Benevento Calcio

Benevento

Full name	Benevento Calcio S.r.l.
Nickname(s)	Gli Stregoni (The Sorcerers)
Founded	1929 (1929)
Ground	Stadio Ciro Vigorito, Benevento, Italy
Capacity	16,867
President	Oreste Vigorito
Manager	Filippo Inzaghi
League	Serie C Group C
2022–23	Serie B, 20th of 20 (relegated)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Benevento Calcio, commonly referred to as Benevento, is an Italian football club based in Benevento, Campania. The club was originally founded in 1929 and then re-founded in 2005. They currently compete in Serie B. Benevento has played in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football, only once in its history, in the 2017–18 season.

History

Early history

The club was founded as Associazione Calcio Benevento in 1929, their original home was the Meomartini which was built by Ciccio Minocchia.

After working their way up the country's lower divisions during their early years, Benevento reached Prima Divisione, Italy's third highest professional league at the time, in the 1934–35 season. They finished above clubs such as Reggina during the club's first season within the league. Although they did not win promotion to Serie B, the team did remain in the third tier of Italian football for the 1935–36 season, re-organized to a smaller 64-team league renamed Serie C.

21st century

The club F.C. Sporting Benevento S.r.l. folded in 2005. At the same time Benevento Calcio S.p.A. was founded, using the same stadium and playing kit.

In the 2007–08 Serie C2 regular season the team finished first in Girone C, winning direct promotion to the now called Lega Pro Prima Divisione for the 2008–09 season. In the 2008–09 season, Benevento's first season in Lega Pro Prima Divisione, they finished in 2nd place. This meant Benevento would be in a two-legged play-off. They won their first two-legged play-off, but lost to Crotone 1–0 (2–1) on aggregate in the final.

Gaetano Auteri was appointed as the head manager for the 2015–16 season. In this season, Benevento won its league and reached Serie B for the first time in its history. The mathematical certainty arrived on 30 April 2016, after defeating Lecce 3–0.

On 8 June 2017, they were promoted to Serie A, for the first time in their history, after defeating Carpi in the Serie B play-offs 1–0 on aggregate. They set a record for the worst start to a season in any of Europe's top five leagues by losing their first 14 Serie A matches. This streak ended on 3 December 2017, with a 95th minute equalising header from goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli for a 2–2 home draw against A.C. Milan. Benevento's time in Serie A lasted one season and they were relegated after a last-place finish in Serie A, although they ultimately won six of their last 23 games.

Honours

Serie B

• Play-off winner: 2016–17

Serie C

• Winners: 2015–16

Serie C2

• Winners: 2007–08 Group C

Colours and badge

The team's colors are yellow and red, and their badge features red and yellow stripes and the black image of a witch riding a broom. Benevento are nicknamed the Stregoni, Italian for sorcerers, or occasionally, the Streghe, Italian for witches, a reference to the legends dating to the 13th century of the witches of Benevento.

Current squad

As of 30 January 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	Lorenzo Montipò
2	DF	ITA	Francesco Rillo
3	DF	ITA	Gaetano Letizia
4	MF	ITA	Lorenzo Del Pinto
5	DF	ITA	Luca Caldirola
6	MF	CIV	Siriki Sanogo
7	MF	GER	Oliver Kragl
8	MF	COL	Andrés Tello
9	FW	ITA	Massimo Coda
10	MF	ITA	Nicolas Viola (Vice-captain)
11	DF	ITA	Christian Maggio (Captain)
12	GK	ITA	Niccolò Manfredini
13	DF	ITA	Alessandro Tuia
14	DF	ITA	Massimo Volta

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
16	MF	ITA	Riccardo Improta
17	MF	GHA	Abdallah Basit
18	DF	GHA	Bright Gyamfi
19	MF	ITA	Roberto Insigne
20	FW	ITA	Giuseppe Di Serio
21	MF	FIN	Përparim Hetemaj
22	GK	ITA	Pier Graziano Gori
23	DF	ITA	Luca Antei
25	FW	ITA	Marco Sau
27	MF	SVN	Dejan Vokić
28	MF	ITA	Pasquale Schiattarella
32	FW	ITA	Gabriele Moncini
35	DF	ITA	Federico Barba (on loan from Chievo)

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
—	DF	ITA	Gianluca Di Chiara (at Perugia)
—	DF	ITA	Luca Sparandeo (at Virtus Francavilla)
—	DF	ITA	Salvatore Tazza (at Arzignano)
—	MF	ITA	Alessio Donnarumma (at Picerno)
—	MF	JPN	Cy Goddard (at Pafos)

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	BRA	Guilherme (at Yeni Malatyaspor)
—	MF	ITA	Giovanni Volpicelli (at Arezzo)
—	FW	SWE	Samuel Armenteros (at Crotone)
—	FW	ITA	Pietro Iemmello (at Perugia)

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Head Coach	Filippo Inzaghi
Assistant Coach	Maurizio D'Angelo
Goalkeeper Coach	Gaetano Petrelli
Fitness Coach	Luca Alimonta
Fitness Coach	Daniele Cenci
Physiotherapist	Ernesto Galliano
Physiotherapist	Luca Lepore
Physiotherapist	Simone Sigillo
Physiotherapist	Claudio Patti
Chief Doctor	Franco De Cicco
Club Doctor	Stefano Salvatori
Club Doctor	Rafaele Fuiano
Osteopath	Giuseppe Nota
Technical Collaborator	Simone Baggio
Video Analyst	Simone Bonomi

Notable former players

See also: Category:Benevento Calcio players

Notable former managers

See also: Category:Benevento Calcio managers

• Giuseppe Zilizzi (1935–36)
• Giuseppe Viani (1945–46)
• Francisco Lojacono (1974–75)
• Gastone Bean (1981–83)
• Giuseppe Materazzi (1984–85)
• Adriano Lombardi (1995–96)
• Massimo Silva (1996–98)
• Nello Di Costanzo (2002–04)
• Giovanni Simonelli (2006–08)
• Antonio Soda (2008–09)
• Leonardo Acori (2009)

• Andrea Camplone (2009–10)
• Leonardo Acori (2010)
• Giuseppe Galderisi (2010–11)
• Giovanni Simonelli (2011)
• Carmelo Imbriani (2011–12)
• Guido Ugolotti (2012–13)
• Guido Carboni (2013–14)
• Gaetano Auteri (2015–16)
• Marco Baroni (2016–17)
• Roberto De Zerbi (2017–2018)
• Cristian Bucchi (2018–2019)
• Filippo Inzaghi (2019–)

External links

• (in Italian) Benevento Calcio official website