Cesena FC

Cesena
Full nameCesena Football Club
Nickname(s)I Cavallucci Marini (The Seahorses)
I Bianconeri (The White and Blacks)
Founded1973; 51 years ago (1973) as Polisportiva Martorano
2018; 6 years ago (2018) as Romagna Centro Cesena
GroundOrogel Stadium-Dino Manuzzi
Capacity20,194
ChairmanJohn Aiello, Peter Ciaccia[1]
ManagerMichele Mignani
LeagueSerie B
2023–24Serie C Group B, 1st of 20 (promoted)
Websitehttp://www.calciocesena.com/
Current season

Cesena Football Club is an Italian professional football club based in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. It currently plays in the Serie B, after promotion from the Serie C in 2023–24. It has claimed to be the phoenix club of AC Cesena since 2018, the year that the club folded.

History

Foundation

The club was founded in 1973,[2] at which time it was known as Polisportiva Martorano.[2][3]

Serie D

In the 2012–13 season, the team was promoted for the first time, from Eccellenza Emilia-Romagna Group B to 2013–14 Serie D Group D, as Romagna Centro.[2][4] The club was also compared to Chievo,[4] which was a second team behind Hellas Verona, but promoted to Serie A.

R.C. Cesena

The transitional logo until the agreement with folded AC Cesena was found in late 2018

In July 2018, after the bankruptcy of the main football team of the city, A.C. Cesena, a group of local businessmen acquired Romagna Centro and proposed to rename it to Cesena F.C., to act as a phoenix club. However, the image rights of A.C. Cesena were acquired later.[5] The club played a friendly match against Romanian club Universitatea Cluj in 2018–19 pre-season.[6] In July 2018, Romagna Centro announced that the youth sector would train with former A.C. Cesena players.[7] However, the club was later known as R.C. Cesena, and was assigned to Group F of 2018–19 Serie D.[8]

Cesena FC

After instantly winning promotion to Serie D, the club was renamed Cesena Football Club.

In the 2019–20 season, the club competed in the Serie C's Girone B.

In 2023–24 season, Cesena secured promotion to the following season's Serie B as Serie C Girone B champion.

Colours and badge

As Romagna Centro, the team's colours were light blue and white.[2][9][10]

The current shirt colors are black and white, so that the nickname of the club is "bianconeri".

Stadiums

The club played their home matches in Centro Sportivo Romagna Centro, located in Via Calcinaro, Martorano frazione.[2][4][10] The club also played their Serie D home matches in Stadio Dino Manuzzi,[11][12] the larger stadium in the city.

The stadium is quite famous in Italy, and has also hosted some Euro 2019 U-21 matches, charity matches and some other events like concerts.

Honours

  • Serie C
  • Serie D
  • Eccellenza:
    • Winner (1): 2012–13

Current squad

As of 26 October 2024[13]

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 Italy ITA Matteo Pisseri
3 DF Italy ITA Marco Curto (on loan from Como)
4 MF Italy ITA Riccardo Chiarello
5 MF Italy ITA Leonardo Mendicino (on loan from Atalanta)
7 DF Italy ITA Daniele Donnarumma
8 MF Italy ITA Saber Hraiech
9 FW Albania ALB Cristian Shpendi
10 FW Sierra Leone SLE Augustus Kargbo
11 DF The Gambia GAM Joseph Ceesay (on loan from Malmö)
13 DF Italy ITA Raffaele Celia
14 MF Italy ITA Tommaso Berti
15 DF Italy ITA Andrea Ciofi (vice-captain)
17 MF Italy ITA Emanuele Adamo
18 FW Netherlands NED Sydney van Hooijdonk
19 DF Italy ITA Giuseppe Prestia (captain)
20 FW Netherlands NED Elayis Tavşan (on loan from Hellas Verona)
No. Pos. Nation Player
22 GK Albania ALB Giulio Veliaj
23 FW Italy ITA Mirko Antonucci (on loan from Spezia)
24 DF Italy ITA Massimiliano Mangraviti
26 DF Italy ITA Matteo Piacentini
30 MF Italy ITA Simone Bastoni
32 MF Italy ITA Gianmarco Castorri
33 GK United States USA Jonathan Klinsmann
35 MF Italy ITA Giacomo Calò
44 DF Italy ITA Federico Valentini
70 MF Italy ITA Matteo Francesconi
71 DF Italy ITA Giulio Manetti
73 DF Italy ITA Simone Pieraccini
79 DF Italy ITA Enea Pitti
92 FW Italy ITA Valentino Coveri
93 GK Italy ITA Alessandro Siano

Cesena Primavera

As of 26 October 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
27 MF Italy ITA Ibrahima Papa Wade

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 Romania ROU Antonio David (at Gubbio until 30 June 2025)
— DF Italy ITA Luigi Silvestri (at Trapani until 30 June 2025)
— MF Italy ITA Alessandro Giovannini (at Pineto until 30 June 2025)
No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF Italy ITA Fabrizio Lilli (at Forlì until 30 June 2025)
— FW Italy ITA Roberto Ogunseye (at Arezzo until 30 June 2025)
— FW Albania ALB Stiven Shpendi (at Empoli until 30 June 2025)

Technical staff

As of 26 October 2024[14]
Position Staff
Head coach Italy Michele Mignani
Assistant coach Italy Simone Vergassola
Athletic coach Italy Giorgio D'Urbano
Goalkeeping coach Italy Antonello Degiorgi
Italy Giuseppe Mammoliti
Assistant Athletic coach Italy Massimo Magrini
Italy Filippo Medda
Technical assistant Italy Davide Campofranco
Match analyst Italy Emanuele Insalata
Team manager Italy Matteo Visani
Club manager Italy Alberto Santarelli
Referee caretaker Italy Fiorenzo Treossi
Head of medical staff Italy Gianluigi Sella
First Team doctor Italy Eva Bernardi
Italy Antonio Argentoni
Italy Giorgio Gandolfi
Physiotherapist Italy Costantino Cucciniello
Italy Francesco Canali
Italy Stefano Valentini

References

  1. ^ "LA SOCIETÀ" (in Italian). Cesena FC. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Romagna Centro, l'inesorabile scalata dalla Terza alla serie D". Il Tirreno (Massa-Carrara edition) (in Italian). Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso. 15 September 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  3. ^ "La Storia" (in Italian). A.S.D. Romagna Centro Cesena. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  4. ^ a b c "Romagna Centro in "D": una promozione storica". Corriere Cesenate (in Italian). 2 May 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  5. ^ "Scelta la cordata di Pubblisole, nasce la nuova avventura del "Cesena FC"". Cesena Today (in Italian). 23 July 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  6. ^ "Studenții în Italia. "U" a făcut scor cu cei de la Romagna Centro: 8-1. Sâmbătă întâlnim Perugia!" (Press release) (in Romanian). FC Universitatea Cluj. 19 July 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  7. ^ "COMUNICATO SETTORE GIOVANILE" (Press release) (in Italian). A.S.D. Romagna Centro Cesena. 25 July 2018. Archived from the original on 31 August 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  8. ^ "Gironi 2018/2019" (Press release) (in Italian). Lega Nazionale Dilettanti. 30 August 2018. Archived from the original on 31 August 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  9. ^ "Romagna Centro". TuttoCalciatori (in Italian). Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  10. ^ a b "A.S.D. Romagna Centro". emiliaromagnasport.com (in Italian). Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  11. ^ "Romagna Centro-Piacenza anticipata a sabato 21 febbraio". Sport Piacenza (in Italian). 16 February 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  12. ^ "Il Romagna Centro per rafforzare il vivaio del Cesena: accordo fatto". Cesena Today (in Italian). 4 July 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  13. ^ "Rosa Cesena". Cesena FC (in Italian). Retrieved 26 October 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ "Staff Tecnico" (in Italian). Cesena FC. Retrieved 26 October 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)