Unione Calcio AlbinoLeffe is an Italian association football club representing Albino and Leffe, two small towns located in Val Seriana, Lombardy. The club played in Serie B for nine consecutive years and narrowly missed promotion in Serie A at the end of the 2007–08 season. It currently plays in Serie C and has been in the Italian third tier since its relegation in 2011–12.
History
The club was created in 1998 as a result of the merger between former Serie C2 (fourth division) teams Albinese Calcio and Società Calcio Leffe, respectively from Albino and Leffe, two neighboring towns. In their first season, the club finished 2nd in the Serie C2 and won a promotion having defeated A.C. Prato in the Girone A Play-offs final. After rising to Serie C1 (the Italian third division), they performed at the middle of the pack, finishing 9th in 2000 and 13th in 2001.
However, in 2002, the Seriani went to the finals of the Coppa Italia Serie C, where they defeated Livorno 2–1 at home before losing 2–3 on the road. They won the tournament on the tiebreaker (most away goals scored). In league play they again finished 13th. In 2003, AlbinoLeffe, under coach Elio Gustinetti, finished second in league play before heading to the promotion play-off. There, they defeated Padua in the semifinals, then had a surprising triumph over Pisa Calcio, which pushed them up to Serie B.
The team moved from the small Martinelli Stadium in Leffe, where they used to play home matches before promotion to Serie B, to the bigger Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia located in Bergamo, the chief-town of the province where both Albino and Leffe are located. Even though AlbinoLeffe was considered to be an outsider in Serie B, which historically includes several former Scudetto winners, the team remarkably managed to avoid relegation in the last two seasons. In 2005–2006, after a great comeback in the second half of the season following the appointment of Emiliano Mondonico as new head coach, Albinoleffe ended the season in eighteenth place and managed to save itself from relegation by prevailing in the playouts against Avellino (score: 2–0, 2–3). The 2006–2007 Serie B campaign, the fourth consecutive for the small Lombard team, ended with a good tenth place, well ahead of the relegation zone.
Historically, AlbinoLeffe's home games have been characterized by very low attendance, as shown by the average 2,400 spectators per game in the 2006–07 season, the most successful in the club history.
With local hero Gustinetti back in charge of the team and despite a lineup composed of relative unknowns, the club's 2007–08 campaign started surprisingly well, with the team leading the Serie B table for a few weeks and arousing the interest of the national media, which began providing regular coverage of the team's games. This has thus far failed to improve the club's low home attendance, however. During the season, AlbinoLeffe confirmed as a potential candidate for direct promotion to Serie A, however a string of poor results, ended with four consecutive home defeats, the final one being a 0–4 loss to Rimini, denied them the chance to achieve a place in the top two, and persuaded club chairman Gianfranco Andreoletti to sack Gustinetti, who then confirmed not to be in good relationships with the chairman, and appoint youth team coach Armando Madonna as caretaker boss for the final regular season match and the following promotion playoffs. Even after a 1–0 loss to Brescia, AlbinoLeffe managed to win at home in the second leg (2–1) and qualified for the final against Lecce. In the first leg they suffered a 1–0 loss. On 15 June, the second match was played in Lecce and its result was 1–1, so AlbinoLeffe did not reach Serie A.
At the end of the 2011–12 season, it was relegated to Lega Pro Prima Divisione after 9 consecutive years in Serie B.
AlbinoLeffe following the systematic match fixing as a club controlled by Singapore-based organized crime was penalized 10 points in the 2012–13 Lega Pro Prima Divisione.
Stadium and colors From the 2003–04 Serie B season and until 2019, AlbinoLeffe played its home games at the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia stadium in the city of Bergamo. Previously they played in Stadio Carlo Martelli of Leffe.
Following Atalanta's renovation works on the stadium, the club reached a venue sharing agreement with Giana Erminio from the nearby city of Gorgonzola allowing the club to play their home matches for the 2019–20 Serie C season at the Stadio Città di Gorgonzola.
In 2021, the club opened a brand-new stadium in the town of Zanica with a capacity of 1,791 (with possibility of expansion to up to 5,500 in case of a promotion in Serie B) built next to the club's headquarters and training centre; the stadium was formally approved by the Italian National Olympic Committee in March 2019. The stadium makes AlbinoLeffe the first Serie C team to own their home stadium. The inauguration match was played on 21 December 2021, a Serie C league game against Pro Patria.
The club's official colors are dark blue and azure blue, also used for home matches, while the outfit worn by the players for away matches is red and yellow.
Honours Domestic Coppa Italia Serie C Winners (1): 2001–02 Serie B Play-off Finals: 2007–08 Serie C1 Runners-up (1): 2002–03 Serie C2 Runners-up (1): 1998–99
Players Current squad
Out on loan
Club officials
Board of directors As of 1 September 2023 RoleName Owner Gianfranco Andreoletti Board Members Franco Acerbis Luciano Zenoni Simone Farina Adriano Capponi Pietro Gelmi General Manager Simone Farina Administrative Director Valerio Sacchi Secretary Ruben Garlini Ticketing Director Matteo Filosa Sporting Director Antonio Obbedio Youth Center Director Marco Malenchini Youth Center Coordinator Angelo Garlini Order and Safety Director Marco Colosio Stadium Manager Ruben Garlini Scouting Director Roberto Vattiato Head of Medical Staff Giacomo Poggioli Team Manager Ivano Peracchi Press Officer Matteo Viscardi
Current technical staff As of 1 September 2023 RoleName Head coach Giovanni Lopez Assistant coach Simone Arceci Goalkeeping coach Giuseppe Benatelli Fitness coach Andrea Mossali
Seasons Season Div PosLeague record Other P W D L F A Pts 1998–99 Serie C2/A 2nd 3416108443558 promoted through playoffs 1999-00 Serie C1/A 9th 34111211363745 2000–01 Serie C1/A 13th 347189273139 2001–02 Serie C1/A 13th 348179333541 2002–03 Serie C1/A 2nd 3417125623663 2003–04 Serie B 18th 46131518475954 2004–05 Serie B 11th 38141315555155 2005–06 Serie B 18th 38101616385246 won relegation playoffs to Avellino 2006–07 Serie B 10th 38112011464853 2007–08 Serie B 4th 3823910674878 lost promotion playoff finals to Lecce 2008–09 Serie B 9th 38151314494958 2009–10 Serie B 11th 42141315595655 2010–11 Serie B 18th 42131019556649 won relegation playoff against Piacenza 2011–12 Serie B 22nd 4261224396030 relegated to Lega Pro Prima Divisione 2012–13 Serie C1/A 6th 3213145442747 2013–14 Serie C1/A 7th 3012711424043 lost in quarterfinals of promotion playoffs to Cremonese 2014–15 Lega Pro/A 20th 3871120275132 relegated to Serie D, but reinstated in Lega Pro by Italian Football Federation 2015–16 Lega Pro/A 17th 344822235720 relegated to Serie D for the second time, but reinstated one more time in Lega Pro by Italian Football Federation 2016–17 Lega Pro/B 9th 38121610383452 2017–18 Serie C/B 5th 34131011363149 2018–19 Serie C/B 14th 3891613313543 2019–20 Serie C/B 8th 271098292439 2020–21 Serie C/A 7th 3814159433657
Notable former players The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level and/or a significant number of caps and goals accumulated throughout a certain number of seasons for UC AlbinoLeffe.
Andrea Belotti Alessandro Diamanti Federico Marchetti Federico Peluso Marco Sau Kewullay Conteh Karamoko Cissé Mehmet Hetemaj Sergejs Vorobjovs Mirco Poloni Ivan Del Prato Pierre Regonesi Ruben Garlini Damiano Sonzogni Roberto Bonazzi Marco Cellini Francesco Ruopolo Christian Araboni Filippo Carobbio Roberto Previtali Alessandro Salvi Andrea Soncin Fabio Gavazzi Mihai Gușu
Notable former managers
Elio Gustinetti Emiliano Mondonico Armando Madonna Massimiliano Alvini Marco Zaffaroni
References
External links Official Website