AC Libertas

Libertas
Full nameAssociazione Calcio Libertas
Founded1928; 96 years ago (1928)
GroundCampo Sportivo di Borgo Maggiore
Campo Sportivo di Domagnano
Capacity500
ChairmanMassimo Ghiotti
ManagerFloriano Sperindio
LeagueCampionato Sammarinese di Calcio
2023–24Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio, 13th of 16

Associazione Calcio Libertas is a Sanmarinese football club, based in Borgo Maggiore, that competes in Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio.

History

The club was founded in 1928. Libertas currently plays in Girone B of Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio. The team's colors are red and white. Libertas is the oldest football club in San Marino. The team qualified for the UEFA Cup Preliminary phase in 2007. However, they lost by a 1–4 aggregate to Drogheda United from Ireland in the next round.

The arrival of the first regulation balls in the Republic of San Marino dates back to the end of the 10s and it is due to a gift from a Catalan citizen married to a San Marino woman. Thus began the adventure of football in the Republic of Titano, where in the 1920s the activity took place in the Castle of Serravalle and on the pitch of the Borgo Maggiore oratory, before the construction of the most important field at the beginning of the 1920s. 30, in the Castle of Borgo Maggiore, at the foot of Monte Titano. This playing field will mark the most significant moments of the origins of football in the Republic, hosting the first championship, ancestor of the Titano Cup, in 1937 and the first derbies when football was identified in three teams: Libertas, Titania and Castellana.

The saga of the "di Borgo" field lasted until the inauguration, in 1969, of the "Olympic Stadium" in Serravalle, which replaced the entire old playing field that saw the birth of San Marino football. The Borgo Maggiore club was founded on 4 September 1928, a date to remember because it indicates it as the oldest sports club in the Republic and in Borgo Maggiore the "Sotto il Monte" field was born in the early 1930s where the first editions of the Cup will be played Titan.

As for the name, with the creation of the Youth Sports Groups promoted by the San Marino Fascist Party through the San Marino Titania Sports Union, Manlio Gozi, the Secretary of the San Marino Fascist Party, takes care to subject the Borgo Maggiore club to the project of the Sports Groups Youth, but it's immediately yellow.

Gozi would like to adopt the name of Libertas for the nascent team in the capital after having unsuccessfully tried to impose it on Titania herself at the time of its foundation, except that the Borgo Maggiore club already existed. The Secretary of the Fascist Party returned to office when La Serenissima was born in the capital.

For the Borgo Maggiore Youth Sports Group the name of Nova Juventus is suggested, a suggestion that falls on deaf ears and in Borgo remains the Libertas, recognized by Manlio Gozi himself on 6 August 1933.

LIBERTAS in Borgo Maggiore, LA SERENISSIMA in San Marino, LA CASTELLANA in Serravalle and LA FIORITA in Montegiardino.

In the meantime, the San Marino Football Federation (FSGC) was born in 1931. In April 1937, under the patronage of the San Marino Sports Activities Organization and with the organization of the U.S. Titania, the first San Marino championship kicks off, played on the Borgo Maggiore field alone by four teams: G.S. Libertas, on the pitch in a garnet red shirt (the color that still distinguishes the players of the Borgo today), is the first team to boast the title of San Marino champion and the party breaks loose in the Castle of Borgo Maggiore. Libertas won the first edition of the Titano Cup by closing the tournament undefeated thanks to the best attack (11 goals) and the best defense (5 goals conceded). The central midfielder Giuseppe "Pipot" Gasperoni is the star of the team, and will become a true legend of Titan football: as coach, on the Libertas bench, he will continue to win in the 1950s.

Honours

1995–96
1937, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1987, 1989, 1991, 2006, 2014
1989, 1992, 1996
2014

Current squad

As of 5 March 2024. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
2 DF Italy ITA Daniele Grieco
5 MF Italy ITA Gian Luca Morelli
6 DF San Marino SMR Diego Moretti
7 FW Italy ITA Giuseppe Monteleone
8 MF Italy ITA Alessio Tafa
9 FW Italy ITA Marco Emanuel Bianco
10 FW Argentina ARG Mateo Corneli
11 MF Italy ITA Emanuele Polizzi
14 MF Albania ALB Ariljo Hoxha
17 MF San Marino SMR Tommaso Nicolini
19 FW Italy ITA Denis Muci
21 DF Italy ITA Nicholas Di Meo
22 GK Italy ITA Gennaro Del Prete
23 MF Italy ITA Francesco Pari
24 DF San Marino SMR Federico Grassi
No. Pos. Nation Player
27 MF Italy ITA Nicolas Lazzaretti
33 MF Italy ITA Antonio Guancia
34 DF Albania ALB Klajdi Buzi
41 DF Italy ITA Filippo Guglielmi
44 MF San Marino SMR Alessandro Ciccioni
45 GK Italy ITA Luca Magnani
64 FW Italy ITA Richard Ulloa
77 MF Italy ITA Tommaso Argenziano
MF San Marino SMR Michael Battistini
MF San Marino SMR Fabio Ramon Tomassini
MF San Marino SMR David Tomassini
FW Nigeria NGA Osagie Osayande

European record

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
2007–08 UEFA Cup First qualifying round Republic of Ireland Drogheda United 1–1 0–3 1–4
2012–13 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round North Macedonia Renova 0–4 0–4 0–8
2013–14 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round Bosnia and Herzegovina FK Sarajevo 1–2 0–1 1–3
2014–15 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round Bulgaria Botev Plovdiv 0–2 0–4 0–6