Novara FC

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Novara

Full name	Novara Calcio S.p.A.
Nickname(s)	Gli Azzurri (The Blues) I Gaudenziani (The Gaudentians)
Founded	1908; 116 years ago (1908)
Ground	Stadio Silvio Piola, Novara, Italy
Capacity	17,875
Chairman	Maurizio Rullo
Manager	Simone Banchieri
League	Serie C Group A
2023–24	Serie C Group A, 17th of 20
Website	http://www.novaracalcio.com/
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Novara Calcio, commonly referred to as Novara, is an Italian football club based in Novara, Piedmont.^[1]

Novara played a Coppa Italia final against Inter Milan in 1939.^[1]

In December 1908 the F.A.S. (Football Association Studenti) was created by eight students of Liceo Carlo Alberto, aged between 15 and 16 years; among them an engineer, Gianni Canestrini, and a lawyer, Piero Zorini. In Novara in those days, there were other small clubs like Voluntas, Pro Scalon, Ginnastica e Scherma, Forza & Speranza, Collegio Gallarini and many other student bodies. The best players from these teams came together to form Novara Calcio, and made their debut in the Italian league on 3 November 1912.

The first match was played against a team already then established as Torino, who won 2–1.

In the years between World War I and World War II, Novara merged with Pro Vercelli, Alessandria and Casale to make the so-called "quadrilatero piemontese" (Piedmont Quadrilateral). Novara's highest finish came in 1952 when they finished in eighth place in Serie A.

During these years of staying in the top flight, Novara had Silvio Piola to thank. His many goals (which at the end of his career was over 300), made a huge contribution to the cause of Novara. Following his death in 1996, the stadium at which Novara play was dedicated in his name.

In 1956 came relegation to Serie B, and another five years afterwards, they slipped down to Serie C due to a fraudulent complaint by a Sambenedettese player.

A few successful seasons in Serie B followed, but then Novara stumbled again in 1977 with relegation to Serie C and worse in 1981 to Serie C2. In the 1995–96 season, Novara were back in Serie C1, but this joy was short-lived as the following year, the biancoazzurri again had to deal with relegation.

Years were spent in the shadows of Italian football until more recently when the league was won in the 2002–03 season.

Consolidation in Serie C1 followed, later becoming Lega Pro Prima Divisione, until the historic promotion of the 2009–10 season where the club returned to Serie B after 33 years.^[2]

On 12 June 2011, Novara remarkably secured its promotion to Serie A after a 55-year absence from the league, by defeating Padova in the play-off final.^[3] Both consecutive promotions were achieved under the tenure of head coach Attilio Tesser, who was confirmed as Novara boss also for the following 2011–12 top flight campaign.

On 20 September 2011, the first home game in Serie A for 55 years, Novara recorded an historic 3–1 victory over the World Champions^[4] of Inter.^[5]

This remarkable feat, however, was not representative of their season as Novara managed to win only one more game until the end of January. The manager Attilio Tesser was replaced by veteran coach Emiliano Mondonico and re-hired one month later in a desperate and ultimately vain attempt by the owners to save the club from relegation. The club was immediately relegated again to Serie B after one season. Novara finished 5th in 2012–13 season but were eliminated by Empoli in the promotion play-offs. The following season was terrible for Novara as the club finished 19th in Serie B and lost in a play-out against Varese, losing 4–2 on aggregate. Thus, Novara were relegated to Lega Pro. Novara were crowned as champions of Group A of Lega Pro in 2014–15 and immediately returned to Serie B. In their first season back in Serie B they finished in a playoff spot but they lost to eventual winners Pescara in the semifinal. The following season saw them finish outside the playoffs in 9th, 4 points from a playoff spot. The following season saw Novara get relegated back to Lega Pro following a 20th-place finish in the 2017–18 Serie B, on 1 August 2018 Novara were admitted to the 2018–19 Serie B to fill a vacancy.

As of 5 October 2020^[6]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ITA Matteo Spada 2 GK  ITA Ivan Lanni 3 DF  ITA Andrea Cagnano 4 DF  ITA Andrea Sbraga 5 DF  ITA Davide Bove 6 DF  ITA Cesare Pogliano 7 MF  ITA Marco Firenze (on loan from Salernitana) 8 MF  ARG Nicolás Schiavi 9 FW  ITA Eric Lanini (on loan from Parma) 10 MF  ITA Daniele Buzzegoli 11 FW  ITA Giuseppe Panico 13 DF  ITA Leon Baldi 14 DF  ITA Marco Migliorini 15 MF  ITA Riccardo Collodel 16 DF  DOM Antonio Natalucci (on loan from Triestina) 17 FW  ITA Gianmarco Zigoni (on loan from Venezia) 18 FW  ITA Marco Zunno

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 FW  ARG Pablo González 20 DF  ITA Francesco Lamanna 21 FW  ITA Vittorio Pagani 22 GK  ITA Filippo Marricchi 23 MF  ITA Tommaso Bianchi 24 FW  ITA Giammario Piscitella 25 DF  ITA Marco Bellich 26 FW  ITA Andrea Cisco (on loan from Sassuolo) 27 MF  ITA Alessandro Spitale 28 MF  BIH Ante Hrkać 29 MF  ITA Ruggero Rusconi 30 DF  ITA Andrea Lorenzi 31 GK  CAN Axel Desjardins (on loan from Spezia) 32 FW  ITA Mattia Tordini 33 DF  ITA Lorenzo Colombini (on loan from Spezia) 35 MF  ITA Antonio Pio Iervolino

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  SMR Elia Benedettini

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  ITA Nigel Kyeremateng

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ITA Giacomo Drago (at Torres) — DF  ITA Andrea Arcidiacono (at Caronnese) — MF  ITA Filippo Nardi (at Cremonese)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ITA Nicola Petricci (at Tiferno) — FW  ITA Simone Caricati (at Campobasso) — FW  ITA Alessio Pinotti (at SPAL U-19)

Primavera team player with first team squad number

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

No. Pos. Nation Player Template:Fs blank column

• Prima Divisione Serie B

Winners: 1926–27

• Serie B

Winners: 1937–38

• Supercoppa di Serie C

Winners: 2010, 2015

• Coppa Italia

Runners up: 1938-39.^[1]

Series	Years	Last	Promotions	Relegations
A	13	2011-12	-	5 (1929, 1937, 1941, 1956, 2012)
B	34	2015–16	5 (1927, 1936, 1938, 1948, 2011)	5 (1962, 1968, 1977, 2014, 2018)
C +C2	21 +21	2020–21	4 (1965, 1970, 2010, 2015) 2 (1996 C2, 2003 C2)	2 (1981 C1, 1997 C1)
89 years of professional football in Italy since 1929

• Official website (in Italian)