F.C. Crotone

Crotone

Full name	Football Club Crotone S.r.l.
Nickname(s)	I Pitagorici (The Pythagoreans) Gli Squali or Lo Squalo Calabrese (The Sharks or The Shark of Calabria) Rossoblù (Red and Blue)
Founded	1910; 111 years ago (1910)
Ground	Stadio Ezio Scida
Capacity	16,547
Chairman	Gianni Vrenna[1]
Head coach	Francesco Modesto
League	Serie B
2020–21	Serie A, 19th of 20 (relegated)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Football Club Crotone S.r.l., commonly referred to as Crotone, is an Italian football club based in Crotone, Calabria. They play in the second division of Italian football, the Serie B. Founded in 1910, it holds its home games at Stadio Ezio Scida, which has a 16,547-seat capacity.

History[]

The 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.^{[citation needed]}

The first team from Crotone, Società sportiva Crotona, was founded as soon as September 1910, but without adhering to Italian Football Federation, and the following main teams of Crotone, like Milone Crotone, did not participated before 1921-1923 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 Serie A, the Italian top flight, for the first time in its history in 2016.^[2] In the 2016–17 season, the club finished 17th, securing a place in the next Serie A season. This was despite the Calabrian side only winning two points from the first ten matches, one of the poorest starts the Italian top-flight had seen in years. Crotone remained in the relegation positions for almost the entire season before an impressive revival saw the club achieve a seven-match unbeaten run from matchdays 30 to 36, including five wins in that time, and the season was concluded with a 3-1 victory over Lazio on the last matchday, a result that saw Crotone jump above Empoli to 17th place and thus secured another season in Serie A in what was hailed as a football miracle, led by 13-goal top scorer Diego Falcinelli and coach Davide Nicola. ^[3]

In the following season, Crotone failed to avoid relegation after losing against Napoli in the last match of the Serie A campaign, returning to Serie B after two seasons.

Following the 2019-20 season, the club was promoted to Serie A once more in second place, only behind Benevento in the table. However, the club's top-flight campaign was less than satisfactory. After spending the majority of the season in the last spot of the table, and losing incredible matches that were an early indicator of the hardship the club would endure, Crotone was mathematically relegated to Serie B after 34 games, following a loss to would-be champions Inter. This relegation came in contrast with several excellent performances from individual players, particularly striker Simy, who scored 20 league goals during the season, a record for a relegated team.^[4] Nevertheless, the 92 goals Crotone conceded was one more than Casale conceded in 1933-34, setting a new Serie A record for goals against in a single season.^[5]

Colors and badge[]

Team colours are dark blue and white due to their Greek origins and also red. The club's kits are traditionally dark blue and red stripes.

The team's mottos are "Salutate la Magna Grecia" (Salute Greater Greece) and "Noi siamo la Magna Grecia" (We are Greater Greece).

Players[]

Current squad[]

As of 17 August 2021^[6]

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 Marco Festa 3 DF  ITA Giuseppe Cuomo 5 DF  ARG Santiago Visentin 6 DF  ITA Davide Mondonico 7 MF  SRB Miloš Vulić 8 MF  ARG Nahuel Estévez (on loan from Estudiantes) 9 FW  ITA Samuele Mulattieri (on loan from Inter) 10 MF  LBY Ahmad Benali 11 FW  GAM Musa Juwara (on loan from Bologna) 13 GK  ITA Nikita Contini (on loan from Napoli) 15 MF  GHA Godfred Donsah 17 MF  ITA Salvatore Molina 18 FW  ITA Brian Oddei (on loan from Sassuolo) 19 DF  ITA Simone Canestrelli (on loan from Empoli) 20 MF  CHI Luis Rojas

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 MF  ITA Niccolò Zanellato 22 GK  ITA Gianluca Saro 23 MF  ITA Pasquale Giannotti 24 FW  SLE Augustus Kargbo 26 DF  LTU Artemijus Tutyskinas 27 DF  ROU Ionuț Nedelcearu 28 FW  ITA Giuseppe Borello 29 MF  ITA Marco Sala (on loan from Sassuolo) 30 DF  ARG Nehuén Paz 32 MF  ROU Vasile Mogos 44 MF  ITA Thomas Schirò 73 DF  ITA Giovanni D’Aprile 97 FW  MTQ Emmanuel Rivière 99 FW  CRO Mirko Marić (on loan from Monza)

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  UKR Sergio Yakubiv (at Lucchese until 30 June 2022) — MF  ITA Jacopo Petriccione (at Pordenone until 30 June 2022)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  NGA Simy (at Salernitana until 30 June 2022) — FW  SMR Nicola Nanni (at Lucchese until 30 June 2022)

Coaching staff[]

Position	Name
Head Coach	Serse Cosmi
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[]

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References[]

External links[]

• Official website (in Italian and English)