AC Reggiana 1919 facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Reggiana

Full name

Associazione Calcio Reggiana S.r.l.

Nickname(s)

I Granata (The Maroons)
I Leoni (The Lions)
Regia (local dialect for Reggiana)
Teste Quadre (Square Heads) from an ancient Poem

Founded

25 September 1919; 105 years ago

Ground

Mapei Stadium – Città del Tricolore

Capacity

21,584

Owner

Romano Amadei; Carmelo Salerno; Giuseppe Fico;

Chairman

Carmelo Salerno

Manager

Alessandro Nesta

League

Serie B

2022–23

Serie C – Group B, 1st (promoted)

Home colours

Away colours

Third colours

Associazione Calcio Reggiana, commonly referred to as Reggiana, is a professional football club based in Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The club was formed in 1919, reformed in 2005 (Serie C2) and 2018 (Serie D) after going bankrupt twice, and currently plays in the Serie B, the second tier of Italian football. Reggiana is known as i Granata ("the Maroons") in reference to the club's main colour: maroon.

The club was reformed twice after going bankrupt: in 2005 as Reggio Emilia Football Club, and in 2018 as Reggio Audace Football Club. On both occasions, the club regained the naming rights and the trophies of AC Reggiana via judicial auction. The club has participated in Serie A, the top tier of Italian football, seven times; their last appearance dates back to the 1996–97 season.

History

Formation

The first football game in Reggio Emilia was played under the roof of the old market in 1909, via an exhibition promoted by the local multi-sports association “Forti per Essere Liberi” (Strong to be Free). The first football clubs emerged subsequently in the coming years, with Reggio Football Club, formed in 1912, rising to prominence as the main local side due to its participation to Promozione, the then Italian second tier, divided into regional groups. In 1914, a group of Reggio FC members in disagreement with the presidency at the time decided to leave the club and form Juventus FC. The two sides clashed in 1914-15 Promozione. The entry of Italy into World War 1 in May 1915 caused a vacuum in the local football scene, as many young players were drafted into the army and lost their lives in the war. On 25 September 1919, in the main town square (today’s Piazza Prampolini), a group of former footballers, assembled by former Reggio FC footballer Severino Taddei, decided to form a new local club, using Juventus’ ground Campo Mirabello and Reggio FC colours (maroon and blue). The new club was formed as Associazione Calcio Reggiana.

AC Reggiana (1919–2005)

The club was originally founded in 1919 under the name AC Reggiana, and played in the Italian First Division for several seasons in the 1920s. More recently, it played in the Italian Serie A in 1993–94, 1994–95, and 1996–97. Their highest ranking was 13th place in the 1993–94 Serie A championship, where its main name was Brazilian goalkeeper Cláudio Taffarel, who would go on to win the 1994 FIFA World Cup after the season.

AC Reggiana 1919 (2005–2018)

In July 2005, the sports title of AC Reggiana S.p.A. was transferred to a new investor, Reggio Emilia FC S.p.A., before being renamed as AC Reggiana 1919 S.p.A. soon after the start of the 2005–06 season.

In the 2007–08 Serie C2 regular season, the team finished first in Group B, and won direct promotion to Lega Pro Prima Divisione (formerly known as Serie C1 until that year) for the 2008–2009 season. Reggiana also won 2008 Supercoppa di Serie C2, a competition for three group stage winners of Serie C2.

The club was acquired by Italian-American former baseball player Mike Piazza in 2016. After the 2017–18 season, the Piazza family decided not to register the team in the 2018–19 Serie C season, leading the club to the loss of its sporting title and subsequent exclusion from the Italian professional leagues.

Reggio Audace FC (2018–2020)

On 31 July 2018, a new entity was formed in Reggio Emilia, called Reggio Audace FC. The name was given in honour of a precursor entity of the 1910s, where Reggiana founder Severino Taddei used to play before founding the granata club. The new club, whose ownership was the expression of local entrepreneurs from Reggio Emilia, subsequently announced former Ravenna manager Mauro Antonioli as the new gaffer of the newborn club, admitted into the 2018–19 Serie D. Two days later a three-year partnership was signed with Macron. On 20 August 2018 striker Nicola Luche became the first ever signing of the club.

The club gained promotion to the Serie B, after having been admitted by repechage to the Serie C due to vacancies left by bankrupt clubs in the third tier of Italian football and winning the 2019-20 Serie C playoff, returning to Serie B after an absence of 21 years, gaining subsequently two consecutive promotions.

AC Reggiana 1919 (2020–present)

On 28 July 2020, the club changed its name back to AC Reggiana 1919.

Colours and badges

The team's home jersey colour is granata (maroon), hence the nickname "Granata" or "Regia". However, the team's shorts are traditionally dark blue, and their badge has traditionally been an orange football surrounded by the text: "Associazione Calcio Reggiana " surrounded by a Granata border.

Stadium

Reggiana played all of its matches in Stadio Mirabello until 1994, when it moved to a modern arena, Stadio Città del Tricolore (a site previously known as Stadio Giglio). The stadium was subsequently bought by US Sassuolo Calcio.

Fans

Like other Italian cities, the birth of the "ultras" phenomenon in the 1980s also affected AC Reggiana. With Reggiana battling for Serie B and Cantine Riunite Reggio Emilia competing in Lega Basket Serie A, the youth of the city formed and gathered in ultras every Sunday.

The leading group of Reggiana "Curva Sud" was "Ultras Ghetto", which was famous for its choreography. Since the late 1990s, the leading groups have been "Teste Quadre" and "Gruppo Vandelli", which situate themselves in the East Stand of the stadium. Reggiana fans have always had good numbers on away days with a peak of 10,000 fans in Milan in 1994.

Friendships and rivalries

Reggiana fans have good and friendly relationships with fans from:

Genoa (twinned)
Cremonese (twinned)
Vicenza (twinned)
Pisa
Carrarese
Greenock Morton

The main rivals are:

Parma, see Derby dell'Enza
Modena, Secchia Derby
Sassuolo, see Mapei Stadium - Città del Tricolore
SPAL
Spezia
Bologna
Piacenza

Notable players

See also (related category): AC Reggiana 1919 players

Former Reggiana players have included:

Italy

Andrea Silenzi
Paolo Ponzo
Felice Romano
Angelo Di Livio
Fabrizio Ravanelli
Luca Bucci
Stefano Torrisi
Francesco Antonioli
Angelo Adamo Gregucci
Filippo Galli
Alberico Evani
Luigi Sartor
Marco Ballotta
Max Tonetto
Cristiano Zanetti
Michele Padovano
Sandro Tovalieri
Francesco Pedone
Fabrizio Cacciatore
Francesco Ruopolo
Giuseppe Alessi
Alessandro Cesarini
Giuseppe Scienza
Marco Bresciani
Giuseppe Accardi
Fernando De Napoli
Luigi De Agostini
Stefano De Agostini
Stefano Nava
Massimo Paganin
Daniele De Vezze
Marco Romizi
Raffaele Nuzzo
Leonardo Colucci
Andrea Catellani
Luca Ariatti
Marco Ambrosio
Igor Protti
Alessandro Bastrini
Massimiliano Carlini
Trevor Trevisan
Marco Guidone
Cristian Altinier
Vito Grieco
Andrea Bovo
Luca Ghiringhelli
Simone Calvano
Andrea Parola
Raffaele Nolè
Michele Pazienza
Daniele Mignanelli
Federico Angiulli
Paolo Zanetti
Armando Pantanelli
Gian Piero Gasperini
Walter Mazzarri
Gianluca Piaccitali

Austria

Michael Hatz

Belgium

Georges Grün

Brazil

Cláudio Taffarel
André Viapiana
Robert Anderson

Colombia

Adolfo Valencia

Croatia

Bruno Petković

Czech Republic

Edvard Lasota

Georgia

Georgi Nemsadze

Germany

Dietmar Beiersdorfer

England

Franz Carr

France

Gaël Genevier

Montenegro

Minel Šabotić
Hasim Đoković

Nigeria

Sunday Oliseh
Obafemi Martins
Mathew Olorunleke
Jero Shakpoke
Prince Ikpe Ekong
Saidu Adeshina

Portugal

Paulo Futre
António Pacheco
Rui Águas

Romania

Dorin Mateut
Ioan Sabau
Vasile Mogoș

Russia

Igor Simutenkov

Spain

Marti Riverola

Sweden

Johnny Ekström

Venezuela

Massimo Margiotta

Youth sector

Reggiana have always had a good tradition in developing youth players, being a rare club with a training ground which has 16 football pitches, located in the nearbies of the club house. The youth teams play their games in Stadio Mirabello, via Agosti training ground or in small grounds located in the local province.

The academy has produced various players, notably:

Italy

Gino Giaroli
Ettore Agazzani
Stefano Aigotti
Egidio Anceschi
Alessio Badari
Silvio Bandini
Aldo Bedogni
Oreste Benatti
Carlo Benelli
Roberto Benincasa
Andrea Costa
Mohammed Chakir
Simone Gozzi
Danilo Zini
Luca Ariatti
Elvis Abbruscato
Christian Araboni
Alessandro Bertoni
Leonida Bietti
Ottorino Bojardi
Leopoldo Bolognesi
Alberto Boni
Fabio Bonini
Enrico Bottazzi
Denis Brunazzi
Aldo Cagnoli
Giovanni Campari
Fabio Caselli
Ilario Castagner
Aldo Catalani
Andrea Catellani
Maurizio Cavazzoni
Gianluca Cherubini
Zucchero Fornaciari (after quitting football, he became a notorious singer)
Dino Galparoli
Lorenzo Mossini
Paolo Mozzini
Erik Panizzi
Armando Pantanelli
Jacopo Pellegrini
Gabriele Piccinini
Ayman Sanat
Max Tonetto

Gabon

Catilina Aubameyang

Ghana

Boadu Maxwell Acosty

Morocco

Hachim Mastour

Nigeria

Saidu Adeshina
Stephen Makinwa
Obafemi Martins
Benjamin Onwuachi

Players

Current squad

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Alex Sposito
3	DF	Edoardo Pieragnolo (on loan from Sassuolo)
4	DF	Paolo Rozzio (captain)
7	FW	Muhamed Varela
8	MF	Luca Cigarini
9	FW	Luca Vido
11	FW	Cedric Gondo (on loan from Cremonese)
12	GK	Giacomo Satalino (on loan from Sassuolo)
14	MF	Shaibu Nuhu
15	DF	Riccardo Fiamozzi
16	MF	Tobías Reinhart
17	DF	Lorenzo Libutti
18	FW	Orji Okwonkwo (on loan from Bologna)
19	DF	Filippo Romagna (on loan from Sassuolo)
20	MF	Álex Blanco
21	MF	Jacopo Da Riva (on loan from Atalanta)

No.	Position	Player
22	GK	Francesco Bardi
23	FW	Stefano Pettinari
25	DF	Przemysław Szymiński (on loan from Frosinone)
27	DF	Alessandro Marcandalli (on loan from Genoa)
28	FW	Janis Antiste (on loan from Sassuolo)
29	DF	Marko Pajač (on loan from Genoa)
30	MF	Antonio Vergara (on loan from Napoli)
31	DF	Mario Sampirisi
33	MF	Domen Črnigoj (on loan from Venezia)
42	MF	Alessandro Bianco (on loan from Fiorentina)
72	MF	Filippo Melegoni (on loan from Genoa)
77	MF	Elvis Kabashi
78	MF	Bryan Blanco
80	MF	Natan Girma
90	MF	Manolo Portanova (on loan from Genoa)

Out on loan

No.		Position	Player
		DF	Diego Stramaccioni (at Juventus Next Gen until 30 June 2024)

Coaching Staff

Manager	Alessandro Nesta
Assistant Manager	Lorenzo Rubinacci
Assistant Manager	Massimo Lo Monaco
Goalkeeping Coach	Marco Bizzarri
Match Analyst	Vincenzo Varrica

Updated to match played 1 July 2019
Source: Reggio Audace Website

Backdoor and directors staff

Honorary President and majority shareholder	Romano Amadei
Chairman and CEO	Carmelo Salerno
Vice-President	Giuseppe Fico
Vice-President and Director of Operations	Vittorio Cattani
Director of Football	Roberto Goretti
Head of the Academy	Marco Amaranti
Head of Commercial Area	Luca Tedeschi
General Secretary	Nicola Simonelli
Head of Media and Marketing	Alessandro Marconi
Press Officer	Andrea Montanari
Social Media Manager	Marcello Tosi