Full name | Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio S.p.A. |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | La Dea (The Goddess) |
Founded | 8 October 1907 |
Ground | Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia |
Capacity | 26,562 |
President | Antonio Percassi |
Head Coach | Gian Piero Gasperini |
League | Serie A |
2016–17 | Serie A, 4th |
Website | Club home page |
Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, commonly known as just Atalanta, Atalanta Bergamo or the abbreviation Atalanta BC, is an Italian football club based in Bergamo, Lombardy. The club currently plays in Serie A, having gained promotion from Serie B in 2010–11.
They are nicknamed the Nerazzurri and the Orobici. Atalanta play in blue-and-black vertically striped shirts, black shorts and black socks. The club stadium is the 26,638 seater Atleti Azzurri d'Italia.
In Italy, Atalanta is sometimes called Regina delle provinciali (queen of the provincial clubs) to mark the fact that the club is the most consistent among clubs not based in a metropolitan area, having played 56 times in Serie A (11th overall for number of participations in the top division), 28 times in Serie B and only once in Serie C1.
The club won the Coppa Italia in 1963 and reached the Cup Winners' Cup semi-final in 1988, when it was still competing in Serie B. This is still the best ever performance by a non-first division club in a major UEFA competition (together with Cardiff City). Atalanta also participated twice in the UEFA Cup, reaching the quarter-finals in 1990–91.
The club was founded in 1907. A football club had existed in Bergamo since 1904. Founded by Swiss immigrants, it was known as Foot Ball Club Bergamo. The rival Atalanta club grew out of a division between different sporting societies in the town. The name is taken from the female athlete of Greek mythology. The FIGC was unimpressed with the new club and did not officially recognize them until 1914. The current club is the result of a merger between Atalanta and a third team called Bergamasca. The first, black and white coloured and the second wearing a blue and white shirt, merged in 1924 as Atalanta Bergamasca di Ginnastica e Scherma 1907. The team moved to the site of the current ground, on the Viale Giulio Cesare, in 1928.