Cagliari Calcio

Cagliari
Full nameCagliari Calcio S.p.A.
Nickname(s)Gli Isolani (The Islanders)
Casteddu (Cagliari in Sardinian language)
Rossoblù (Red and Blue)
I Sardi (The Sardinians)
Founded30 May 1920; 103 years ago (1920-05-30)
1935; 89 years ago (1935) (re-founded as Unione Sportiva Cagliari)
GroundStadio Unipol Domus
Capacity16,416
OwnerFluorsid Group
PresidentTommaso Giulini
ManagerClaudio Ranieri
LeagueSerie A
2022–23Serie B, 5th of 20 (promoted via play-offs)
WebsiteClub website
Current season

Cagliari Calcio, commonly referred to as Cagliari (Italian: [ˈkaʎʎari] ), is an Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia. In the 2023–24 season, they compete in Serie A. The team are temporarily playing their home games at the 16,416-seat Unipol Domus, the temporary stadium built privately in 2017 in 4 months, adjacent to their future new stadium site.

Founded in 1920, they won their first and only Scudetto in 1969–70, when they were led by the Italian national team's all-time leading scorer, Gigi Riva. The triumph was also the first by a club from south of Rome. The club's best European performance was in the 1993–94 UEFA Cup, reaching the semi-finals before losing to eventual winners Internazionale.

As with the flag of its city, Cagliari's colours are blue and red. The club badge incorporates the flag of Sardinia.

History

Before Serie A

1930–31 Club Sportivo Cagliari

Cagliari became the first ever out-right champions of Serie C during the 1951–52 season; prior to that in the league, the championship was shared amongst more than one team.[citation needed] They spent the 1950s from then on in Serie B, losing a promotion play-off in 1954.[citation needed] After descending to Serie C in the early 1960s, Cagliari's rise would be meteoric,[tone] eventually achieving promotion to Serie A in 1964.

First Serie A adventure: 1964–1976

The squad for the Rossoblu's debut season in Serie A featured players like defender Mario Martiradonna, midfielders Pierluigi Cera, Nené and Ricciotti Greatti, and forward Gigi Riva.[citation needed] A poor first half of the season, however, saw Cagliari in last place with nine points at the halfway mark.[citation needed] An astonishing[tone] second half of the season saw Cagliari defeat the likes of[tone] Juventus and Milan and finish in seventh place with 34 points.[citation needed] Two seasons later, Riva finished as Serie A's top scorer for the first time while Cagliari finished with the league's best defensive record.

Forward Gigi Riva led Cagliari to their first Serie A title in 1969–70.

During the summer of 1967, Cagliari played a season in North America as part of a fledgling league called the United Soccer Association.[citation needed] This league included teams from Europe and South America set to play in American and Canadian cities, with each club bearing a local name.[citation needed] Cagliari played as the Chicago Mustangs, and finished joint second in the league's Western Division with 13 points, two behind the division champion and eventual league champion Los Angeles Wolves.[citation needed] The league's leading scorer was Chicago/Cagliari's Roberto Boninsegna, who scored ten goals while playing in 9 of the team's 12 games.

Cagliari first emerged as serious Serie A title contenders in 1968–69 with a three-horse race involving them, Fiorentina and Milan.[citation needed] Fiorentina would win the league, but the following season would bring ultimate glory.[tone][citation needed] With Angelo Domenghini joining the side, Cagliari would win the title in 1970 with only two games lost, 11 goals conceded (the fewest in any major European league to date) and Riva as league top scorer once more.[citation needed] Players like Albertosi, Niccolai, Boninsegna, Gori, Cera, Domenghini and Riva played in Italy's 1970 World Cup final team.

The 1970s would see a gradual decline (though were title contenders[who?] two years after their one and only Scudetto win).[citation needed] Cagliari were finally relegated in 1976, with Riva's career having effectively ended during that season.

Up and down again: 1976–87

After relegation, Cagliari lost a play-off for promotion the following season and would return to Serie A in 1979.[citation needed] Players like Franco Selvaggi, Mario Brugnera (a survivor of the 1970 team) and Alberto Marchetti ensured a respectable four-year stay in the top flight before a second relegation in 1983.[citation needed] The 1980s would then prove to be a darker time[tone] compared to the previous two decades with relegation to Serie C1 in 1987.

There and back: 1987–2000

Cagliari spent two seasons in Serie C1.[citation needed] In the first one it barely avoided relegation in Serie C2.[citation needed] In 1988, Claudio Ranieri was appointed coach, and led the team to two successive promotions, to Serie B in 1989 and to Serie A in 1990.[citation needed] The first two seasons back in Serie A saw Cagliari fight relegation, with safety being achieved by excellent[tone][vague] second half runs.[citation needed] But the 1992–93 season would see Cagliari fight for a European place and succeed under the management of Carlo Mazzone.[citation needed] The following season saw a best-ever run to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, taking out Juventus in the quarter-finals[citation needed] before being eliminated 5–3 on aggregate by compatriots Internazionale, having won the first leg 3–2 at home.

The next few years[when?][quantify][vague] would see Cagliari return to mid-table anonymity, before a struggle[clarification needed][tone] in 1996–97 saw Cagliari relegated after losing a play-off to Piacenza.[citation needed] Once more they bounced back[tone] after just one year, but their next stay in Serie A lasted just two seasons.

Once and again: 2000 onwards

Cagliari spent the next four seasons in Serie B, until in 2003–04 with Sardinian-born veteran striker Gianfranco Zola, the team won promotion. In 2005–06, the first season without Zola, the team changed their manager three times before Nedo Sonetti, appointed in November, was able to save the team from relegation, especially thanks to the excellent[tone] goal contribution from Honduran striker David Suazo.

Apart from finishing 9th in 2008–09 season, Cagliari regularly finished in the bottom half of Serie A under a sequence of managers, before being relegated in 2014–15. They gained promotion back the following season as champions of Serie B.

In 2014, the company passed, after 22 years of Massimo Cellino's presidency, into the hands of Tommaso Giulini, president and owner of Fluorsid, a multinational in the chemical sector.[citation needed] Relegation took place in the first season, but the team won the Serie B championship in 2016, returning permanently[why?] to the top division, albeit always finishing in the second half of the table.[citation needed] Cagliari was relegated at the end of the 2021–22 season.[citation needed] They reappointed Claudio Ranieri halfway through the 2022–23 season with the club in fourteenth place.[citation needed] Under Ranieri's management, Cagliari won the 2022–23 Serie B playoffs.

Stadium

Cagliari played at the Stadio Sant'Elia from 1970 to 2017.

Cagliari moved from the Stadio Amsicora to the Stadio Sant'Elia in 1970, after winning their only league title. It was renovated for Italy's hosting of the 1990 FIFA World Cup, when it hosted all of England's group games, ostensibly to confine the team's notorious hooligans to an island.

Disputes with the city council over renovation of the publicly owned stadium meant that Cagliari played their final home games of 2011–12 at the Stadio Nereo Rocco in Trieste on the Italian mainland. For most of the following season, the club played at the Stadio Is Arenas in the neighbouring municipality of Quartu Sant'Elena. It was deemed unsafe by the league, forcing them to play behind closed doors before leaving the ground in April 2013. The Sant'Elia was demolished for a new stadium in 2017, and the club moved to the temporary Sardegna Arena next to it.

Colours, badge and nicknames

Cagliari's badge incorporates the flag of Sardinia.

The official red and blue colours of Cagliari mirror those featured on the stemma of Cagliari. The red parts of the stemma are a reference to the coat of arms of the House of Savoy, a family which was previously the monarchy of Italy and more relevantly to Cagliari in particular, the Kingdom of Sardinia. The blue part of the stemma features the sky and the sea, also a castle; this is because the old historic centre of Cagliari is walled and called the Castello. Due to the use of these colours on their shirt in halves, the club is commonly nicknamed rossoblu.

Cagliari have had several different logo designs during their history, all of which feature the flag of Sardinia. Usually the badge also features the club colours; if there is a change, the main difference has been the colour of the border or the shape. Since June 2015, the badge features an "Old French"-shaped escutcheon with red and blue halves, with the club's name written in white just above the flag of Sardinia. The Moors' heads have, for the first time, been turned to the right as of 2015 so as to match the Sardinian flag after it was updated in 1992.

Due to the fact that Cagliari are the main club from the island of Sardinia, they are nicknamed the "Isolani" ("Islanders").

Honours

Divisional movements

Series Years Last Promotions Relegations
A 43 2023–24 - Decrease 6 (1976, 1983, 1997, 2000, 2015, 2022)
B 30 2022–23 Increase 7 (1964, 1979, 1990, 1998, 2004, 2016, 2023) Decrease 4 (1935✟, 1948, 1960, 1987)
C 13 1988–89 Increase 4 (1931, 1952, 1962, 1989) Decrease 1 (1940)
86 out of 92 years of professional football in Italy since 1929
Sardinia 6 1946–47 Increase 2 (1937, 1947√) never

Players

Current squad

As of 12 February 2024

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 Serbia SRB Boris Radunović
4 DF Italy ITA Alberto Dossena
5 MF Italy ITA Marco Mancosu (3rd captain)
8 MF Uruguay URU Nahitan Nández (vice-captain)
9 FW Peru PER Gianluca Lapadula
10 MF Italy ITA Nicolas Viola (4th captain)
14 MF Italy ITA Alessandro Deiola
16 MF Italy ITA Matteo Prati
17 DF Greece GRE Pantelis Chatzidiakos
18 GK Italy ITA Simone Aresti
19 MF Italy ITA Gaetano Oristanio (on loan from Inter Milan)
21 MF Czech Republic CZE Jakub Jankto
22 GK Italy ITA Simone Scuffet
23 DF Poland POL Mateusz Wieteska
No. Pos. Nation Player
25 MF Ghana GHA Ibrahim Sulemana
26 DF Colombia COL Yerry Mina
27 DF Italy ITA Tommaso Augello
28 DF Italy ITA Gabriele Zappa
29 MF Republic of the Congo CGO Antoine Makoumbou
30 FW Italy ITA Leonardo Pavoletti (captain)
32 FW Italy ITA Andrea Petagna (on loan from Monza)
33 DF Slovakia SVK Adam Obert
37 DF Brazil BRA Paulo Azzi
61 FW Uzbekistan UZB Eldor Shomurodov (on loan from Roma)
70 MF Italy ITA Gianluca Gaetano (on loan from Napoli)
77 FW Angola ANG Zito Luvumbo
99 DF Italy ITA Alessandro Di Pardo

Out on loan

As of 12 February 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
GK Italy ITA Giuseppe Ciocci (at Pontedera until 30 June 2024)
DF Italy ITA Giorgio Altare (at Venezia until 30 June 2024)
DF Italy ITA Salvatore Boccia (at Novara until 30 June 2024)
DF Italy ITA Luigi Palomba (at Olbia until 30 June 2024)
DF Italy ITA Christian Travaglini (at Taranto until 30 June 2024)
DF Italy ITA Davide Veroli (at Catanzaro until 30 June 2024)
DF Italy ITA Francesco Zallu (at Olbia until 30 June 2024)
MF Italy ITA Nicolò Cavuoti (at Olbia until 30 June 2024)
No. Pos. Nation Player
MF Greece GRE Christos Kourfalidis (at Feralpisalò until 30 June 2024)
MF Romania ROU Razvan Marin (at Empoli until 30 June 2024)
MF Croatia CRO Marko Rog (at Dinamo Zagreb until 31 December 2024)
FW Italy ITA Gianluca Contini (at Virtus Francavilla until 30 June 2024)
FW Argentina ARG Isaías Delpupo (at Pontedera until 30 June 2024)
FW Italy ITA Jacopo Desogus (at Gubbio until 30 June 2024)
FW Uruguay URU Gastón Pereiro (at Ternana until 30 June 2024)
FW Slovenia SVN Nik Prelec (at WSG Tirol until 30 June 2024)

Primavera

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
31 GK Bulgaria BUL Velizar-Iliya Iliev
34 FW Zambia ZAM Kingstone Mutandwa
No. Pos. Nation Player
35 FW Italy ITA Alessandro Vinciguerra

Retired numbers

11Italy Gigi Riva, Forward (1963–78)
13Italy Davide Astori, Defender (2008–14) – posthumous honour

Notable former players

This shortlist only includes players with at least 100 appearances for the club and/or an appearance in an edition of the FIFA World Cup.


Cagliari have a long history of Uruguayan players, numbering 16 as of 2014; the most utilised of them was Diego López with 314 games, while others include Enzo Francescoli, José Herrera, Fabián O'Neill, Darío Silva, Nahitan Nandez, and Diego Godin. In addition, Uruguayan Óscar Tabárez managed the team from 1994 to 1995.

Presidential history

Cagliari have had numerous presidents over the course of their history, some of which have been the owners of the club, others have been honorary presidents, here is a complete list of them:

  • Antonio Zedda (1921)
  • Gaetano Fichera (1920–21)
  • Giorgio Mereu (1921–22)
  • Angelo Prunas (1922–24)
  • Agostino Cugusi (1924–26)
  • Vittorio Tredici (1926–28)
  • Carlo Costa Marras (1928–29)
  • Enzo Comi (1929–30)
  • Giovan Battista Bosazza (1930–31)
  • Guido Boero (1931–32)
  • Vitale Cao (1932–33)
  • Enrico Endrich (1933)
  • Pietro Faggioli (1933–34)
  • Aldo Vacca (1934–35)
  • Mario Banditelli (1935–40)
  • Giuseppe Depperu (1940–43)
  • Eugenio Camboni (1944–46)
  • Umberto Ceccarelli (1946–47)
  • Emilio Zunino (1947–49)
  • Domenico Loi (1949–53)
  • Pietro Leo (1953–54)
  • Efisio Corrias (1954–55)
  • Ennio Dalmasso (1955–57)
  • Giuseppe Meloni (1958–60)
  • Enrico Rocca (1960–68)
  • Efisio Corrias (1968–71)
  • Paolo Marras (1971–73)
  • Andrea Arrica (1973–76)
  • Mariano Delogu (1976–81)
  • Alvaro Amarugi (1981–84)
  • Fausto Moi (1984–86)
  • Gigi Riva (1986–87)
  • Lucio Cordeddu (1987)
  • Antonio Orrù (1987–91)
  • Massimo Cellino (1991–05)
  • Bruno Ghirardi (2005–06)
  • Massimo Cellino (2006–14)
  • Tommaso Giulini (2014–present)

Management staff

Position Staff
Sporting director Italy Nereo Bonato
Technical director Italy Roberto Muzzi
Manager Italy Claudio Ranieri
Assistant manager Italy Paolo Benetti
Technical coach Italy Sergio Spalla
Italy Vitantonio Pascale
Athletic coach Italy Massimo Catalano
Italy Jacopo Secci
Italy Francesco Fois
Performance manager Italy Carlo Spignoli
Goalkeeper coach Italy Walter Bressan
Match analyst Italy Davide Marfella
Tactical shooting Italy Giovanni Venturella
Head of Medical Italy Marco Scorcu
First team Doctor Italy Roberto Mura
Italy Damiano Valerio Mattana
Physiotherapist Italy Salvatore Congiu
Italy Stefano Frau
Italy Simone Ruggiu
Osteopath Italy Andrea Tolu
Nutritionist Italy Giovanna Ghiani

Managerial history

Cagliari have had many managers and trainers, some seasons they have had co-managers running the team, here is a chronological list of them from when they founded in 1920 onwards.

In Europe

Champions League

Season Round Club Home Away Aggregate Reference
1970–71 First Round France Saint-Étienne 3–0 0–1 3–1
Second Round Spain Atlético Madrid 2–1 0–3 2–4

UEFA Cup

Season Round Club Home Away Aggregate Reference
1972–73 First Round Greece Olympiacos 0–1 1–2 1–3
1993–94 First Round Romania Dinamo București 2–0 2–3 4–3
Second Round Turkey Trabzonspor 0–0 1–1 1–1 (a)
Third Round Belgium Mechelen 2–0 3–1 5–1
Quarter-Final Italy Juventus 1–0 2–1 3–1
Semi-Final Italy Internazionale 3–2 0–3 3–5

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

Season Round Club Home Away Aggregate Reference
1969–70 First Round Greece Aris Thessaloniki 3–0 1–1 4–1
Second Round East Germany Carl Zeiss Jena 0–1 0–2 0–3

This page was last updated at 2024-03-15 11:39 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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