The Story Of Venezia FC
Venezia FC has become one of the coolest and most fashionable clubs on the planet but this hasn’t always been the case.
The club was founded on the 14th of December 1907 from the merger between two Italian sporting groups, the Martial Gymnastics Soceity & Costantino Reyer who met at the ‘Da Nane in Corte dell’Orso’ restaurant which still stands to this day.
In the early days the club played their matches in the forrest on Sant’Elena, an island just east of Venice. They played against other Veneto teams like; Calcio Paldova, Verona and L.R. Vicenza and crew ships that used to dock in Venice.
In September 1913, the Campo Sportivo Comunale di Sant’Elena stadium was opened on the Sant’Elena island, the stadium is now known as the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo and is stil the clubs home stadium.
In 1938/39 the club won its first-ever promotion to the Serie A, leaving it to the last day of the season. Venezia played and beat Atalanta to go ahead of them on the table and finish in an automatic promotion spot on goal difference with the winner coming from Venezia legend Francesco Pernigo, the clubs all-time leading goal-scorer.
The promotion to the Serie A prompted an upgrade to the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo, increasing capacity to 22,000. Their first season in Serie A was a massive success, finishing 10th and beating eventual champions Inter Milan in front of a packed Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo.
Under the new management of Giovanni Battista Rebuffo the next season was a historic one for Venezia, winning their first major trophy in the form of the Copa Italia. Venezia played AS Roma in the final, coming back from 3-0 down in the first leg to draw 3-3 in Rome. The second leg wasn’t as free-flowing as the first, with a 73rd-minute winner from new signing Ezio Loik who had just joined from AC Milan.
After winning the Copa Italia, Venezia went all out in trying to win the Serie A title. Venezia were flying high and hosted AS Roma in what was basically a title decider. Roma won 1-0 after Venezia missed a crucial penalty with Roma going on to win the title and Venezia finishing 3rd, 4 points behind.
Venezia struggled post world war 2 and were relegated back to the Serie B, floating between the two divisions for the rest of the 40s. Venezia were relegated to Serie C in 1952/52 and spent 4 seasons in the third tier before they won promotion again in 1956/57.
Venezia returned to Serie A for the first time in 11 years after finishing top of Serie B in the 1960/61 which was celebrated with a Gondola parade from the Stadio Penzo to the Piazza San Marco (St Marks Square).
The club only lasted 2 seasons in the Serie A before being relegated again, where they would float between the bottom divisions until the 80s, falling as far as the 4th division. In 1986 the club was purchased by Maurizio Zamparini who turned the club around and eventually merged the club with A.C Mestre, which is where the arancioneroverde (Green, Black, Orange) colours originate from. Under Zamparini’s watch, Venezia returned to the Serie C for the first time in 9 years.
3 seasons later, Venezia were back in Serie B for the first time in 23 years. In 1997/98 Venezia would earn their way back into Serie A after a 31-year absence, winning promotion against Fidelis Andria in Venice.
The club bounced between Serie A and Serie B up until 2004/05 where the club hit their lowest point, declaring bankruptcy and relegated to the 4th tier. The club came under new ownership, won promotion and stabilised in the 3rd tier for a few seasons before again having to file bankruptcy.
In 2009, the city of Venice was facing a very real possibility of not having a professional football club. Massimo Cacciari, who was the mayor of Venice at the time, organised the foundation of the new club, which was admitted to Serie D with Venzia’s name and likeness.
Venezia won the Serie D title in 2011/12 season and earned promotion to the Italian 3rd division, but would last just two seasons in the third tier before again going bankrupt for the third time in 10 years.
On the brink of extinction, an American consortium brought the club out of bankruptcy and managed to win promotion to Serie B, back in the second tier for the first time in 12 years. Venezia came within in 2 wins of the Serie A, after their highest finish in the league since 2000/01. Venezia would lose to Palermo in the playoff semi-finals and would lose manager Inzaghi to Bologna.
The club started the 19/20 season well but started to slip into the relegation places by Christmas. Duncan Niedarauer took on the role as president in an attempt to keep the club up, just before the season was suspended due to COVID. When the season eventually resumed in June, Venezia would lose just another 2 games, finishing 11th, 5 points clear of the relegation zone.
Venezia were back in the playoffs 2 seasons after their semi-final loss and would look to go a couple steps further this time. Venezia would beat Chievo Verona in the first match of the playoffs, winning 3-2 in extra time at the Stadio Penzo. Venezia would then progress through to the final after beating Lecce 2-1 over two legs. The club faced Cittadella in the final and were looking good after winning the first leg 1-0 away.
Venezia were in the box seat to return to the Serie A but a disastrous first-half saw them concede and go down to 10 men. Although a man down, Venezia would go on to find a winner in the 93rd minute, returning to the first division for the first time in 19 years.
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