Delfino Pescara 1936

Pescara

Full name	Delfino Pescara 1936 S.p.A.
Nickname(s)	Delfini (The Dolphins) Biancazzurri (The White-Light Blues)
Founded	1936 (1936) 2009 (2009) (new legal person as Delfino Pescara 1936)
Ground	Stadio Adriatico
Capacity	20,515
Chairman	Daniele Sebastiani
Manager	Giuseppe Pillon
League	Serie B
2017–18	Serie B, 17th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Delfino Pescara 1936 S.p.A., also known as Pescara Calcio 1936 or simply as Pescara, is a professional Italian football club based in Pescara, Abruzzo.

The club was formed in 1936 and currently plays in Serie B. Pescara has competed in six seasons in Serie A, 1977–78, 1979–80, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1992–93, 2012–13 and last participated in 2016–17. The team's official colors are white and light blue.

History

Aside from a spell in Serie B in the 1940s, Pescara had a relatively undistinguished history until promotion to Serie B in 1974. With players like Giorgio Repetto and Bruno Nobili in the midfield, they managed to win their first promotion to Serie A in 1977 after winning the promotion play-off, but ultimately finished their first season in Serie A in last place. A second promotion after a play-off followed, but once more they would be relegated from the top flight and then descended to Serie C1 within two years.

Nonetheless, after returning to Serie B after a year, Pescara would enjoy a revival after the appointment of Giovanni Galeone as coach in 1986. His philosophy of attacking football saw the Biancazzurri promoted to Serie A as champions in 1987, where they lasted two years with players such as Júnior and Blaž Slišković among the club's star players. Galeone would return during the 1990–91 season and oversaw another promotion the following year.

After relegation, Pescara remained in Serie B side throughout the 1990s, narrowly missing promotion in 1999. Relegation to C1 followed in 2001, with promotion in 2003 being followed by two revoked relegations in a row due to bankruptcy and scandals affecting other clubs. Pescara was ultimately relegated in the 2006–07 season, with three presidential and managerial changes during the season. In December 2008, the debt-ridden club was legally declared out of business and its control passed to a bankruptcy trustee appointed by the Court of Pescara. In February 2009, a takeover from a group named Delfino Pescara 1936 was finalized with Deborah Caldora becoming the first woman to serve as chairman of the club. In the meantime, results did not improve significantly and in March, Giuseppe Galderisi was dismissed from the head coaching post with Antonello Cuccureddu being appointed as the new boss.

At the beginning of the 2009–10 season, Eusebio Di Francesco was appointed as the new coach. Pescara finished second in Girone B of Lega Pro Prima Divisione and qualified for the promotional play-offs. They defeated Reggiana in the semi-final and Verona in the final and subsequently returned to Serie B after a three-year absence. The following season started with the appointment of Zdeněk Zeman as new head coach; the Czech manager immediately brought Pescara back into national coverage thanks to his well-known all-attacking playing style that turned out to match perfectly with promising youngsters such as Marco Verratti, Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne, who guided the squad to promotion to Serie A. Pescara secured promotion to the top-level after a 19-year absence after defeating Sampdoria with a 3–1 score in an away match on 20 May 2012. In the last minute of the final game of the regular season, Pescara striker Riccardo Maniero netted the winner in a match against Nocerina to claim Pescara's second Serie B title after Torino's draw away to AlbinoLeffe.

Pescara began the 2012–13 campaign looking for a new manager after Zdeněk Zeman left the club to manage Roma. Pescara started their new season in Serie A with a 3–0 loss to Internazionale and would not earn their first win until the fifth game of the season, a 1–0 win over Palermo. Pescara's stint in the top flight lasted just one season, as the club ended the season bottom of the table with a record of six wins, four draws and 28 loses, also recording the fewest clean sheets in the league, with five. That season, winger and leading-scorer Vladimír Weiss was also noted for picking up two red cards.

Supporters

The main grouping of the club's supporters is called Pescara Rangers, and it has a gemellaggio (English: twinning) with the supporters of Vicenza, a similar concept to twinning between towns and cities. The previous twinning with Messina is no longer in place. Lazio and Verona are seen as rivals of Pescara, whose traditional rivals within the region include Chieti, Virtus Lanciano, and L'Aquila; however, neither of those teams has been played since 2002, due to their financial troubles. Pescara also shares notable rivalries with other regional neighbors, namely clubs of the Marche such as Ancona, Ascoli and Sambenedettese Calcio, and with A.S. Bari and Foggia Calcio from Apulia.

Players

Current squad

As of 17 August, 2018.^[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Vincenzo Fiorillo 2 DF Hugo Campagnaro 3 DF Cristiano Del Grosso 5 DF Andrew Gravillon 6 DF Gennaro Scognamiglio 7 MF Leonardo Mancuso (on loan from Juventus) 8 MF Ledian Memushaj 9 FW Gaetano Monachello (on loan from Atalanta) 10 MF Pepín 11 MF Christian Capone (on loan from Atalanta) 12 GK Elhan Kastrati 13 DF Michele Fornasier 14 DF Antonio Balzano 15 DF Edgar Elizalde

No. Position Player 16 MF Gastón Brugman 17 FW Andrea Cocco 19 FW Manuel Marras 20 MF Andrea Palazzi (on loan from Inter) 21 GK Simone Farelli 22 GK Francesco Galante 23 DF Marco Perrotta 24 MF Luca Forte 25 MF Luca Crecco 26 FW Mirko Antonucci (on loan from Roma) 28 MF Filippo Melegoni (on loan from Atalanta) 29 MF Ferdinando Del Sole (on loan from Juventus) 30 MF Franck Kanouté 31 DF Matteo Ciofani

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Tomasch Calore (at Piacenza) DF Ibrahima Diallo (at Fano) DF Francesco Karkalis (at Carrarese) DF Leonardo Maloku (at Fano) DF Christian Ventola (at Teramo)

No. Position Player DF Davide Vitturini (at Fano) DF Francesco Zampano (at Frosinone) MF Mattia Proietti (at Teramo) FW Cristian Bunino (at Juventus U23) FW Alexis Ferrante (at Fano)

Managerial history

Name Nationality Years Edmondo De Amicis 1937–38 Pietro Piselli 1938–39 Armando Bonino 1939–40 Mario Pizziolo 1940–41 Luigi Ferrero 1941–43 Edmondo De Amicis 1944–45 Giuseppe Marchi 1945–46 József Bánás 1946–47 Mario Pizziolo 1947–48 Gino Piccinini 1948–49 Benedetto Stella 1949–50 Luigi Del Grosso 1950–53 Umberto De Angelis 1953–55 Alfredo Notti 1955–56 Alfredo Monza Renato Piacentini Orazio Sola 1956–57 Renato Piacentini 1957–58 Aurelio Marchese Mario Tontodonati 1958–59 Ljubo Benčić Mario Tontodonati 1959–61 Umberto De Angelis 1961–62 Leonardo Costagliola 1962–63 Ljubo Benčić Renato Piacentini 1963–64 Ljubo Benčić Vincenzo Marsico 1964–65 Antonio Giammarinaro Alfredo Notti 1965–66 Sergio Cervato 1966–67

Name Nationality Years Antonio Giammarinaro 1967–68 Gianni Seghedoni Mario Tontodonati 1968–69 Dante Lacorata Mario Tontodonati 1969–70 Francesco Capocasale 1970–71 Enzo Falini Vitaliano Patricelli 1971–72 Domenico Rosati 1972–76 Giancarlo Cadè 1976–78 Antonio Valentín Angelillo 1978–79 Gustavo Giagnoni Claudio Tobia Mario Tontodonati 1979–80 Aldo Agroppi 1980–81 Giuseppe Chiappella Saul Malatrasi Mario Tiddia 1981–82 Domenico Rosati 1982–84 Enrico Catuzzi 1984–86 Giovanni Galeone 1986–89 Ilario Castagner Edoardo Reja 1989–90 Giovanni Galeone Carlo Mazzone 1990–91 Giovanni Galeone 1991–92 Vincenzo Zucchini 1992–93 Gianni Corelli Giorgio Rumignani Franco Scoglio Vincenzo Zucchini 1993–94 Francesco Oddo Giorgio Rumignani 1994–95 Luigi Maifredi Francesco Oddo 1995–96

Name Nationality Years Delio Rossi July 1996 – June 97 Adriano Buffoni Maurizio Viscidi 1997–98 Luigi De Canio Francesco Giorgini July 1998 – June 99 Giovanni Galeone July 1999 – Nov 2000 Tarcisio Burgnich Giovanni Galeone Delio Rossi 2000–01 Ivo Iaconi July 2001 – May 2004 Cetteo Di Mascio 2004 Giovanni Simonelli 2004 – June 2005 Maurizio Sarri July 2005 – July 2006 Davide Ballardini Aldo Ammazzalorso Luigi De Rosa Vincenzo Vivarini July 2006 – June 2007 Franco Lerda July 2007 – June 2008 Giuseppe Galderisi July 2008 – March 2009 Antonello Cuccureddu 2009–10 Eusebio Di Francesco Jan 2010 – June 2011 Zdeněk Zeman June 2011 – June 2012 Giovanni Stroppa June–November 2012 Cristiano Bergodi November 2012 – March 2013 Cristian Bucchi March–June 2013 Pasquale Marino June 2013 – February 2014 Serse Cosmi February 2014 – July 2014 Marco Baroni August 2014 – May 2015 Massimo Oddo May 2015 – February 2017 Luciano Zauri (caretaker) February 2017 Zdeněk Zeman February 2017 –

Honours

• Serie B
  • Champions (2): 1986–87, 2011–12

References

External links

• Official website (in Italian)
• Soccerway Profile
• ESPN Profile