Foggia Calcio

Foggia Calcio is an Italian football club, based in Foggia, in the southern Italian region of Apulia. Foggia currently plays in the Lega Pro, having last been in the higher Serie A in 1995.

The team gained nationwide popularity as Foggia Calcio in the 1990s when coached by Zdeněk Zeman because of its attacking, spectacular style of play, which brought Foggia continuously on the verge of UEFA Cup qualification, launching several players who later broke through at international level such as Giuseppe Signori, Francesco Baiano, Brian Roy, Igor Kolyvanov, Igor Shalimov, Roberto Rambaudi and Dan Petrescu. However, Foggia Calcio went bankrupted in 2004 and was replaced by U.S. Foggia, which was bankrupted again in 2012.

History

US Foggia

Foundation and early years

The club was founded in 1920 as Foggia Calcio. The club spent its early history playing football in the lower leagues, winning a championship in the dilettanti in 1933.

In 1957–58, a merger took place between Foggia Calcio and Foggia Incedit, forming Unione Sportiva Foggia as the club is today. In 1961–62, the team was taken over by President Domenico Rosa Rosa, a wood industrialist, and coach Oronzo Pugliese, who quickly led them to promotion to Serie B.

Foggia

Foggia ([ˈfɔddʒa]) is a city and comune of Apulia, in southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013 its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere, also known as the "granary of Italy".

History

The name Foggia derives from Latin "fovea", meaning "pit", referring to the pits where wheat was stored. Although the area had been settled since Neolithic times, and a Greek colony known as Argos Hippium (in Greek, Ἀργόριππα or Ἀργύριππόι) existed nearby, the first document attesting the existence of the modern city dates from 1000 AD. According to the legend, the first settlers were peasants who had found a panel portraying the Madonna, on which three flames burnt.

The area was marshy and unhealthy. Robert Guiscard directed draining the wetland, boosting the economic and social growth of the city. The city was the seat of Henry, Count of Monte Sant'Angelo during the last twenty years of the 11th century. In the 12th century, William II of Sicily built a cathedral here and further enlarged the settlement.