FC Crotone

Crotone

Full name	Football Club Crotone S.r.l.
Nickname(s)	I Pitagorici (The Pythagoreans) Lo Squalo Calabrese (The Shark of Calabria) Rossoblù (Red and Blue) I Graeciani (The Grecians)
Founded	1910 (1910)
Ground	Stadio Ezio Scida
Capacity	16,547
Chairman	Gianni Vrenna
Head coach	Giovanni Stroppa
League	Serie C Group C
2023–24	Serie C Group C, 9th of 20
Website	http://www.fccrotone.it
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Football Club Crotone S.r.l., commonly referred to as Crotone, is an Italian football club based in Crotone, Calabria. Founded in 1910 by Greek-Italian migrants, it holds its home games at Stadio Ezio Scida, which has a 16,547-seat capacity.

History

Th club is based in the ancient Greek settlement of Kroton, one of the first Greek colonies in what is now known as modern day Italy. The club is proud of their Greek origins with their banners and slogans and regularly depicting Greek icons such as soldiers of Sparta.

The first team from Crotone, Milone Crotone, was founded in 1910 and participated in several minor leagues including Prima Divisione (which later would be known as Serie C). Following World War II, a new club, Unione Sportiva Crotone replaced the previous one, playing seven seasons in Serie C.

In 1963 the club was relegated to Serie D, but returned to the third division the following year, remaining there for fourteen consecutive seasons, missing promotion in 1977 when finishing third behind Bari and Paganese. In 1978, following the Italian football league reorganisation, Crotone was relegated to Serie C2 and the following year was declared bankrupt. A new club, Associazione Sportiva Crotone, began competing again in the Prima Categoria (eighth division).

Crotone was promoted to Serie C2 in 1984–85, but only for one season. The team's name was changed to Kroton Calcio, and the club was promoted again to C2 after the 1986–87 season, where it played until 1991. A second bankruptcy led to the foundation of Football Club Crotone Calcio with Raffaele Vrenna as chairman, starting in the Promozione (7th level). Crotone gained successive promotions to Serie C2 and C1, winning in the play-offs against Locri and Benevento, respectively.

Under Antonello Cuccureddu, Crotone first reached Serie B in 2000, returning to the second level two seasons later. Again in division two in 2004, after disposing of Viterbese in the promotion play-offs, it remained in the category until the 2006–07 season.

After being beaten by Taranto in the 2008 play-offs, Crotone returned to the second division the following season, defeating Benevento.

The team was promoted to the Italian top flight (Serie A), for the 2016–17 season for the first time in its history. They finished in 17th, securing a place in the next Serie A season, by beating Lazio 3–1 on the last matchday, knocking down Empoli as they lost their match against Palermo. The following season Crotone failed to avoid relegation after their loss against Napoli in the last match of the Serie A campaign, returning in Serie B after two seasons. Following the 2019-2020 season, the club was promoted to Serie A once more.

Colors and badge

Team colours are dark blue and white due to their Greek origins and also red.

The teams motto are "Salutate la Magna Grecia" (Salute Greater Greece) and "Noi siamo la Magna Grecia" (We are Greater Greece).

Current squad

As of 27 July 2020.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	ITA	Alex Cordaz (Captain)
2	DF	ARG	Marcos Curado (on loan from Genoa)
3	DF	ITA	Giuseppe Cuomo
5	DF	SRB	Vladimir Golemić
6	DF	FRA	Guillaume Gigliotti
7	MF	ITA	Mattia Mustacchio
8	DF	ARG	Nicolás Spolli
9	FW	SWE	Samuel Armenteros (on loan from Benevento)
10	MF	LBY	Ahmad Benali
11	FW	MNE	Marko Janković (on loan from SPAL)
12	GK	ITA	Giacomo Figliuzzi
13	DF	ITA	Gabriele Bellodi (on loan from Milan)
14	MF	ITA	Giovanni Crociata
16	MF	ITA	Alberto Gerbo (on loan from Ascoli)

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
17	MF	ITA	Salvatore Molina
18	MF	ITA	Andrea Barberis
19	MF	CRO	Tomislav Gomelt
20	FW	ARG	Maxi López
21	MF	ITA	Niccolò Zanellato
22	GK	ITA	Marco Festa
23	MF	ITA	Antonio Mazzotta
24	MF	ITA	Francesco Rodio
25	FW	NGA	Simy
26	MF	FRA	Jean Lambert Evans
27	FW	ITA	Zak Ruggiero
29	DF	ITA	Federico Panza
30	MF	BRA	Junior Messias
34	DF	ITA	Luca Marrone (on loan from Verona)

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	GK	ITA	Gian Marco Crespi (at Gozzano)
—	GK	ITA	Aniello Viscovo (at Fano)
—	MF	ITA	Francesco Di Giorno (at Este)
—	MF	CRO	Mateo Itrak (at Gorica)
—	MF	FRA	Jeremy Petris (at Bisceglie)
—	MF	VEN	Aristóteles Romero (at Partizani)

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	FW	ITA	Giuseppe Borello (at Cesena)
—	FW	SRB	Luka Marković (at Torino)
—	FW	ITA	Giuseppe Borello (at Cesena)
—	FW	SLE	Augustus Kargbo (at Reggio Audace)
—	FW	SMR	Nicola Nanni (at Monopoli)

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Head Coach	Giovanni Stroppa
Assistant Coach	Andrea Guerra
Assistant Coach	Giuseppe Brescia
Goalkeeper Coach	Antonio Macrì
Fitness Coach	Fabio Allevi
Fitness Coach	Elmiro Trombino
Physiotherapist	Armando Cistaro
Physiotherapist	Matteo Errico
Physiotherapist	Riccardo Pupo
Chief Doctor	Massimo Iera
Club Doctor	Massimo Bisceglia

Managers

• Giorgio Tricoli (1954–55)
• Bruno Giordano (1996–97)
• Antonello Cuccureddu (1999–01)
• Giuseppe Papadopulo (2000–01)
• Antonio Cabrini (2001)
• Stefano Cuoghi (2001–02)
• Franco Selvaggi (2002)
• Gian Piero Gasperini (2003–06)
• Andrea Agostinelli (2004–05)
• Elio Gustinetti (2006–07)
• Guido Carboni (2007)

• Francesco Moriero (2008–09)
• Franco Lerda (2009–10)
• Leonardo Menichini (2010)
• Eugenio Corini (2010–11)
• Leonardo Menichini (2010–12)
• Massimo Drago (2012–15)
• Ivan Jurić (2015–2016)
• Davide Nicola (2016–2017)
• Walter Zenga (2017–2018)
• Giovanni Stroppa (2018–)

External links

• Official website (in Italian)