ACR Messina
Messina, Italy | |||
Capacity | 38,722[1] | ||
---|---|---|---|
Chairman | Pietro Sciotto | ||
Head coach | Giacomo Modica | ||
League | Serie C Group C | ||
2023–24 | Serie C Group C, 14th of 20 | ||
Website | Club website | ||
| |||
Associazioni Calcio Riunite Messina S.r.l. is a football club based in Messina, Sicily, Italy, that competes in the Serie C, the third tier of the Italian football league system.
History
Football in Messina
The origins of the team go back to 1900, when Messina F.C. was founded in the city. The club has spent most of its existence in the lower
The farthest Messina has reached in the Coppa Italia is the last 16. This was achieved in the 2000s decade. In the past, they have also reached the semi-finals in the Coppa Italia Serie C.[2]
Messina have appeared in the Italy's top league, Serie A, for a total of five seasons. The club's first spell in the league was in the 1960s; the second began in the 2000s decade. The highest ever position they have finished is 7th,
From Messina F.C. to Giostra Messina (1900 to 1939)
The history of Messina Football Club began when Alfredo Marangolo returned to Sicily in August 1900 from studying in London, England. In Great Britain the game of
Messina Football Club were officially founded on 1 December 1900
At the college where Marangolo visited he had also made the acquaintance of Ignazio Majo Pagano who formed
A strong bond and a healthy rivalry had built up between the two Sicilian clubs and a competition named the Whitaker Challenge Cup was arranged to be played between them. The first was held in 1905; Messina won another game (3–2) and captured their first trophy. Messina repeated the feat the following year at San Ranieri, capturing the trophy in a 2–1 victory.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Messina1910.jpeg/200px-Messina1910.jpeg)
The earthquake of 1908, which killed 60,000 people in Messina, later affected the club in a large manner; deaths included Charles Bousfield Huleatt, players Frank John Carter, Walter Oates and financial backer George H. Peirce. Football resumed in Messina the following year, thanks largely to Arthur Barret Lascelles who used his own money to ensure football activity in the city would continue. By 1910, the funds of Barret had dried up, and the club was folded, Società Ginnastica Garibaldi Messina (Gymnastic Society Garibaldi Messina) briefly took its place, until it too was dissolved due to the First World War.[7]
After World War I, a club under the name US Messinese was founded and entered the following year's Coppa Federale Siciliana, an all Sicilian championship contested in Messina, Catania and Palermo. Messina finished as runners-up.
The club participated in the Italian Football Championship of
Finally, Messinese qualified for the semi-finals of the International League, after beating Palermo, 3–0, in the Sicilian championship of
.
From 1940 to 1947
Down in Serie C, AC Messina were withdrawn and folded during 1940–41. The following season, in 1941–42, a club named US Peloro 1906 changed its name and became US Mario Passamonte (named after a fallen hero of the war in Africa). The idea was to enter the club into Serie C in place of Messina. However this was unsuccessful, until the following season.
It would not be long before all activity was halted in
A.C. Riunite Messina
In 1947, the two teams AS Messina and Giostra Messina were united as one merged club Associazioni Calcio Riunite Messina, abbreviated as AC Riunite Messina.
The 1950s for Messina began in glorious fashion, they were crowned champions of Serie C under the management of Yugoslav manager Mihalj Balačić. Messina did not falter in Serie B. During their first season in the league they avoided relegation. Giuseppe Melazzo and the Comitato Reggenza owned the club during this new period of relative success. During the following season, Messina finished in third place.
Throughout the rest of the 1950s, Messina remained in the division as a whole finishing in a respectable position. Goffredo Muglia took over as president in 1958, to begin a brand new era for the club. For the first time in their history, Messina were crowned champions of
For their first ever season in
The next season for the club in Serie A would not be so fortunate. They were relegated in 17th place. Some notable high points of the season included a 1–0 victory over
The Sicilian side were not able to bounce straight back up into Serie A, and, in fact, after their third season back down in Serie B were relegated. After several seasons finishing in and around the top 10 positions of
By 1983, Messina were champions of
Time in Serie B during the 1980s, was a pleasant one for the Sicilian side. They notched seventh and eighth-place finishes. In 1989, Schillaci was sold to Turin giants
In 1993, it was included to Sicilian Promozione, and in 1994, it was admitted in Sicilian Eccellenza. In this league the club has played until 1998, when following the relegation in Sicilian Promozione, it was dissolved.
A.S. Messina
The decision was thought to be unjust by the club and fans, with Messina been thrown into a footballing abyss never known before. In the summer of 1993, A.S. Messina was founded with the president Pietro La Malfa, beginning in the amateurs national championship (C.N.D.) with the objective to bring back the giallorossi to professional football.
They played in the Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti for four seasons, finishing high up for the first three of them, but in the 1996–97 season, they were ranked last and relegated to the Sicilian Eccellenza league.
In the 1998–99 season, they were relegated to Sicilian Promozione and were dissolved.
From U.S. Peloro to F.C. Messina Peloro
In the summer of 1994, after the merger of Villafranca and Tremestieri, U.S. Peloro was founded. It played two seasons in Eccellenza Sicily, and in 1996, it was promoted to Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti (Serie D). Then, in the 1996 season, the club played in the same league as the town's other team, A.S. Messina, where it was ranked 6th.
In July 1997, the club changed its name to Football Club Messina Peloro. In a few short seasons, the club ramped up the Italian league system, from Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti in the 1997–98 season, Messina were promoted into
After two seasons in Serie B, local entrepreneur Pietro Franza took over, and in 2003–04, Sicily returned into Serie A under coach Bortolo Mutti. The club had not appeared in the top Italian league since 1965, a total of forty years.
After being tipped as
Messina managed to stay clear of relegation throughout the whole season, and eventually finished in seventh place in the table, just a single place away from securing a
Despite this impressive form, Messina were still in danger of being relegated from Serie A at the end of the season, due to a possibility of not having enough finances available to compete in the league. Eventually, though, they successfully managed to stay in the Serie A league. In the 2005–06 season, Messina were unable to repeat their previous impressive season, leading to the sacking of Mutti, who was replaced by
Messina started the 2006–07 season with Bruno Giordano as head coach; however, he was replaced on 30 January 2007, by Alberto Cavasin because of poor results. On 2 April, following a 2–0 away defeat to Cagliari, another team involved in the battle to avoid relegation, Cavasin was sacked, and Giordano was recalled to fill the coaching position. Giordano's record was even worse in his second time at Messina, with four defeats in four matches. With Messina second-last placed in the table five matchdays prior to the end of the season, Giordano was sacked again on 23 April, and replaced by Bruno Bolchi. Messina were relegated at the end of the season.
After a quiet Serie B season in 2007–08, in July 2008 Messina chairman Pietro Franza announced he did not find any investor ready to take over the club and that he was consequently giving up the club's Serie B membership, declaring that he would look forward to enter the club into an amateur league. On 1 August, it was confirmed that Messina was admitted to Serie D. In November 2008, the Court of Messina declared the club to be bankrupt and appointed a trustee to start a search for potential investors.
A.C. Rinascita Messina
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/A.C.R._Messina.png/222px-A.C.R._Messina.png)
In March 2009, Rome-based entrepreneur Alfredo Di Lullo acquired Football Club Messina Peloro in a blind auction held by the Court of Messina in April 2009.[12] The club was renamed A.C. Rinascita Messina (rinascita means "revived"). On 4 January 2011, the club was transferred to the group Martorano which on 14 August 2011, sold it to Raffaele "Lello" Manfredi.
In June 2012, the club was acquired by a consortium led by prominent football manager
A.C. Riunite Messina
Since the summer of 2014, the new name of the club is Associazioni Calcio Riunite Messina.[
Under the ownership of local car dealing businessman Pietro Sciotto, Messina were promoted back to Serie C in 2021 as league champions, and have played in the Italian third tier ever since.
Rivalries
Messina's biggest rivals are
Catania and Palermo, the other two biggest clubs in Sicily, compete the Sicilian derbies.
Colors and badge
Its colours are yellow and red.
Current squad
- As of 1 February 2024[16]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Notable players
Salvatore Aronica
Emanuele Curcio
Julio César de León
Arturo Di Napoli
Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos
Antonio Nocerino
Alessandro Parisi
Igor Protti
Rahman Rezaei
Christian Riganò
Salvatore Schillaci
Marco Storari
Salvatore Sullo
Atsushi Yanagisawa
Riccardo Zampagna
Marco Zoro
Stadium
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Curva_sud_contro_il_Torino--2007.jpg/200px-Curva_sud_contro_il_Torino--2007.jpg)
The former club Football Club Messina Peloro have played their home matches in the new Stadio Comunale San Filippo since the 2004–05 to 2008–09 season. Since the season 2009–10 plays here the current team of A.C. Riunite Messina 1947.
The capacity of the stadium is 37,895 seats. It is named after the part of the city in which it is located, but a couple of petitions aim to rename it after the former Messina manager
The old stadium, the 11,000 seater
Honours
- Serie B
- 1 Champions: 1962–63
- Serie C
- Serie C2
- 3 Champions: 1982–83, 1999–00, 2013–14
- Serie D
- Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti
- 1 Champion : 1997–98
- Sicilian Championship
- 1 Winners: 1924–25
- Whitaker Challenge Cup
- 2 Winners: 1905, 1906
References
- ^ Impianti superiori a 7500 Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine osservatoriosport.interno.it
- ^ Messina Story
- ^ RSSSF.com Archived 12 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Messina Story
- ^ Storia F.C. Messina
- ^ Messina Story
- ^ Messina Calcio
- ^ MessinaCalcio.net Archived 17 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Channel4.com
- ^ Channel4.com
- ^ Forza Azzurri Statistics
- ^ "COMUNICATO UFFICIALE N.160/A (2008–09)" (PDF) (in Italian). FIGC. 27 June 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 February 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
- ^ "Serie C 2017/2018: Mantova, Messina, Maceratese e Akragas Non Presentano la Fideiussione" [Serie C 2017-18: Mantua, Messina, Maceratese and Akragas Do Not Have a Surety]. Sport Piacenza (in Italian). 6 July 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- ^ Chito, Roberto (20 July 2017). "Serie C, il Consiglio Federale: Ecco Tutte le Decisioni Prese Oggi" [Series C, the Federal Council: Here are All the Decisions Made Today]. Tutto Matera (in Italian). Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- ^ "Serie D 2017/2018: I Gironi" [Serie D 2017-18: The Groups] (Press release) (in Italian). Serie D. 11 August 2017. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- ^ "Italy - ACR Messina - Soccerway". int.soccerway.com. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
- ^ "Risultati e Classifiche". Lega Nazionale Dilettanti (in Italian). Retrieved 20 July 2021.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)