U.C. AlbinoLeffe

Unione Calcio AlbinoLeffe is an Italian association football club representing Albino and Leffe, two small towns located in Val Seriana. 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 nameUnione Calcio AlbinoLeffe S.r.l.
Nickname(s)La Celeste (The Light-Blue)
Seriani
Bluceleste
Founded1998
GroundStadio Città di Gorgonzola,
Gorgonzola, Italy
Capacity3,766
ChairmanTommaso Krebitz
Head coachMarco Zaffaroni
LeagueSerie C Group A
2019–20Serie C Group A, 8th of 20
WebsiteClub website

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

Since 2003-04 season until 2019, AlbinoLeffe played its home games at the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia stadium in the city of Bergamo.

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] The club is also planning to move to a brand-new stadium to be built in the city of Zanica; the plan involves a small stadium with a capacity of 1,800 (with possibility to expand it to up to 5,500 in case of Serie B games), to be built next to the club's headquarters and training centre, and it was formally approved by the Italian National Olympic Committee on March 2019.[7]

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.

Players

Current squad
As of 1 February 2021[8]

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 Andrea Brevi
2 DF  ITA Riccardo Cerini
3 MF  ITA Lorenzo Berbenni
4 MF  ITA Marco Nichetti
5 DF  ITA Simone Canestrelli
6 DF  ITA Ruggero Riva
7 FW  ITA Giacomo Tomaselli
8 MF  ITA Mattia Trovato (on loan from Fiorentina)
9 FW  ITA Sacha Cori
10 FW  ITA Gianmarco Gabbianelli
11 FW  ITA Alessandro Galeandro
12 GK  ITA Ryan Bergamo
13 DF  ITA Davide Mondonico
14 DF  ITA Marco Maffi
15 DF  ITA Andrea Malberti
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 DF  ROU Mihai Gușu
17 MF  ITA Carmine Giorgione
18 MF  ITA Marco Piccoli
19 FW  ITA Mario Ravasio
20 MF  FRA Gaël Genevier
22 FW  ITA Jacopo Manconi
23 MF  ITA Francesco Gelli
24 MF  ITA Christian Calì
26 GK  ITA Alberto Savini
27 DF  ITA Armando Miculi
29 MF  ITA Jacopo Ghezzi
30 MF  ITA Luca Petrungaro
31 GK  ITA Simone Caruso
32 FW  ITA Piergiuseppe Maritato
— DF  ITA Diego Borghini

Seasons
Season Div Pos League record Other
P W D L F A Pts
1998–99 Serie C2/A 2nd 3416108443558 [9]
1999-00 Serie C1/A 9th 34111211363745
2000–01 Serie C1/A 13th 347189273139
2001–02 Serie C1/A 13th 348179333541
2002–03 Serie C1/A 2nd 3417125623663 [9]
2003–04 Serie B 18th 46131518475954
2004–05 Serie B 11th 38141315555155
2005–06 Serie B 18th 38101616385246 [10]
2006–07 Serie B 10th 38112011464853
2007–08 Serie B 4th 3823910674878 [11]
2008–09 Serie B 9th 38151314494958
2009–10 Serie B 11th 42141315595655
2010–11 Serie B 18th 42131019556649 [12]
2011–12 Serie B 22nd 4261224396030 [13]
2012–13 Serie C1/A 6th 3213145442747
2013–14 Serie C1/A 7th 3012711424043 [14]
2014–15 Lega Pro/A 20th 3871120275132 [15]
2015–16 Lega Pro/A 17th 344822235720 [16]
2016–17 Lega Pro/B 9th 38121610383452
2017–18 Serie C/B 5th 34131011363149
2018–19 Serie C/B 14th 3891613313543

Honours
Winner in 2002
Play-off Finals in 2008
Promotion gained as runner-up in 2003
Promotion gained as runner-up in 1999

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 Bergao. 2 March 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  8. "Rosa (Team)". U.C. AlbinoLeffe. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  9. promoted through playoffs
  10. won relegation playoffs to Avellino
  11. lost promotion playoff finals to Lecce
  12. won relegation playoff against Piacenza
  13. relegated to Lega Pro Prima Divisione
  14. lost in quarterfinals of promotion playoffs to Cremonese
  15. relegated to Serie D, but reinstated in Lega Pro by Italian Football Federation
  16. relegated to Serie D for the second time, but reinstated one more time in Lega Pro by Italian Football Federation
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