UC AlbinoLeffe

Unione Calcio AlbinoLeffe is an Italian association football club representing Albino and Leffe, two small towns located in Val Seriana, Lombardy. The club played in Serie B for nine consecutive years and narrowly missed promotion in Serie A at the end of the 2007–08 season. It currently plays in Serie C and has been in the Italian third tier since its relegation in 2011–12.

AlbinoLeffe

Full name	Unione Calcio AlbinoLeffe S.r.l.
Nickname(s)	La Celeste (The Light-Blue) Seriani (People from Val Seriana) Blucelesti
Founded	1995
Ground	AlbinoLeffe Stadium
Capacity	1,791
Owner	Gianfranco Andreoletti
Head coach	Giovanni Lopez
League	Serie C Group A
2023–24	Serie C Group A, 13th of 20
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

History

 

The performance of AlbinoLeffe in the Italian football league structure since the first season of a unified Serie A (1929/30). The club's first season was 1998/99.

The club was created in 1998 as a result of the merger between former Serie C2 (fourth division) teams Albinese Calcio and Società Calcio Leffe, respectively from Albino and Leffe, two neighboring towns. In their first season, the club finished 2nd in the Serie C2 and won a promotion having defeated A.C. Prato in the Girone A Play-offs final. After rising to Serie C1 (the Italian third division), they performed at the middle of the pack, finishing 9th in 2000 and 13th in 2001.

However, in 2002, the Seriani went to the finals of the Coppa Italia Serie C, where they defeated Livorno 2–1 at home before losing 2–3 on the road. They won the tournament on the tiebreaker (most away goals scored). In league play they again finished 13th. In 2003, AlbinoLeffe, under coach Elio Gustinetti, finished second in league play before heading to the promotion play-off. There, they defeated Padua in the semifinals, then had a surprising triumph over Pisa Calcio, which pushed them up to Serie B.

The team moved from the small Martinelli Stadium in Leffe, where they used to play home matches before promotion to Serie B, to the bigger Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia located in Bergamo, the chief-town of the province where both Albino and Leffe are located. Even though AlbinoLeffe was considered to be an outsider in Serie B, which historically includes several former Scudetto winners, the team remarkably managed to avoid relegation in the last two seasons. In 2005–2006, after a great comeback in the second half of the season following the appointment of Emiliano Mondonico as new head coach, Albinoleffe ended the season in eighteenth place and managed to save itself from relegation by prevailing in the playouts against Avellino (score: 2–0, 2–3). The 2006–2007 Serie B campaign, the fourth consecutive for the small Lombard team, ended with a good tenth place, well ahead of the relegation zone.

Historically, AlbinoLeffe's home games have been characterized by very low attendance, as shown by the average 2,400 spectators per game in the 2006–07 season, the most successful in the club history.^[1]

With local hero Gustinetti back in charge of the team and despite a lineup composed of relative unknowns, the club's 2007–08 campaign started surprisingly well, with the team leading the Serie B table for a few weeks and arousing the interest of the national media, which began providing regular coverage of the team's games. This has thus far failed to improve the club's low home attendance, however. During the season, AlbinoLeffe confirmed as a potential candidate for direct promotion to Serie A, however a string of poor results, ended with four consecutive home defeats, the final one being a 0–4 loss to Rimini, denied them the chance to achieve a place in the top two, and persuaded club chairman Gianfranco Andreoletti to sack Gustinetti, who then confirmed not to be in good relationships with the chairman, and appoint youth team coach Armando Madonna as caretaker boss for the final regular season match and the following promotion playoffs.^[2] Even after a 1–0 loss to Brescia, AlbinoLeffe managed to win at home in the second leg (2–1) and qualified for the final against Lecce. In the first leg they suffered a 1–0 loss. On 15 June, the second match was played in Lecce and its result was 1–1, so AlbinoLeffe did not reach Serie A.

At the end of the 2011–12 season, it was relegated to Lega Pro Prima Divisione after 9 consecutive years in Serie B.

AlbinoLeffe following the systematic match fixing as a club controlled by Singapore-based organized crime^[3][4][5] was penalized 10 points in the 2012–13 Lega Pro Prima Divisione.

Stadium and colors

From the 2003–04 Serie B season and until 2019, AlbinoLeffe played its home games at the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia stadium in the city of Bergamo. Previously they played in Stadio Carlo Martelli of Leffe.

Following Atalanta's renovation works on the stadium, the club reached a venue sharing agreement with Giana Erminio from the nearby city of Gorgonzola allowing the club to play their home matches for the 2019–20 Serie C season at the Stadio Città di Gorgonzola.^[6]

In 2021, the club opened a brand-new stadium in the town of Zanica with a capacity of 1,791 (with possibility of expansion to up to 5,500 in case of a promotion in Serie B) built next to the club's headquarters and training centre; the stadium was formally approved by the Italian National Olympic Committee in March 2019.^[7] The stadium makes AlbinoLeffe the first Serie C team to own their home stadium. the inauguration match was played on 21 December 2021, a Serie C league game against Pro Patria.^[8]

The club's official colors are dark blue and azure blue, also used for home matches, while the outfit worn by the players for away matches is red and yellow. Up until the 2022/2023 season, the official stadium speaker of the club was Simone Altrocchi.^[9]

Honours

Domestic

Coppa Italia Serie C

• Winners (1): 2001–02

Serie B

• Play-off Finals: 2007–08

Serie C1

• Runners-up (1): 2002–03

Serie C2

• Runners-up (1): 1998-1999

Players

Current squad

As of 1 February 2024^[10]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   ITA Leandro Pratelli 3 MF   ITA Matteo Zanini 4 MF   ITA Francesco Giorno 5 DF   ITA Stefano Marchetti 6 MF   ITA Issa Doumbia 7 MF   FRA Gaël Genevier (Vice-captain) 8 MF   ITA Michael Brentan 9 FW   ITA Cristian Carletti 10 MF   ITA Marco Piccoli 11 FW   CIV Mohamed Alì Zoma 13 DF   ITA Luca Milesi 16 DF   ROU Mihai Gușu 17 MF   ITA Duccio Toccafondi 19 FW   ITA Mattia Angeloni

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF   ITA Carmelo Muzio 22 GK   ITA Christian Marietta 23 DF   ITA Mirko Saltarelli 27 MF   ITA Davide Munari 30 DF   ITA Riccardo Baroni 33 DF   ITA Diego Borghini 42 MF   ITA Andrea Allieri 44 DF   ITA Riccardo Gatti 60 FW   ITA Andrea Arrighini 67 DF   ITA Filippo Ercolani (on loan from Trento) 72 GK   ITA Leonardo Moleri 90 FW   ALB Rrok Toma 91 FW   ITA Salvatore Longo 95 DF   ITA Mattia Agostinelli

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK   ITA Lorenzo Facchetti (at Livorno until 30 June 2024)

Club officials

Board of directors As of 1 September 2023^[11] Role Name Owner   Gianfranco Andreoletti Board Members   Franco Acerbis   Luciano Zenoni   Simone Farina   Adriano Capponi   Pietro Gelmi General Manager   Simone Farina Administrative Director   Valerio Sacchi Secretary   Ruben Garlini Ticketing Director   Laura Biffi Marketing Director   Michele Maraviglia Sporting Director   Antonio Obbedio Youth Center Director   Marco Malenchini Youth Center Coordinator   Angelo Garlini Order and Safety Director   Marco Colosio Stadium Administrator   Simone Grossi Scouting Director   Roberto Vattiato Head of Medical Staff   Giacomo Poggioli Team Manager   Ivano Peracchi Press Officer   Michele Maraviglia

Current technical staff As of 1 September 2023^[12] Role Name Head coach   Giovanni Lopez Assistant coach   Simone Arceci Goalkeeping coach   Giuseppe Benatelli Fitness coach   Andrea Mossali

Seasons

Season	Div	Pos	League record							Other
			P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1998–99	Serie C2/A	2nd	34	16	10	8	44	35	58	^[13]
1999-00	Serie C1/A	9th	34	11	12	11	36	37	45
2000–01	Serie C1/A	13th	34	7	18	9	27	31	39
2001–02	Serie C1/A	13th	34	8	17	9	33	35	41
2002–03	Serie C1/A	2nd	34	17	12	5	62	36	63	^[13]
2003–04	Serie B	18th	46	13	15	18	47	59	54
2004–05	Serie B	11th	38	14	13	15	55	51	55
2005–06	Serie B	18th	38	10	16	16	38	52	46	^[14]
2006–07	Serie B	10th	38	11	20	11	46	48	53
2007–08	Serie B	4th	38	23	9	10	67	48	78	^[15]
2008–09	Serie B	9th	38	15	13	14	49	49	58
2009–10	Serie B	11th	42	14	13	15	59	56	55
2010–11	Serie B	18th	42	13	10	19	55	66	49	^[16]
2011–12	Serie B	22nd	42	6	12	24	39	60	30	^[17]
2012–13	Serie C1/A	6th	32	13	14	5	44	27	47
2013–14	Serie C1/A	7th	30	12	7	11	42	40	43	^[18]
2014–15	Lega Pro/A	20th	38	7	11	20	27	51	32	^[19]
2015–16	Lega Pro/A	17th	34	4	8	22	23	57	20	^[20]
2016–17	Lega Pro/B	9th	38	12	16	10	38	34	52
2017–18	Serie C/B	5th	34	13	10	11	36	31	49
2018–19	Serie C/B	14th	38	9	16	13	31	35	43
2019–20	Serie C/B	8th	27	10	9	8	29	24	39
2020–21	Serie C/A	7th	38	14	15	9	43	36	57

Notable former players

The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level and/or a significant number of caps and goals accumulated throughout a certain number of seasons for UC AlbinoLeffe.

For all former and current UC AlbinoLeffe players with a Wikipedia article, see Category:UC AlbinoLeffe players.

•   Andrea Belotti
•   Alessandro Diamanti
•   Federico Marchetti
•   Federico Peluso
•   Marco Sau
•   Kewullay Conteh
•   Karamoko Cissé
•   Mehmet Hetemaj
•   Sergejs Vorobjovs
•   Mirco Poloni
•   Ivan Del Prato
•   Pierre Regonesi
•   Ruben Garlini
•   Damiano Sonzogni
•   Roberto Bonazzi
•   Marco Cellini
•   Francesco Ruopolo
•   Christian Araboni
•   Filippo Carobbio
•   Roberto Previtali
•   Alessandro Salvi
•   Andrea Soncin
•   Fabio Gavazzi

Notable former managers

For a list of all former and current UC AlbinoLeffe coaches with a Wikipedia article, see Category:UC AlbinoLeffe managers.

•   Elio Gustinetti
•   Emiliano Mondonico
•   Armando Madonna
•   Massimiliano Alvini
•   Marco Zaffaroni

References

1. "Serie B 06-07 attendances". Retrieved 20 June 2007.
2. "Albinoleffe, via Gustinetti" (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport. 26 May 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2008.
3. "La gola profonda: "L'organizzazione controllava l'Albinoleffe"". Retrieved 24 December 2011.
4. "Un pari dell'AlbinoLeffe valeva 6,5 milioni di euro". Retrieved 24 December 2011.
5. "Il caso AlbinoLeffe: "Oltre sei milioni su quel pareggio con il Piacenza"". Retrieved 24 December 2011.
6. "L'ALBINOLEFFE ALLO STADIO CITTÀ DI GORGONZOLA" (in Italian). AS Giana Erminio. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
7. "Stadio dell'AlbinoLeffe a Zanica Via libera dal Coni al progetto" (in Italian). L'Eco di Bergamo. 2 March 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
8. "Zanica, debutta lo stadio dell'AlbinoLeffe: è il primo impianto di proprietà in serie C" (in Italian). L'Eco di Bergamo. 18 December 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
9. "Dall'ottobre scorso, sono lo Speaker, la voce dell'Albinoleffe" (in Italian). Simone Altrocchi. 12 January 2022. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
10. "Rosa AlbinoLeffe - Serie C 2020/21". www.albinoleffe.com (in Italian). Retrieved 9 September 2023.
11. "STAFF" (in Italian). UC AlbinoLeffe. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
12. "STAFF" (in Italian). UC AlbinoLeffe. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
13. promoted through playoffs
14. won relegation playoffs to Avellino
15. lost promotion playoff finals to Lecce
16. won relegation playoff against Piacenza
17. relegated to Lega Pro Prima Divisione
18. lost in quarterfinals of promotion playoffs to Cremonese
19. relegated to Serie D, but reinstated in Lega Pro by Italian Football Federation
20. relegated to Serie D for the second time, but reinstated one more time in Lega Pro by Italian Football Federation

External links

• Official Website (in Italian)