Calcio Padova

Calcio Padova
	Calcio Padova
Basic data
Surname	Calcio Padova SpA
Seat	Padua , Italy
founding	1910
Colours	Red White
president	Giuseppe Bergamin
Website	padovacalcio.it
First soccer team
Head coach	Giuseppe Pillon
Venue	Euganeo Stadium
Places	32,420
league	Series C
2018/19	▼ 17th place, ( Serie B )
home	Away

Exterior view of the Euganeo Stadium

Calcio Padova is an Italian football club founded in 1910 from Padua , a city in the Veneto region . The club won Serie C in the 2017/2018 season and has played in Serie B since then .

history

Beginnings

The football enthusiasts in Padua , in Italian Padova , set out in January 1910 to found a football club in their home town. First, they chose the club colors on red and white, which is still the typical look of Padova Calcio's jerseys today. After approval of these statutes, the direction, i.e. the management, was determined by the approximately 50 members of the association. The first president of Padova Calcio was Giorgio Treves de 'Bonfili , who only held this post for a year before he was replaced by Michele Maluta . Giorgio Treves de'Bonfili also served as coach during his tenure as president. On February 20, 1910, the first game of Padova Calcio, a friendly against Hellas Verona , ended in a goalless draw. For the first time in league operations , the club took part in the 1912/13 season. After two years in the second division, Padova rose to the first Italian division in 1914, then called Prima Categoria . In the first season there they managed a good fourth place in the Northern Italy relay behind Vicenza Calcio , Hellas Verona and the SSC Venice . During this time, the young striker Silvio Appiani played in Padova, who scored 17 goals in 14 games in the 1913/14 season. Appiani died in the First World War . The Stadio Silvio Appiani , built in Padova in 1923 , which had space for 24,000 people and was replaced by the Stadio Euganeo in 1994 , was named after him. Until 1923 the team played in the stadium next door, today the Velodromo Giovanni Monti .

World champion and Olympic champion in Padua

In 1931 the engineer Ferruccio Hellmann became president of Padova Calcio. He tried to bring about lasting success for the club by buying young players. In his first year as president, he succeeded in signing Alfredo Foni from Lazio . Foni would later become world champion in 1938 and Olympic champion in 1936 . After three years in Padua , he moved on to the star ensemble of Juventus Turin . Another star in the ranks of Padova was Aldo Olivieri , the world champion goalkeeper from 1938. He was under contract with Padova Calcio from 1933 to 1934 before he left the club in the direction of AS Lucchese Libertas . During the fascist dictatorship under "Duce" Benito Mussolini also played in Padua Mario Perazzolo , another world champion from 1938, who made his first experiences in the professional business at Padova Calcio. Perazzolo played for Padova from 1928 to 1933, then went to Fiorentina and was finally world champion in 1938 in the dress of the Squadra Azzurra .

But despite these star players, including the 1938 World Cup top scorer, Gino Colaussi , who ended his career in Padua from 1946 to 1948, Padova Calcio was unable to play in Serie A at the top. After being promoted to the only a few years old Serie A in the 1931/32 season, relegation followed immediately after two seasons. After a further two years, there was even relegation from Serie B to Serie C1 , where they rose again in the first season. It was not until 1948 that the promotion to Serie A was possible again.

The Nereo Rocco era

In 1954, the former soccer player Nereo Rocco , who during his playing career had played for Padova Calcio in addition to SSC Napoli and US Triestina , became the club's president. Just a year after taking office, Padova made another leap into the first Italian division . There, despite initial difficulties, the team surprisingly managed to stay eighth in the table, while Novara Calcio and Pro Patria Calcio had to go into the second division. A season later they finished eleventh. During his entire tenure in Padua, Nereo Rocco mainly relied on defensive football, which does not mean that they were constantly 0-0, but that they wanted to build their own attacks from a safe defense. Nereo Rocco finally stayed with Padova Calcio until 1961. During this time the club held the class consistently. After Rocco's departure to AC Milan , however, they immediately relegated to Serie B. The team should not recover from this descent for more than 30 years.

Second and third class

Since relegation from Serie A in the 1961/62 season it was initially only downhill for Padova Calcio. The placements in Serie B got worse from year to year and finally in 1969 the relegation to Serie C 1 followed. Before that, in the season 1966/67 they made the leap to the final of the Coppa Italia , where they faced AC Milan - with to the President Nereo Rocco - had to give up. Before that, Padova even beat the Grande Inter around world stars like Sandro Mazzola , Giacinto Facchetti and Luis Suárez . In the league, Padova rose in 1979 to what was then the fourth Italian league, Serie C2, later called Lega Pro Seconda Divisione . After two years, he was promoted back to Serie C1 and again two years later returned to Serie B. After many years in Serie B, Padova Calcio rose again to Serie A in the 1993/94 season after 33 years. In the first year the team managed to stay in the league, but in the 1995/96 season it went down again to Serie B. Since then, in Padova, second and third division has been alternated. In the 2008/09 season, Padova rose again to Serie B and had to play in play-outs against relegation against US Triestina . There Padua managed a 3-0 in Trieste after a 0-0 first leg and thus kept the class. In the 2010/11 season , the club played better and missed promotion to Serie A in the final of the play-offs against Novara Calcio .

New start in fourth grade

The team held up to the 2013/2014 season in Serie B. Despite three coach changes, the downward trend could not be stopped, and relegation was sealed. Padova should have played the 2014/2015 season in the newly formed Lega Pro . The registration was not accepted, however, and at first the association seemed to focus only on youth work. Then it was decided to found a new association under the name "Biancoscudati Padova". This would start in Serie D , the highest Italian amateur league.