U.S. Foggia

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Unione Sportiva Foggia is an Italian football club, based in Foggia, Apulia. The club was founded in 1920. Foggia currently plays in Serie C1/A, having last been in Serie A in 1995. The team gained some popularity in the 1990s when coached by Zdenek Zeman, because of its attacking, spectacular style of play, which brought Foggia continuously on the verge of UEFA Cup qualification.

Notable former players include Pasquale Padalino, Giuseppe Signori, Francesco Baiano, Igor Kolyvanov, Igor Shalimov, Roberto Rambaudi and Dan Petrescu.

History

Foggia spent most of its history up to 1964 moving between the lower divisions. Promotion to Serie A in 1964 saw its first three-year spell in the top flight in what would be a decade and a half of continuous movement between Serie A and B. In their first season, a solid defence and excellent home record saw them into a credible 9th place. The following year a good defence was maintained but they slipped in the standings, and relegation came after three years.

A second promotion was achieved in 1970, and Foggia would be extremely unlucky to be relegated after one season. A return to Serie A in 1973 would see the team start well only for form to slip alarmingly in the second half of the season, with a corruption scandal adding insult to injury. Nevertheless, the club proved resilient enough to win another promotion in 1976 with a two-year spell. One of the club's more notable players in this period was midfielder Luigi Del Neri.

The 1980s saw Foggia fall into the lower leagues before a revival at the end of the decade. After promotion back to Serie B in 1989, Zdenek Zeman set the club up for another golden period. With Signori headlining the attack, Foggia secured the Serie B title in 1991. Season 1991-92 saw Foggia's all-attack philosophy make a major impression on Serie A, ending the season in 9th place although they suffered an 8-2 home defeat to champions Milan (after leading 2-1) on the final day. Despite the loss of Signori and others making team rebuilding necessary, the following two seasons saw Foggia maintain a mid-table position under Zeman, who would leave for Lazio in 1994.

The departure of Zeman was a huge blow, but in the first half of 1994-95 the team seemed to be doing well. An inexplicable collapse in form, however, saw the club's stay in Serie A come to an end after four years, and relegation to Serie C1 in 1998 and C2 in 1999 followed, making Foggia's decline one of the most rapid in recent times. After four years in Italy's fourth division, promotion to Serie C1 came in 2003 and has been followed by two mid-table seasons, whether a return to the upper levels of Italian football can be achieved remains to be seen.

In 2007 Foggia won the Serie C Italian Cup, and lost promotion to Serie B losing the playoff finals to Avellino after ending the regular season in fourth place.

Managerial history

Foggia have had many managers and trainers throughout the history of a club, in some seasons more than one manager was in charge. Here is a chronological list of them from 1923 onwards.

Famous players

Francesco Baiano Pierpaolo Bresciani José Chamot Luigi Di Biagio Igor Kolyvanov Massimo Marazzina Robert Englaro Luis Oliveira Pasquale Padalino Dan Petrescu Roberto Rambaudi Flavio Roma Bryan Roy Andrea Seno Igor Shalimov Giuseppe Signori Hernan Medford

References

External links

• Official site

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Last updated on Saturday March 08, 2008 at 05:41:24 PST (GMT -0800)
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