Associazione Calcio Legnano was an Italian football

Football in Italy

Football is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italian national football team has won the FIFA World Cup 4 times , trailing only Brazil . Italy's club sides have won 27 major European trophies, making them the most successful European nation in the subject of football...

 club, based in Legnano

Legnano

Legnano is an Italian town and comune with 59.147 inhabitants in the province of Milan, about from Milan.It's crossed by the river Olona, and it's the 13th town for inhabitants in Lombardy....

, Lombardy

Lombardy

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...

, that was founded in 1913. The team's colors were lilac and white. In the past Legnano have played three seasons in Italy's top league; Serie A

Serie A

Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

, finishing bottom of the league each time.

The club were perhaps best known as the starting place for Italy's all-time top scorer; Luigi Riva

Luigi Riva

Luigi Riva , best known as Gigi Riva or by his nickname Rombo di Tuono , is a former Italian footballer, the all-time leading scorer for the Italian national team...

. Legnano last played in the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione.

History

The club was founded in 1913.

Several notable players appeared for Legnano in their early years; goalkeeper Angelo Cameroni

Angelo Cameroni

Angelo Arturo Cameroni was an Italian professional football player.He played his only game for the Italy national football team on January 18, 1920 in a game against France.-External links:*...

 was called up to the Italian national side in 1920, he was the first Legnano player to achieve this. Luigi Allemandi

Luigi Allemandi

Luigi Allemandi was an Italian footballer who played as a defender.Born in San Damiano Macra, province of Cuneo, he debuted in 1921 with A.C. Legnano. Later, he played with Juventus F.C., F.C. Internazionale Milano, A.S. Roma, S.S.C. Venezia and S.S. Lazio. He was a member of the Italian national...

 played four seasons with the club from 1921 onwards, until he was bought by Italian giants Juventus

Juventus F.C.

Juventus Football Club S.p.A. , commonly referred to as Juventus and colloquially as Juve , are a professional Italian association football club based in Turin, Piedmont...

. He later won the World Cup with Italy at the 1934 FIFA World Cup

1934 FIFA World Cup

The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934....

.

Serie A: Club at their peak

Legnano first gained access to Serie A

Serie A

Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

 for the 1930–31 season, the previous year they had finished as runners up in Serie B

Serie B

Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...

. The first match at the top level of Italian football was the shocking 2–1 defeat of Italy's oldest club; Genoa C.F.C.

Genoa C.F.C.

Genoa Cricket and Football Club, commonly referred to simply as Genoa , is a professional Italian football club based in the city of Genoa, Liguria...

Unfortunately for Legnano, they finished bottom of the table that season and were relegated; other notable results however were a 1–1 draw with eventual runners up; A.S. Roma

A.S. Roma

Associazione Sportiva Roma, commonly referred to as simply Roma, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma have participated in the top-tier of Italian football for all of their existence but one season in the early 50s...

 and a 2–1 defeat of S.S.C. Napoli

S.S.C. Napoli

Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli, is a professional Italian football club based in Naples and founded in 1926. The club has spent most of its history in Serie A, where it currently plays its 2011–12 season....

 in Naples.

Left-winger Emilio Caprile

Emilio Caprile

Emilio Caprile is an Italian retired football player.Born in Genoa, Emilio Caprile was the youngest player on Italy's 1950 World Cup team unfortunaltely he was also one of four players who didn't see any action. Caprile was a classic left wing who made his debut for Pozzo's national team at the...

 was called up by the azzurri, to play in two international games during 1948, he became the first Legnano played to score for Italy with a goal in each match.

Slide down the Italian league

After their last relegation in from Serie A in 1953–54, the club have gradually declined. First they came close to promotion back into the league with a 3rd position in B, but two years later they were relegated down to Serie C

Serie C

The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico , commonly known as Lega Pro , is the governing body that runs the third and fourth highest football divisions in Italy, the Prima Divisione and Seconda Divisione respectively. It also includes the sole professional club of San Marino...

.

Legnano spent 18 years in a row competing in Serie C

Serie C

The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico , commonly known as Lega Pro , is the governing body that runs the third and fourth highest football divisions in Italy, the Prima Divisione and Seconda Divisione respectively. It also includes the sole professional club of San Marino...

, only able to finish as high as 5th in that time (they achieved this three times). 1974–75 saw the club slump down in Serie D

Serie D

Serie D is the top level of the Italian non-professional football association called Lega Nazionale Dilettanti. The association represents over a million football players and thousands of football teams across Italy. Serie D ranks just below Lega Pro Seconda Divisione , and is thus considered the...

, this was soon rectified as coach Luciano Sassi pulled the club back into Serie B with a runners up spot in 1977–78.

Giovanni Mari lifts Legnano

Giovanni Mari took over as club president in 1979 and under him, Legnano would achieve the championship of Serie C2

Serie C2

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione is the name of the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consists of 54 teams, but in the season 2010–11 the teams are only 49 divided geographically into three divisions of 17, 16 and 16 teams each...

, this was the first time A.C. Legnano had finished first position in any league since 1919. The club's stadium was later named Stadio Giovanni Mari in honour of the man.

Current squad

Final squad 2011

1.Kurnia Meiga

3. David Da Rocha

4. Lee Hendry Rojaz

5. Simon Henrique

7. Boas Erwint Solossa

8. Manuel Passini

10. Lee Yong Hee

11. Ántony KówrskŶ

13. Daniel Barbarra

14. Mohammad Amri Yahya

15. Fernando Dareth Da Glory

17. Ahmad Sembiring Usman

18. Danny Rushkin

19. Juan Cortez

20. Fernando Soler

21. Jajang Juhana

22. Phillip Downington

23. Josh Maguire

25. Alessandro Trebucco

26. Vincent Partosoebroto

27. Rizki Sanjaya Pellu

30. Glend Assimo

32. Joe Antonini

36. Pablo Pacquel

40. George Baldini

Notable former players

Luigi Allemandi

Luigi Allemandi

Luigi Allemandi was an Italian footballer who played as a defender.Born in San Damiano Macra, province of Cuneo, he debuted in 1921 with A.C. Legnano. Later, he played with Juventus F.C., F.C. Internazionale Milano, A.S. Roma, S.S.C. Venezia and S.S. Lazio. He was a member of the Italian national...

   Attilio Demaría

Attilio Demaria

Atilio José Demaría was an Italian Argentine footballer player, who played for Argentina in the 1930 World Cup and for Italy in the 1934 World Cup.He was born in Buenos Aires...

 Gigi Riva Nicholas Frey Pedro Kamata

Pedro Kamata

Pedro Kamata is an Angola born Congolese-French footballer.-Career:Kamata started his career at Auxerre. He then joined FC Groningen in the summer of 2002, only to return back to Ligue 2 in order to join Clermont Foot in January 2003. He then kept playing in Ligue 2 until he was signed by Legnano...

 Karl-Erik Palmér

Karl-Erik Palmér

Karl-Erik Palmér, also known as Calle Palmér is a retired Swedish professional football player.-External links:*...

Paolo Pulici

Paolo Pulici

Paolo Pulici is a former Italian international footballer who played in the 1970s.During his career he played for A.C. Legnano , Torino F.C. , Udinese Calcio and A.C. Fiorentina . He also played 19 matches and scored 5 goals for the Italy national football team, and participated in two World Cups...

 Davide Fontolan

Davide Fontolan

Davide Fontolan is an Italian former football midfielder.-Career:Fontolan started his playing career with Serie C side Legnano, and moved to Parma in 1986 after four seasons with the lilla. In 1987 he played for Udinese, and from 1988 to 1990 he was part of the Genoa squad...

 Chedric Seedorf

Chedric Seedorf

Chedric Seedorf is a Dutch footballer who plays for Monza.-Club career:Like his brothers Clarence and Jürgen and his cousin Stefano he is the product of the Ajax youth academy, but in 1999 his father and player agent Johan Seedorf forced a breach with the club due to irreconcilable differences,...

 Marco Simone

Marco Simone

Marco Simone is an Italian former professional football player in the striker or winger position. He most prominently played for AC Milan, with whom he won four Italian Serie A championships, as well as French clubs Paris Saint-Germain and AS Monaco. He played four games for the Italian national...

 Hermann Lindemann

Hermann Lindemann

Hermann Lindermann was a German football player and later manager. He played for a number of German club sides, before participating in an all-star team tour of Iceland in the summer of 1938 while playing as a striker for Eintracht Frankfurt. During the trip he was invited to coach the Icelandic...

Presidential history

Over the years Legnano has had various owners, chairmen or presidential figures; here is a chronological list of the known presidents;

• 1913 A.P. Visconti (Eugenio Tosi, Honorary Pres.)
• 1916 Antonio Bernocchi
• 1924 Carlo Delle Piane
• 1925 Ernesto Castiglioni
• 1927 Antonio Bernocchi
• 1929 Giuseppe Mario Perozzi, Mario Raimondi and Riccardo Pezzoni
• 1931 Ernesto Castiglioni
• 1933 Primo Colombo
• 1934 Giulio Riva
• 1945 Pino Mocchetti
• 1952 Luigi Mandelli, Giovanni Mari
• 1954 Giuseppe Mario Perozzi

• 1956 Davide Casero
• 1959 Luciano Caccia
• 1963 Felice Bossi
• 1964 Augusto Terreni
• 1975 Rolando Landoni
• 1979 Giovanni Mari
• 1986 Ulrico Lucarelli, Giovanni Mari
• 1987 Ferdinando Villa
• 1996 Mario Pighetti
• 1999 Mauro Rusignuolo
• 2002 Antonio Di Bari
• 2005 Gianni Simone

Honours

Serie B

Serie B

Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...

• Runners-up: 1929–30, 1946–47, 1950–51, 1952–53

Serie C2

Serie C2

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione is the name of the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consists of 54 teams, but in the season 2010–11 the teams are only 49 divided geographically into three divisions of 17, 16 and 16 teams each...

• Champions: 2006–2007