Livorno

Livorno is a football (soccer) club from Italy.

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Associazione Sportiva Livorno Calcio is a football (soccer) club based in Livorno, Tuscany. Livorno was formed in 1915 and currently plays in Italian Serie A, just achieving promotion last year. The team's colors are dark red or maroon (amaranto in Italian, from which Livorno nickname derives). The best placement in Italian Serie A was second place in 1942/1943 season, during which the amaranto gave life to a head-to-head competition with Torino F.C.. The team play their home matches at the 18,200 seater Stadio Armando Picchi.

History

Founded in 1915 as U.S. Livorno, Livorno ended the Italian Football Championship 1919-20 in second place, losing the final to F.C. Internazionale Milano. One year later they were defeated in the semi-final by arch-rivals Pisa Calcio. In 1933 Livorno moved to the current stadium, originally named after Edda Mussolini, daughter of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Successively Livorno ended as Serie A runners-up in the Serie A 1942-43. Livorno left Serie A in 1949 after seven consecutive seasons. They relegated to Serie C soon after, making a return to Serie B in 1955 for a single season and again from 1964 to 1972. Livorno was then cancelled in 1991, being forced to start from Eccellenza; two consecutive promotions led Livorno back to Serie C2. Livorno was promoted to Serie C1 in 1997 and was acquired by Aldo Spinelli two years later. Under the new property, Livorno returned to Serie B in 2001.

Livorno were promoted to Serie A after finishing third in the Serie B 2003-04, one of six clubs to be promoted that season. It had been fifty-five years since Livorno's last season in the top flight, and as a result of this, most were predicting an instant return to Serie B for the club. There were spells of struggle during the season, but there were many more good performances shown, and Livorno finished a surprise and creditable ninth place in the league for the Serie A 2004-05, also thanks to goals by striker Cristiano Lucarelli, who won the Serie A topscorer award that season outscoring even the likes of Andriy Shevchenko and Adriano Leite Ribeiro.

The Serie A 2005-06 saw Livorno in sixth place after the first half of the season the team, being involved for qualification to the next UEFA Cup. However, shortly after Roberto Donadoni announced his resignations after having been criticised by club's chairman Aldo Spinelli. Donadoni was replaced by veteran coach Carlo Mazzone, who was only able to save a UEFA Cup place due to the expulsion of four teams from Europe in the Serie A scandal of 2006. Mazzone then saw his team suffer a run of seven straight defeats. In May 2006 Daniele Arrigoni was appointed new coach for the next season.

In the Serie A 2006-07, Livorno took part to the UEFA Cup 2006-07 for their first time ever. The Tuscan side were drawn to face Austrian team SV Pasching in the first round, beating them comfortably 3-0 on aggregate. They thus qualified for the group stages being drawn in Group A, along with Rangers F.C., AJ Auxerre, FK Partizan and Maccabi Haifa FC. After a home loss to Rangers (2-3) and two 1-1 draws against Partizan (in Serbia, where goalkeeper Marco Amelia scored in the 87th minute) and Maccabi (in Livorno), the Tuscan side gained a 1-0 victory over Auxerre in the last game played in France, thus earning a spot in the round of 32 of the competition. However, Spanish team RCD Espanyol knocked out Livorno from the UEFA Cup by winning 4-1 on aggregate.

After day 19 of Italian Serie A Arrigoni was sacked by chairman Spinelli, but his position was kept due to the strong opposition by the team. His dismissal was however only delayed, as Arrigoni was eventually fired on March 21, 2007, and replaced by Fernando Orsi who managed to keep Livorno away from the relegation battle. For the Serie A 2007-08, Orsi was confirmed as head coach and a number of notable signings such as Francesco Tavano, Diego Tristan and Vikash Dhorasoo were finalized, but also the transfer of Lucarelli to Ukraine club FC Shakhtar Donetsk. The club, however, did not start well, making a mere two points in the first seven matches, and Fernando Orsi was sacked on October 9 and replaced by Giancarlo Camolese. Despite showing some positive signals at the beginning, Livorno found himself again at the bottom of league table. On April 28, 2008 Camolese was fired as Orsi was re-appointed, but in the penultimate day of the season Livorno could not avoid relegation, due to a 1-0 home defeat against Torino FC. They finished last in the Serie A standings of the 2007-2008 season. Thus, being relegated to Serie B. They finished Serie B as 3rd in 2008-2009 season and returned to Serie A after winning promotion play-offs after defeating successively U.S. Grosseto F.C. with 4-3 aggregate and Brescia Calcio with 5-2 aggregate.

Players

First team squad

As of 2009-07-28

Retired numbers

In December 2005 Livorno officially retired the 10 jersey previously issued to striker Igor Protti, who played with Livorno from 1985 to 1988 and then from 1999 until his retirement from football in 2005. However Protti, who led the forward line and captained his side in two promotions from Serie C1 to Serie A quickly gaining a reputation as a fan favourite, announced his willingness to see the 10 number reissued to another player, in order to "give anybody back a dream to dress it one day". This was made effective starting from the Serie A 2007-08, in which Francesco Tavano played with the 10 number.

Notable former players

- Marco Amelia
- Giorgio Chiellini
- Armando Picchi
- Igor Protti

Managers

Notable former managers

- Jack Kirwan (1923-24)
- Roberto Donadoni (2002-03, 2004-06)

Supporters

Livorno's supporters are known for their left-wing politics and their fierce, often violent, rivalries with several "right wing" team supporters, especially those of S.S. Lazio, Internazionale Milano F.C., Hellas Verona, and with some elements of A.S. Roma's support. The notorious right-wing Lazio striker Paolo Di Canio gave a fascist salute to his own fans during a match between his side and Livorno, where tensions were running particularly high due to the political contrasts of each club's respective Ultras groups.

Livorno Calcio has since 2005 a group of supporters based in northern Europe, named Partigiani Livornesi Scandinavia.

There is also a so-called "triangle of brotherhood" between the most populous fan clubs of Olympique de Marseille, AS Livorno and AEK Athens F.C., namely between Commando Ultras 84, Brigate Autonome Livornesi 99 and Original 21. Their connection is mostly an ideological one. They also have a connection with FC St. Pauli and AC Omonoia of Nicosia.

Albinoleffe, Ancona, Ascoli, Avellino, Bari, Brescia, Cittadella, Empoli, Frosinone, Grosseto, Livorno, Mantova, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Pisa, Rimini, Salernitana, Sassuolo, Treviso, Triestina, Vicenza