A.C. Mantova
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| Full name | Mantova Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Virgiliani (Virgilians) |
| Founded | 1911 1983 (refounded) 1994 (refounded) 2010 (refounded) |
| Ground |
Stadio Danilo Martelli, Mantua, Italy |
| Capacity | 17,844 |
| Chairman | Bruno Bompieri |
| Manager | Gabriele Graziani |
| League | Lega Pro/A |
| 2014–15 | Lega Pro/A, 12th |
| Website | Club home page |
Mantova Football Club is an Italian football club, based in Mantua, Lombardy. Mantova had played consecutively in the Italian Serie B from the 2005–06 season to 2009–10 as Associazione Calcio Mantova, when they were relegated after ending the season in 20th place.
During the summer 2010, the club went bankrupt and was refounded with the current denomination, being immediately promoted in the following season from Serie D group B to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione.
Mantova was founded in 1911. They played in Serie A for 7 seasons (1961/62, 1964/65, 1966/67, 1967/68, 1971/72), being nicknamed in its initial period as Little Brazil (Piccolo Brasile). The third team shirt, green and yellow, actually remembers that period, by far the best one in the team history. Mantova also played for 8 seasons in Serie B, and won it in 1970/71.
Mantova was cancelled two times from the Italian football panorama, in 1983 and 1994, both times because of insolvency.
Former famous players include Dino Zoff, Angelo Sormani, Anton Alleman and Karl-Heinz Schnellinger.
Mantova was promoted from Serie C2 to Serie B in two consecutive seasons, in 2003–2004 season as league champions and in 2004–2005 as runners-up and playoff winners. Mantova begun the 2005/06 Serie B football campaign introducing itself as a strong potential candidate for promotion to Serie A, despite its lack of players experienced with these levels (almost the same squad which promoted to Serie B the previous season) and a coach, Domenico Di Carlo, on just his second year as first team football trainer. The team led the Serie B table for a long part of the season, gaining an unexpected interest by the media. However, Mantova was not able to maintain the head of the league in the end, and the team concluded its season in fourth place, gaining a spot in the promotion playoffs. Successively, AC Mantova won its playoff semifinal against Modena F.C. after two ties (0–0, 1–1), being qualified thanks to its best placement in the regular season. The first playoff final, against Torino, saw Mantova winning at home 4–2. However, Mantova was not able to maintain this advantage in the return match, lost 3–1 in Turin after extra time, which allowed Torino FC to be promoted in Serie A because of a better placement in the regular season.
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