A.S.D. Trapani Calcio

Football club infobox
clubname = Trapani


fullname = Associazione Sportiva Dilettante Trapani Calcio
nickname = "Granata" (Maroons)
founded = 1905
ground = Stadio Provinciale, Trapani, Italy
capacity = 7,000 | chairman = Vittorio Morace
manager = Tarcisio Catanese
league = Serie D/I
season = 2007-08
position = Eccellenza Sicily - A, 2nd
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pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=FFFFFF

Associazione Sportiva Dilettante Trapani Calcio is an Italian football club located in Trapani, Sicily. The traditional club colours of Trapani is maroon, known in Italian language as "granata". During the club's history they have played mostly in the Serie C and D leagues, but currently play in the Sicilian Serie D.

To date the highest league position the club has finished was 4th in Serie C1 during the 1994-95 season. Throughout their long history, Trapani have won at least six recorded league championships in various divisions.

History

The club's roots can be traced back to 1905 [ [http://www.rsssf.com/tablest/trapani.html RSSSF.com] ] ; on 2 April of that year, local newspaper the Gazzetta di Trapani ran an advert requesting young people to form a football association for Trapani. [ [http://www.alegranata.com/lastoria/lastoriagen.htm AleGranata.com] ] The club founded, by professor Ugolino Montagna and young native Abele Mazzarese to represent the West-Sicilian town was named Unione Sportiva Trapanese. It is one of the oldest teams on the island, after Palermo and Messina.

U.S. Trapanese's first president was Giuseppe Platamone and the club played their games at Via Spalti. The first official game for the club came against Palermo in October 1908, the more experienced Palermitan team won emphatically scoring 12 goals. Trapanese bounced back however, playing local derby's against teams from Marsala and Erice. By 1915 play was stopped because of World War I.

Post-War Revival

After the war, in 1921 three teams had rose up; Vigor, Bencivegna and Drepanum. During the 1921-22 season Vigor finished 6th in the Sicilian section of the national championship of the C.C.I. (Confederazione Calcistica Italiana). On 22 January 1923 a fusion took place between Vigor and Drepanum, the club decided to revive the previous name U.S. Trapanese.

By June 1926, the name of the club was changed to A.S. Trapani. In the 1930-31 season, under the name Juventus Trapani, the club won promotion from III Divisione into II Divisione, the following season they achieved promotion again this time into the early 1930s equivalent of Serie C. They finished 8th in Serie C during the 1942-43, but then football in Italy was put on hold for the Second World War.

Trapani league performances: 1940s, 50s and 60s

Just after World War II, the club were using the name A.S. Trapani for one season, before changing its name to A.S. Drepanum. They were entered into Serie C, which at the time was divided into many regional groups. For the 1947-48 season, they qualified for the new, smaller Serie C; even finishing above Messina. Unfortunately for the club, they were relegated down to level which Serie D currently stands, in the 1949-50 after finishing second from bottom.

Peak and decline

With former Serie A player Ignazio Arcoleo as head coach, Trapani experienced two consecutive promotions from Serie D to Serie C1 in the early 1990s.

In 1995, a strong and qualified team composed mostly by young promising players such as Marco Materazzi and more experienced local footballers such as Francesco Galeoto qualified to the promotion playoff, but ultimately lost to Walter Novellino's Gualdo in the semifinals with a late goal scored on injury time. Since then, Trapani experienced a slow but continuous decline, despite attempts to repeat past successes: Arcoleo left Trapani to coach Palermo along some of the best players, including Galeoto. The club then relegated to Serie C2 in 1997, Serie D in 2000 and even Eccellenza in the 2005-06 season, despite a late attempt by Arcoleo and former star Gaetano Vasari to save the team from relegation. In addition, the club also received a 12-points deduction for the 2006-07 season following a matchfixing attempt recognized by the Football Federation. In its 2006-07 Eccellenza campaign Trapani, coached by former Parma midfielder Tarcisio Catanese, ended the regular season phase to eleventh place, and saved from relegation after having won relegation playoffs to Terrasini in a 5-0 single-legged win.

Back in Serie D

After a successful season, Trapani have been promoted back to Serie D

Rivalries

Trapani's main rival clubs are S.C. Marsala 1912 and G.S. Mazara 1946, from the neighbouring cities of Marsala and Mazara del Vallo. A rivalry with U.S. Città di Palermo is also existing, but lightened by the distance in terms of divisions; Palermo and Trapani have in fact both played together Serie C1 for a very short amount of years.

Notable former players

*flagicon|Italy Francesco Galeoto
*flagicon|Italy Vincenzo Italiano
*flagicon|Italy Marco Materazzi
*flagicon|Italy Gaetano Vasari

Notable former managers

*flagicon|Italy Ignazio Arcoleo
*flagicon|Italy Ivo Iaconi

Honours

Serie C2
*Champions: 1993-94

Serie D
*Champions: 1971-72, 1984-85

II Divisione
*Champions: 1931-32

III Divisione
*Champions: 1930/31

Interregionale
*Champions: 1992-93

References

External links

*it icon [http://www.trapanicalcio.it/ Official homepage]