Vicenza Calcio

Football club infobox
clubname = Vicenza


fullname = Vicenza Calcio SpA
nickname = "Biancorossi" (white-reds), "Berici",
"Lanerossi"
founded = March 9, 1902
ground = Stadio Romeo Menti, Vicenza, Italy
capacity = 17,163 | chairman = flagicon|Italy Sergio Cassingena
manager = flagicon|Italy Angelo Gregucci
league = Serie B
season = 2006-07
position = Serie B, 11th
pattern_la1=_whitelower|pattern_b1=_whitestripes|pattern_ra1=_whitelower
leftarm1=FF0000|body1=FF0000|rightarm1=FF0000|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=_thinwhitesides|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=000000|body2=000000|rightarm2=000000|shorts2=000000|socks2=000000

Vicenza Calcio is an Italian football club based in Vicenza, Veneto. The club was formed in 1902 and currently plays in Italian Serie B, having spent a large part of recent years in Serie A. It was relegated to Serie B in 2001 and C in 2005, but admitted back to Serie B because of some relegations decided by the Italian football federation. The team's colors are red and white.

History

Vicenza took place for the first time in the Italian Championship in 1911, reaching the finals for the title, but they were defeated by Pro Vercelli, the best Italian team of those years.

During the 20s and the 30s Vicenza played in lower division and only in 1942 they reached Serie A for the first time. At last round of the league they won 6-2 versus Juventus in Turin and avoided the relegation.

In 1947 Vicenza reach the 5th position in Serie A, but the following year was relegated. The early 1950s were trouble year for the team, due to economic problems, but in 1953 it was bought by Lanerossi, a woolen firm from Schio, so the team was renamed "Lanerossi Vicenza".

Between 1955 and 1975 Vicenza never left Serie A, giving a hard time to much titled and established clubs. In this period the side was also known as "Nobile Provinciale" ("Noble Provincial"). In 1966 it reached 6th (as well as in 1964) and the Brazilian Luis Vinicio was the top-scorer with 25 goals.

In 1975 it was relegated, but in 1977 it won Italian Serie B league and the following season, 1977-78, the club was the runner-up of Serie A and Paolo Rossi the league topscorer with 24 goals. In that year the side was nicknamed "Real Vicenza".

The chairman Giuseppe Farina bought Paolo Rossi from Juventus for the record fee of 2,6 bilions of lire, but following years the team was relegated to Serie B, and in 1981 to Serie C1.

In the middle of 1980s Roberto Baggio started his career in Lanerossi Vicenza and led the team to Serie B again. In 1986 was first promoted to Serie A, but then the promotion was denied. Vicenza came back to Serie C1 in 1987.

In 1990 Vicenza took back its current name and it was promoted to Serie B in 1993, thanks to coach Renzo Ulivieri. His successor, Francesco Guidolin, took the team back to Serie A in 1995.

Guidolin led the side in a surprising 1996 season. Vicenza won its first Coppa Italia in 1997 and reached the Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals the next year, before being defeated by Chelsea FC.

In 1999 the team was relegated to Serie B and played only 2000-01 season in Serie A. In 2005 Vicenza was even relegated in Serie C after losing the relegation playoffs against Triestina, but was readmitted to Serie B after Genoa and Perugia were relegated by the Italian Football Federation.

Current squad

"As of 2008-08-02" [cite web |publisher=Vicenza Calcio |language=Italian |accessdate=2008-04-11 |title=La rosa del Vicenza Calcio 2007-2008 |url=http://www.vicenza.com/matrix/categorie/1049/2049001/3049001001/temi/giocatori/200708/index.shtml] [cite web |publisher=Vicenza Calcio|language=Italian |accessdate=2008-08-03 |date=2008-07-19 |title=Al via il ritiro di preparazione |url=http://www.vicenza.com/mx_op-nwminiportal_id-1643_opt-1522094_cat-3049001001.shtml]

Noted players

Foreign players of Vicenza Calcio's history

* 8 BRA: Cinesinho, José da Silva, Jeda, Marco Aurélio, Américo Murolo, Bruno Siciliano, Angelo B. Sormani, Luís Vinício
* 5 HUN: Egri Erbstein, István Horwart, Otto Krappan, Ferenc Molnár, Wilmas Wilhelm
* 5 URU: Ricardo Canals, Héctor Demarco, Rafael Leopardi, Gustavo Méndez, Marcelo Otero
* 4 ARG: Gerardo Grighini, Francisco Lojacono, Santiago Vernazza, Walter Zunino
* 4 CRO: Dražen Brnčić, Stjepan Tomas, Goran Tomić, Dalibor Višković
* 3 FRA: Antoine Bonifaci, Ousmane Dabo, Julien Rantier
* 3 POR: Ricardo Esteves, Vasco Faísca, Jorge Humberto Raggi
* 3 SCG: Vlada Avramov, Dražen Bolić, Almir Gegic
* 2 , Meachan
* 2 SWE: Jan Aronsson, Joachim Björklund
* 1 AUS: Paul Okon
* 1 BEL: Marco Ingrao
* 1 CMR: Pierre Wome
* 1 DEN: Marc Nygaard
* 1 GHA: Sadicki Abubakari
* 1 GRE: Evangelos Nastos
* 1 YUG: Bora Kostić
* 1 NED: Piet Kruiver
* 1 PAR: Julio Valentín González
* 1 ROM: Norberto Höfling
* 1 SMR: Claudio Maiani
* 1 SLE: Mohamed Kallon
* 1 ESP: Luis Helguera
* 1 SUI: Patrick Bettoni
* 1 TOG: Mohamed Kader
* 1 UZB: Ilyas Zeytulaev

Noted managers

* Fulvio Bernardini: 1951-53
* flagicon|Austria Béla Guttmann: 1955-56
* Renzo Ulivieri: 1979-80, 1991-94
* Tarcisio Burgnich: 1986-87
* Francesco Guidolin: 1994-98

References

External links

* [http://www.vicenzacalcio.com Vicenza's official website]