A.C. Legnano

Legnano

Full name	Associazione Calcio Dilettantistica Legnano
Nickname(s)	I Lilla (the Lilacs)
Founded	1913 2011 (refounded)
Ground	Stadio Giovanni Mari, Legnano, Italy
Capacity	5,000
Owner	Gaetano Paolillo
Chairman	Vanessa Paolillo
Manager	Stefano Di Gioia
League	Serie D
2015–16	Eccellenza Lombardy/A, 2nd (Promoted after play-offs)
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Associazione Calcio Dilettantistica Legnano or ACD Legnano are an Italian association football club based in Legnano, Lombardy. Founded in 1913, Legnano played three seasons in Serie A and a total of eleven seasons in the top tier of the Italian football league system.

Legnano's most recent appearance in Serie A dates back to 1954, whereas in 1957 the club took part for the last time – to date – in a Serie B championship (the second tier of Italian football). Since then the club have played at their highest at the third tier of the Italian league.

The team's colours are lilac and white. After financial struggles and bankruptcy in 2010 the club folded and reformed in 2011 as ASD Legnano Calcio 1913; in 2015 they regained the right to name themselves ACD Legnano Calcio and to merge their history with the one of the 97-year-old club previously folded.^[1]

History

Foundation

The club were founded in 1913 as Football Club Legnano.

Several notable players appeared for Legnano in their early years. Goalkeeper Angelo Cameroni was called up to the Italian national side in 1920; he was the first Legnano player to achieve this. Luigi Allemandi played four seasons with the club from 1921 onwards, until he was bought by Italian giants Juventus. He later won the World Cup with Italy at the 1934 FIFA World Cup.

Serie A: Club at their peak

Legnano first gained access to Serie A for the 1930–31 season; the previous year they had finished as runners up in Serie B. The first match at the top level of Italian football was the shocking 2–1 defeat of Italy's oldest club, Genoa C.F.C.

Unfortunately for Legnano, they finished at the bottom of the table that season and were relegated; other notable results however were a 1–1 draw with eventual runners up A.S. Roma, and a 2–1 defeat of S.S.C. Napoli in Naples.

In the 1935–1936 season, the club changed their name to Associazione Calcio Legnano.

Left-winger Emilio Caprile was called up by the azzurri, to play in two international games during 1948. He became the first Legnano player to score for Italy with a goal in each match.

Slide down the Italian league

After their last relegation in from Serie A in 1953–54, the club have gradually declined. First they came close to promotion back into the league with a 3rd position in B, but two years later they were relegated down to Serie C.

Legnano spent 18 years in a row competing in Serie C, only able to finish as high as 5th in that time (they achieved this three times). 1974–75 saw the club slump down to Serie D; this was soon rectified as coach Luciano Sassi pulled the club back into Serie C2 with a runners up spot in 1977–78.

Giovanni Mari lifts Legnano

Giovanni Mari took over as club president in 1979 and under him, Legnano would achieve the championship of Serie C2. This was the first time A.C. Legnano had finished first position in any league since 1919. The club's stadium was later named Stadio Giovanni Mari in honour of the man.

The refoundation

Following bankruptcy in 2010, Legnano subsequently folded.

It was refounded on July 15, 2011 as A.S.D. Legnano Calcio 1913 and was admitted to Group N of Prima Categoria Lombardy in the 2011–12 season. The club was promoted to Group A of Promozione Lombardy.^[2]

The club had a successive second promotion after finishing as champions of Group A of Promozione Lombardy next season and was promoted to Group A of Eccellenza Lombardy.

On May 7, 2015, A.S.D. Legnano Calcio 1913 re-acquired the name Associazione Calcio Legnano.^[3] They finished Eccellenza Lombardy as 4th in 2014–15 but were eliminated in the play-offs. They finished Group A of Eccellanza Lombardy as 2nd and were qualified for the play-offs again. They defeated Torviscosa with 4–1 aggregate in semifinal and Sankt Georgen with 4–3 aggregate in final and were promoted to Serie D.

Players

Notable former players

Luigi Allemandi Attilio Demaría Gigi Riva Nicholas Frey Pedro Kamata Karl-Erik Palmér

Paolo Pulici Davide Fontolan Chedric Seedorf Marco Simone Hermann Lindemann

Staff

Presidential history

Over the years Legnano has had various owners, chairmen or presidential figures; here is a chronological list of the presidents;

1913–1916 Aldo Visconti and Eugenio Tosi (honorary president) 1917–1924 Antonio Bernocchi 1924–1925 Carlo Delle Piane 1925–1927 Ernesto Castiglioni 1927–1929 Antonio Bernocchi 1929–1931 Giuseppe Mario Perozzi, Mario Raimondo and Riccardo Pezzoni (board of regents) 1931–1933 Ernesto Castiglioni 1933–1934 Primo Colombo (extraordinary commissioner) 1934–1945 Giulio Riva 1945–1952 Pino Mocchetti 1952–1953 Luigi Mandelli (extraordinary commissioner), following Giovanni Mari 1953–1954 Giovanni Mari 1954–1956 Giuseppe Mario Perozzi (extraordinary commissioner) 1956–1959 Davide Casero (extraordinary commissioner) 1959–1963 Luciano Caccia 1963–1964 Felice Bossi (extraordinary commissioner)

1964–1975 Augusto Terreni 1975–1979 Rolando Landoni (extraordinary commissioner) 1979–1986 Giovanni Mari 1986 Ulrico Lucarelli 1986–1987 Giovanni Mari 1987–1996 Ferdinando Villa 1996–1999 Mario Pighetti 1999 Mauro Rusignolo 1999–2002 Mauro Rusignolo 2002–2005 Antonio Di Bari 2005–2007 Giovanni Simone 2007–2009 Giuseppe Resta 2009–2010 Giacomo Tarabbia 2010 Alessio Fiore 2011–2015 Nicolò Zanda 2015 Salvatore Verdoliva 2015–incumbent Vanessa Paolillo

Managerial history

Below is a list of AC Legnano coaches from 1913 until the present day:

1913–1914 Adamo Bonacina 1914–1915 Pariani 1915–1916 Primo Colombo 1916–1917 Primo Colombo Nino Resegotti 1917–1919 Technical Committee: Primo Colombo, Adamo Bonacina and Giuseppe Venegoni 1919–1923 Primo Colombo 1923–1925 Imre Schöffer 1925–1927 Primo Colombo 1927–1928 Imre Schöffer 1928–1929 Armand Halmos 1929–1931 Luigi Barbesino 1931–1933 Otto Krappan 1933–1934 Francesco Lattuada Vinicio Colombo 1934–1935 Vinicio Colombo 1935–1936 Enrico Crotti 1936–1945 Enrico Crotti 1945–1946 Attilio Demaria 1946–1947 Róbert Winkler 1947–1949 Giuseppe Galluzzi 1949–1950 Ugo Innocenti 1950–1951 Ugo Innocenti and Héctor Puricelli 1951–1952 Héctor Puricelli 1952–1953 Ugo Innocenti Héctor Puricelli 1953–1954 Giuseppe Galluzzi 1954–1957 Ugo Innocenti 1957–1959 Mario Zidarich 1959–1960 Renato Picentini 1960–1962 Giuseppe Molina 1962–1963 Luciano Lupi 1963–1964 Fausto Braga 1964–1967 Luciano Lupi 1967–1968 Carlo Facchini 1968–1969 Sergio Realini 1969–1970 Carlo Facchini 1970–1971 Carlo Facchini Luciano Sassi 1971–1973 Luciano Sassi 1973–1974 Luciano Sassi Giovanni Visentin 1974–1975 Fausto Braga Mario Trezzi 1975–1979 Mario Trezzi 1979–1980 Adelio Crespi

1981–1983 Pietro Maroso 1983–1984 Pietro Maroso Romualdo Capocci 1984–1986 Andrea Valdinoci 1986–1987 Giovanni Ardemagni 1987–1988 Mauro Bicicli 1989–1990 Giorgio Veneri 1990–1991 Luciano Magistrelli Mauro Bicicli 1991–1992 Abramo Rossetti Giancarlo Danova 1992–1993 Marco Torresani 1993–1995 Luigi Vallongo 1995–1996 Renzo Contratto Giovanni Sacchi and Mauro Bicicli 1996–1997 Loris Boni 1997–1998 Carlo Muraro 1998–1999 Gian Marco Remondina 1999–2000 Roberto Bacchin 2000–2001 Roberto Bacchin Carlo Muraro Ernestino Ramella 2001–2002 Mario Belluzzo Ernestino Ramella 2002–2003 Ernestino Ramella Angelo Gregucci 2003–2004 Pierluigi Casiraghi Stefano Di Chiara 2004–2005 Stefano Di Chiara Arcangelo Sciannimanico Giancarlo Oddi 2005–2006 Vincenzo Maiuri and Gianpaolo Spagnulo Gianpaolo Spagnulo Luciano Miani Gianpaolo Spagnulo, Patric Legain and Nicolas Gennarielli 2006–2007 Gianfranco Motta 2007–2008 Claudio Gabetta Egidio Notaristefano 2008–2009 Attilio Lombardo 2009–2010 Giuseppe Scienza 2011–2013 Massimo Rovellini 2013–2014 Massimo Rovellini Alessandro Cerri 2014–incumbent Stefano Di Gioia

Honours

Serie C2

• Winners (2): 1982–1983 (group B), 2006–2007 (group A)

Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti

• Winners: 1992–1993 (group A)

Serie D

• Winners: 1999–2000 (group B)

Prima Categoria

• Winners: 2011–2012 (group N)

Promozione

• Winners: 2012–2013 (group A)

Prima Categoria:

• Runners-up (2): 1919–1920 (group C), 1920–1921 (group D)

Prima Divisione:

• Runners-up (2): 1922–1923 (group B), 1927–1928 (group B)

Serie B

• Runners-up (3): 1946–1947 (group A), 1950–1951, 1952–1953

Serie D:

• Runners-up (2): 1976–1977 (group B), 1977–1978 (group B)

Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti:

• Runners-up: 1997–1998 (group B)

Eccellenza:

• Runners-up: 2013–2014 (group A)

References

1. (Italian) Ripreso simbolo e nome AC LEGNANO
2. (Italian) Prima categoria lombarda girone "N" 2011/2012
3. (Italian) Ripreso simbolo e nome AC LEGNANO

External links

• (Italian) Official website
• (Italian) Statistiche lilla