a Rubén Sosa corner, which they won on

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

. There would be no such luck the following year, as Padova were relegated, with further relegations in 1998 and 1999. Since 2001, they have resided in

Serie C1 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 ...

and

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 197 ...

. The team returned in

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 ...

at the end of the 2008–2009 season. In total, Calcio Padova participated in 11

Prima Divisione Prima Divisione (''First Division'') was the name of the first level of the Italian Football Championship from 1921 to 1926. The competition was initially founded in opposition to the FIGC by the richest clubs of Northern Italy, which disagreed the ...

/ Divisione Nazionale championships between 1914–15 and 1928–29 (best place being 3rd in 1922–23) and 16

championships between 1929–30 and 1995–96 (best place being 3rd in 1957–58); in

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

, the best place was runner-up in 1967. Padova won a

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 ...

in 1980, and played also 34

championships (won in 1947–48) and 29

/ C2/

championships (won in 1936–37, 1980–81 and 2000–01). Padova finished runner-up the Anglo-Italian Cup of 1983. In the 2013–14 Serie B season, Padova were relegated after finishing 20th, and on 15 July 2014, the team did not sign up to the 2014–15 Lega Pro championship. In April 2015, the company was put into liquidation.

Biancoscudati Padova

The club was founded in the summer of 2014, with the name ''Società Sportiva Dilettantistica a r.l. Biancoscudati Padova'', after the non-inclusion of Calcio Padova in Lega Pro and

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 Dilettanti ...

. The first official match was Biancoscudati Padova- Castellana (2–0), valid for the Coppa Italia Serie D, played 24 August 2014. On 19 April 2015, by virtue of a 2–1 away victory against

Legnago Legnago () is a town and '' comune'' in the Province of Verona, Veneto, northern Italy, with population (2012) of 25,439. It is located on the Adige river, about from Verona. Its fertile land produces crops of rice, other cereals, sugar, and ...

, the team secured promotion to Lega Pro. On 5 June 2015, changed its name to ''Biancoscudati Padova Spa''. On 6 July 2015, changed its name to ''Calcio Padova Spa'', after the old ''Calcio Padova'' changed its name to ''Football Padova Spa – società in liquidazione''.

Players

First team squad

Other players under contract

Out on loan

Honours

:Winners: 1947–48 (group B) *

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 P ...

:Winners: 1936–37 (group C), 2017–18 (group B) * Serie C2 :Winners: 1980–81 (group B), 2000–01 (group A) *

:Winners: 2014–15 (group C) *

:Winners: 1979–80, 2021–22 *

Supercoppa di Serie C The Supercoppa di Serie C, formerly named Supercoppa di Lega Pro, is an Italian football competition played by the three group winners of Serie C, inaugurated in 2000. Forerunners The FIGC introduced a third-level national football championship f ...

:Winners: 2018

Divisional movements

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Padova Football clubs in Italy Football clubs in Veneto Sport in Padua Association football clubs established in 1910 Italian football First Division clubs Serie C clubs Serie D clubs Serie A clubs Serie B clubs 1910 establishments in Italy Coppa Italia Serie C winning clubs 2014 establishments in Italy Phoenix clubs (association football)