Full name | Associazione Calcio Pisa 1909 |
---|---|
Nickname(s) |
Nerazzurri (Black-Blues), Torri (Towers) |
Founded | 1909 (Pisa S.C.) 1994 (Pisa Calcio) 2009 (A.C. Pisa 1909) |
Ground |
Arena Garibaldi – Romeo Anconetani, Pisa, Italy |
Capacity | 25,000 |
Chairman | Giuseppe Corrado |
Manager | Gennaro Gattuso |
League | Serie B |
2015–16 | Lega Pro/B, 2nd (promoted) |
Associazione Calcio Pisa 1909 (formerly Pisa Calcio) is an Italian association football club, based in Pisa, Tuscany.
The club was founded in 1909 as Pisa Sporting Club and refounded in 1994 as Pisa Calcio (and registered in Eccellenza, the sixth football division in Italy), after the cancellation of the former because of economical troubles. It was excluded again from Italian football in 2009, after the property failed to collect enough money to pay off the club's debts. In summer 2009 it was refounded with the current denomination.
Pisa has won two Mitropa Cups, in 1986 and 1988. They play their home matches at Arena Garibaldi - Stadio Romeo Anconetani, named after Romeo Anconetani, the chairman who brought and led the club in Serie A during the 1980s.
At the end of the 2008 season, Pisa lost to U.S. Lecce in a two-legged promotion playoff final to Serie A. The team currently plays in Serie B.
After promotion to Serie B in 1965, Pisa took three years to reach Serie A for the first time. Despite a brave effort, Pisa was relegated on the final day of the 1968–69 season.
Spending much of the 1970s in Serie C, Pisa returned to Serie B in 1979 (by which time the club had come under the presidency of the much-loved Romeo Anconetani) and were promoted to Serie A in 1982, embarking on a period of six out of nine seasons in Serie A. With Danish international Klaus Berggreen among their stars, Pisa managed a credible 11th place in the 1982–83 Serie A with 27 points and 27 goals scored and conceded in 30 games. The following season brought relegation (during which they recorded just 3 wins and 16 draws) with 15,000 fans travelling to Milan for the fateful penultimate game.
Promotion followed in 1985, and the team seemed capable of staying up until losing their last three games. The cycle was repeated in 1987, only for a side containing players like Dunga and Paul Elliott to stay up. The last promotion to Serie A was achieved in 1990, and with the talents of players like Maurizio Neri, Michele Padovano and Lamberto Piovanelli up front and Diego Simeone and Aldo Dolcetti in midfield, the side started well and was briefly atop the standings, only to suffer another relegation.