U.S. Grosseto F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Grosseto


fullname = Unione Sportiva Grosseto
Football Club SRL
nickname = "Grifone"
"Torelli" (Little bulls)
"Maremmani"
founded = 1912
ground = Stadio Olimpico Carlo Zecchini,
Grosseto, Italy
capacity = 10,200
chairman = Piero Camilli
manager = Stefano Pioli
league = Serie B
season = 2007-08
position = Serie B, 13th
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=_whiterightsash|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=FF0000|body1=FF0000|rightarm1=FF0000|shorts1=FF0000|socks1=FF0000
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=_whiterightsash|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=000000|body2=000000|rightarm2=000000|shorts2=000000|socks2=000000

Unione Sportiva Grosseto Football Club is an Italian football club, based in Grosseto, Tuscany. The club was founded in 1912. The team's most associated nickname is "grifone", after its logo, depicting a griffon. Its colors are red and white.

In 2006-07 Grosseto played in Serie C1 and placed first in division A, earning a direct promotion to Serie B.

2007-08 marks the team's first-ever appearance in Serie B.

History

The club was founded in 1912 as "Football Club Grosseto", and made its debut in a match played and lost in Orbetello. The club joined the Italian Football Federation only nine years later, in 1921, being admitted in the "Promozione" division. In 1927, the club changes its official colours from black/white to the current white/red.

Since its foundation, Grosseto played extensively from Serie C to the amateur leagues. In 1995 the club was cancelled by the football federation because of financial troubles, thus losing the right to participate in the Serie C2 after having won Serie D the same year. Following these events, Grosseto joined Eccellenza, ending it in fifteenth place being therefore relegated to Promozione. Two consecutive promotions from 1997 to 1999 however brought Grosseto back to Serie D. In 2000, Piero Camilli purchased the club with the aim to bring Grosseto back in the pros. In the 2001-2002 season, Grosseto ended as Serie D (Round F) runners-up, but were later admitted to Serie C2 to fill a league vacancy. The club successively won Serie C2 in 2004, being thus promoted to Serie C1. In 2005, Grosseto qualified for the promotion playoffs, losing the semifinal to Pavia; one year later, Grosseto gained again a spot in the playoffs, where they defeated Sassari Torres in the semi-finals, but lost to Frosinone in the finals, missing the opportunity to be promoted to Serie B for its first time in history. However, in the 2006-2007 season, under head coach Antonello Cuccureddu, who replaced Massimiliano Allegri after the ninth matchday, Grosseto finally managed to win Serie C1/A following a 1-0 away win at Padova in the final matchday with a goal by Carl Valeri, thus gaining a historical spot in the Serie B 2007-08. Cuccureddu left Grosseto by mutual consent with the club a few days following the triumphal win, and Giorgio Roselli was appointed to replace him for the 2007-08 Serie B club campaign.

The club started their historical first Serie B campaign with three disappointing consecutive defeats which led, on September 11, 2007, to the dismissal of Roselli and his replacement with former Parma boss Stefano Pioli.cite news |title=Calcio: il Grosseto esonera Roselli|url=http://www.toscanatv.com/leggi_news?idnews=NL074138 |publisher= Toscana TV |date= 2007-09-11 |accessdate=2007-09-11 |language=Italian]

Current squad

"As of 2008-09-15" [cite web|publisher=US Grosseto FC|title=La rosa 2007/08|url=http://www.usgrosseto.com/rosa.htm|accessdate=2008-02-02|language=Italian] [cite web|url=http://www.usgrosseto.com/notizie/anmviewer.asp?a=2391&z=15|publisher=US Grosseto FC|language=Italian|accessdate=2008-08-03|title=Ritiro: La lista dei convocati |date=2008-07-13]

Notable former players

*flagicon|Italy Andrea Giallombardo
*flagicon|Italy Mirko Pieri

Notable former managers

*flagicon|Italy Giovanni Galeone

Achievements

*Serie C1
**Winners (1): 2006-07
*Super Coppa di Lega Serie C1
**Winners (1): 2006-07
*Serie C2
**Winners (1): 2003-04
*Serie D
**Winners (3): 1960-61, 1972-73, 1994-95
**Runners-up (1): 2001-02
*Eccellenza Tuscany
**Runners-up (1): 1997-98
*Promozione Tuscany
**Winners (1): 1996-97

References

External links

* [http://www.usgrosseto.com/ Official site]