A.S.D. Campobasso 1919

Campobasso
Campobasso-1919.png
Full nameAssociazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Campobasso 1919
Nickname(s)Lupi (Wolves) Rossoblu (Red and Blues)
Founded1919
1990 (refounded)
1996 (refounded)
2003 (refounded)
2013 (refounded)
GroundStadio Nuovo Romagnoli,
Campobasso, Italy
Capacity25,000
OwnerNorth Sixth Group
ChairmanMatt Rizzetta
ManagerPino Di Meo
LeagueEccellenza Molise
2021–22Serie C/C, 13th (excluded)
WebsiteClub website

Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Campobasso 1919, commonly referred to as Campobasso, is an Italian football club located in Campobasso, Molise, currently playing in Eccellenza.

Originally founded in 1919, the club went through several refoundations throughout the years. The nickname of the club is lupi (Italian for "wolves") after the official and historical club logo. The team plays their home matches at Stadio Nuovo Romagnoli, located in the outskirts of the city.

Campobasso played five seasons in Serie B from 1982 to 1987, which constitutes the pinnacle of their history. The best result achieved in the second tier was a seventh place finish. Their biggest achievement during this period was arguably a 1–0 win over Juventus in the first leg of a Coppa Italia match.

History

Origin

The original name of the club was US Campobasso 1919. In fact, the first traces of the club date back to 1917, the year in which a match report was published in a local newspaper called "Il Foglietto". The first competitions that were played by the club were primarily tournaments throughout the second and third divisions, while the first time the club won an official competition took place in the 1933–34 season. This was a tournament of the second division and the Wolves beat Frosinone to capture the title.

Serie C in the Post-World War Era

After the interruption to all football leagues as a result of World War II, Campobasso Calcio resumed play in 1952 in the fourth division of Italian football. Mid-way through the 1950s, Campobasso mayor Alessandro De Gaglia became president of the club. In 1970, the rossoblu returned to compete in the Promozione Campana division, and finally reconquered a promotion to Serie D in 1972. Three years after that, the Wolves achieved an historic promotion to Serie C, where they put together a string of three consecutive competitive seasons in the third division in Italy's professional ranks.

The 1980s and Serie B

The highest point in the history of Campobasso came in the 1980s under legendary president Antonio Molinari. The club achieved promotion to Serie B, the second highest division of Italian football. They would remain in Serie B for five seasons beginning in 1982-83 and ending in 1986–87. The club's final season in Serie B was marked by a hard-fought relegation playoff against Taranto and Lazio. During these years, Campobasso's new stadium, the Stadio Romagnoli was built. The stadium opened its gates for the first time in an historic match where Campobasso faced legendary club Juventus in the Coppa Italia. Campobasso beat Juventus in the match 1–0 in front of a sold-out Stadio Romagnoli that far exceeded its current capacity of 25,000 people.

The Fall and Rebirth of Campobasso Calcio

Following the club's relegation from Serie B, Campobasso finished in fourth place in Serie C1 during the 1986–87 season. The following year the club lost to Monopoli in the relegation playoffs, which dropped them down to Serie C2. The string of misfortunes continued for Campobasso, as they finished 18th in Serie C2 in the following season, and the club ultimately went bankrupt.

Thanks to the passion of fans and local business people Carlo and Gino Scasserra, a new club was born, called Football Campobasso. The new club eventually achieved a promotion to Serie D, and in 1995, they were purchased by Giovanni di Stefano until another bankruptcy forced them into trouble once again in 1996.

The club successively restarted from the lower leagues of Italian football, and eventually returned to play Serie C2 in 2000. After missing out on promotion in the first season, Campobasso then finished a disappointing 18th in 2022, which led the club into bankruptcy for the third time in the decade.

After a year without any official team in the city, a new club was founded under the name Nuovo Campobasso, which returned to play in Serie D in 2005. In the following years, Campanian-based businessman Ferruccio Capone bought the club and successfully helped them achieve a promotion to Serie C2 once again in 2010. After three seasons in the professional ranks of Serie C2 a fourth bankruptcy crippled the club in 2013. Reborn as US Campobasso 1919, the club restarted from the regional divisions in Italy, all the way up to Serie D.

U.S. takeover: Serie C, exclusion and restart

In 2018, Campobasso was acquired by businessman Nicola Circelli, alongside a group of Italian financiers with interests in England and Switzerland led by Mario Gesuè. Later in 2019, Swiss-based hedge fund Halley Holding, run by Gesuè, acquired full control of the club with the aim to relaunch Campobasso and bring it back into professionalism.

In December 2020, New York-based family office holding company North Sixth Group acquired a significant interest in the club from Halley Holding.

The club achieved promotion to Serie C on June 13, 2021 with a 2–1 win over Rieti. After playing one season in Serie C, ending in thirteenth place, Campobasso was however excluded from professional football due to financial irregularities in tax payments. Successively, a merger agreement between the club and Eccellenza team A.S.D. Campobasso 1919 allowed the club to restart from the fifth tier.

In July 2022, SS Campobasso was denied re-entrance to Serie C by the FIGC as a result of administrative compliance irregularities made by majority owner Halley Holdings. Following several appeals, all of which were rejected by various levels of the Italian court system, SS Campobasso was officially declared ineligible for Serie C and Serie D completions for the 2022-23 season.


Rebirth of Campobasso 1919

In September 2022, North Sixth Group, led by Matt Rizzetta, who was a minority shareholder of the predecessor club SS Campobasso, purchased 100% of the shares of Campobasso 1919, which had previously served as the secondary club of the city. The investment transformed Campobasso 1919 into the primary club of the city, replacing the previous club.

Restarting from the fifth-tier, Campobasso 1919 immediately put together a team with ambitions to win the league right away, hiring Pino Di Meo as head coach and Pino De Filippis as sporting director and signed 12 new players, many of whom had Serie C and Serie D experience. Under North Sixth Group, Campobasso 1919 secured exclusive rights to the 21,000 seat stadium Nuovo Romagnoli and is recognized as the primary team of Campobasso. The ambitions for the Campobasso 1919 project are to build an international club that represents the immigrants from Molise across the world and to aim to bring the club to the upper tiers of Italian football within the next 5 years.

In November 2022, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos became minority owners of the club via an investment in North Sixth Group, the majority owner and operator in Campobasso 1919.

Colors and badge

The official home colours are red and blue. The home kit usually features red and blue stripes. The official away colours are white, red and blue. Their kit manufacturer is the Italian sportswear supplier Erreà.

Stadium

The club play their home matches at the Stadio Nuovo Romagnoli, located in Campobasso, Molise.

The stadium was designed by architect Costantino Rozzi. Construction began in 1983 and the stadium opened on February 13, 1985 when Campobasso defeated Juventus F.C. 1–0 in a Coppa Italia match.

The stadium is owned by the city of Campobasso. The pitch surface is grass and it has a capacity of 21,800.

Honours


This page was last updated at 2022-12-25 06:24 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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