'Bologna Football Club 1909' is an
Italian football club based in
Bologna,
Emilia-Romagna. They were formed in
1909 and continue on today. The club are nicknamed the ''rossoblù'' because of the red and blue striped shirts they wear.
During its history the club has won the
Italian League Championship seven times. They are the sixth most successful team in the league ever. Currently Bologna F.C. plays in
Serie B.
History
'Bologna Football Club''s formation was orchastrated by Emilio Arnstein, an
Austrian who became interested in
football at university in
Vienna and
Praga. He and his brother had previously founded another football club
Black Star F.C. in Austria.
The club was founded on
3 October,
1909 as 'AGC Bologna', in the Northern Italian city of
Bologna. Upon its formation, Carlo Sandoni was the clubs sponsor and General manager,
Swissman Louis Rauch became president,
nobleman Guido Della Valle was the vice-president, Enrico Penaglia
secretary, Sergio Lampronti
cashier, while Emilio Arnstein and Leone Vincenzi were appointed councilmen. They are thought to have adopted their red and blue stripes from
Crystal Palace F.C.
On
20 March 1910 Bologna played their first ever game, it was against
Virtus (who wore white shirts), Bologna outclassed their opponents winning 9-1. The first football squad featured; Koch, Chiara, Pessarelli, Bragaglia, Guido Della Valle, Nanni, Donati, Rauch, Bernabeu, Mezzano and Gradi.
Their formative season was spent in the regional league under Arrigo Gradi as captain, Bologna won their league gaining promotion to a league named ''Group Veneto-Emiliano''. They spent four seasons in this league, never finishing lower than fifth. Bologna were entered into the Northern League before all football leagues were postponed for
World War I.
Champions: 1920s and 1930s
After the first war, Bologna began to become more successful; first reaching the semi-finals of the Northern Italian competition in 1919-20, they went one better the following season by reaching the Northern League finals; going out 2-1 to
Pro Vercelli. They would equal this again in 1923-24, coming runner up to (eventual National champions)
Genoa.
Bologna squad from the 1912 season.
Bologna became Northern and National League champions for the first time during 1924-25, thrashing
A.S. Roma 6-0 to take the championship. A few seasons later Bologna became champions of Italy for the second time in 1928-29 giving them a foothold in Italian football, building up a legacy, this was the last time the league was competed in the old system,
Serie A was instated the following year.
The Scudetto was won by Bologna four more times before
World War II, these were achieved in; 1935-36, 1936-37, 1938-39 and 1940-41.
Post-World War II
After
World War II, the club was less successful. Throughout the
1950s and
1960s, the club generally floated between 4th, 5th and 6th position in the league, until they took the league title back in 1963-64. To date this remains their last
Serie A championship, bringing the club's total to seven.
It wasn't all doom and gloom for the club however, in the
1970s they won the
Italian Cup twice, the second of which was competed against
Palermo, the game was tense and finished 1-1 beforing going to a
penalty shootout, Bologna won the shootout 4-3.
Climbing Down and back up the Leagues
Beginning in the 1981-82 season the club began to slide, first they were relegated from
Serie A after battling it out for survival with
Cagliari and
Genoa. They were relegated twice in succession and slid into
Serie C1. They won their way out of C1 the next year, and returned to
Serie A for the 1988-89 season after four years of fighting it out in
Serie B.
They did not remain long, however, being relegated in 1991 and returning to
Serie C1 in 1993. The club returned to Serie A for 1996, two years later Bologna tastes a slice of success on the
European stage; winning the
UEFA Intertoto Cup and playing in the
UEFA Cup. The club remained in Serie A until the
2004/05 campaign, losing to
Parma in the playoffs.
Recent times
Bologna now plays in
Serie B, despite losing some key players, Bologna expected to be challenging strongly for promotion in the 2005-06 campaign. However, despite its ambition, Bologna had a poor start on his Serie B league, causing the sacking of experienced coach
Renzo Ulivieri, replaced by
Andrea Mandorlini.
During the first half of the season, the team has also been sold from
Giuseppe Gazzoni Frascara to the hands of
Alfredo Cazzola, a local entrepreneur. However, Mandorlini was not either able to bring Bologna up the Serie B table, and he was thus fired on
March 5,
2006; Ulivieri was then appointed back as team coach, after having been sacked a few months before. Bologna ended the 2005-2006 Serie B campaign in eighth place. In the 2006-2007 season, Bologna ended with the seventh place: the season has been however characterized by several clashes between chairman Cazzola and head coach Ulivieri, who was ultimately fired on
April 14,
2007 and replaced by caretaker and former assistant coach
Luca Cecconi. The new coach for the 2007-2008 season will be
Daniele Arrigoni.
Current first team squad
''As of July 18, 2007''
[1]
Honours
'
Italian Football Championship' / '
Serie A: 7'
:
★ 'Champions':
1924–25;
1928–29;
1935–36;
1936–37;
1938–39;
1940–41;
1963–64
:
★ 'Runners-up':
1931–32;
1939–40
'
Italian Cup' ''2'':
:
★ Winners: 1969–70, 1973–74
'
Mitropa Cup' ''3'':
:
★ Winners: 1932, 1934, 1961
'
UEFA Intertoto Cup':
:
★ Winners: 1998
'Italian Northern League':
:
★ Winners: 1924–25
:
★ Runners-up: 1920–21, 1923–24, 1925–26
Famous players
References
1. La rosa 2007-2008 del Bologna F.C. 1909
External links
★
Official Website
★
Unofficial Bologna Website
★
Bologna Fan Forum
★
Bologna Fansite
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