Bologna Football Club 1909, frequently referred to Bologna (Italian pronunciation"bo'lonna,") is an Italian professional football club that is based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna that plays in Serie A, the top level in Italian football. Bologna has been awarded seven top league titles and 2 Coppa Italia titles, and one UEFA Intertoto Cup.
In 1909, the club was founded. Bologna were the first member of Serie A, and won numerous league titles in the late 1930s. The club renounced dominance in the league in 1964, the year they took home their final league title. They also won 2 Coppa Italia titles during the 70s and then battled relegation for the second half in the second half of 20th century. Bologna has changed ownership several times between the decade and into the 2010s, because of financial mismanagement and then stabilized under the appearance of an Canadian group led by Joey Saputo.
Bologna have played in more than 75 Serie A seasons, which is the ninth-highest ever in Italian soccer history. Bologna have played at the Stadio Renato dall'Ara since 1927. This is the tenth largest stadium in terms of capacity within Serie A.
Bologna Football Club's creation was initiated in the hands of Emilio Arnstein, an Austrian who discovered the sport of football during his time at the University and in Vienna in Austria and Prague. The Arnstein brothers were the founders of a previous team, the football club Black Star, in Austria.
The club was established on October 3, 1909 in Bologna, which is in the Northern Italian city of Bologna. At the time of its creation, Carlo Sandoni was the club's general manager and sponsor, Swiss Louis Rauch became president. the nobleman Guido Della Valle was vice-president, with Enrico Penaglia as secretary, and Sergio Lampronti cashier as well as Emilio Arnstein and Leone Vincenzi were elected council members.
On the 20th March 1910 Bologna took on their very first game against Virtus wearing white shirt. Bologna outclassed their opponents winning 9-1. The first football squad featured; Koch, Chiara, Pessarelli, Bragaglia, Guido Della Valle, Nanni, Donati, Rauch, Bernabeu, Mezzano, and Gradi.
Their initial season was playing in the local league with Arrigo Gradi as their captain. Bologna was crowned champions of their league, gaining the right to join a league called the Group Veneto Emiliano. They played four seasons in the league, never finishing less than fifth. Bologna was admitted to the Northern League before all football leagues were suspended to World War I.
Following the war, Bologna began to become more prosperous. After reaching the semi-finals of the Northern Italian competition in 1919-20 and then going one step further in the following season when they reached the Northern League finals, going out 2-1 against Pro Vercelli. They repeated this feat in 1923-24, finishing third to eventual champions of the national championship Genoa.
Bologna was Northern Bologna were Northern National League champions for the first time in 1924-25, defeating Genoa CFC after five hard-fought final games to claim the title. The finals against Genoa CFC Ligurian big boys were marred with the huge crowd trouble. After a few years, Bologna won the title of champions in Italy again, in 1928-29 making them an integral part of Italian football and establishing an impressive legacy. This would be the only time that the league was played in the old system. Serie A was instated the following year.
Bologna was awarded the Scudetto four more times prior to World War II, in 1935-36, 1936-37 and 1938-39 and 1940-41.
In the years following World War II, the club's performance was not as good. In the 1950s and 1960s the club remained in fourth, fifth , and sixth place in the league until they won the title back 1963-64. It is still their final Serie A championship, bringing the total of championships to seven. It also qualified Bologna to compete in the 1964-1965 European Cup (today UEFA Champions League) however they lost in the first round by Anderlecht.
It wasn't all negatives for Bologna However, In the late 1970s, the club took home in the Italian Cup twice, the second one was contested against Palermo. The match was intense and ended at 1-1 before moving for a penalty shootout which Bologna defeated Palermo 4-3.
From the time of the 1981-82 season, the team was slipping. They were first relegated to Serie A after battling it out to survive against Cagliari as well as Genoa. They were knocked out two times in succession before sliding to Serie C1. They escaped out of C1 in the following year and were relegated back to Serie A for the 1988-89 season following 4 years fighting to stay with Serie B.
They didn't last for long, but they were removed in the year 1991 before back in Serie C1 in 1993. The club was then promoted back to Serie A for 1996. A year later, Bologna tasted a slice of success on the European stage by winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup and playing in the UEFA Cup. Bologna remained within Serie A until the 2004-05 campaign, but lost against Parma during the finals.
Despite losing crucial athletes, Bologna expected to be striving for promotion from Serie B in the 2005-06 campaign. However, despite its goals, Bologna had a poor beginning to the season leading to the demotion of veteran coach Renzo Ulivieri. He was replaced with the former Internazionale player Andrea Mandorlini.
At the time the team was bought through Giuseppe Gazzoni Frascara to Alfredo Cazzola an entrepreneur from the local area. Mandorlini was, however, in no position to take Bologna up to the Serie B table, and was dismissed on March 5, 2006. Ulivieri was later reappointed as team coach after being dismissed a few months prior to. Bologna finished in the 2005/06 Serie B campaign in eighth position. The 2006-07 campaign, Bologna ended with the seventh spot and there were numerous disputes between Chairman Cazzola and the head coach Ulivieri who was eventually fired on the 14th of April in 2007 and replaced by interim coach along with the former director Luca Cecconi. In 2007-08, Bologna was managed by Daniele Arrigoni. She assisted the rossoblu in achieving an automatic return to the top league having finished second Serie B.
In this summer the club took over was agreed between Cazzola and a consortium based in America however, it was ended up being cancelled due to disagreements between the parties. The club was later transferred to a local consortium with a its new Chairman Francesca Menarini, who thus became the first female chairperson in Serie A. Arrigoni was named manager by the new group and the beginning of the season was quite remarkable, including a stunning victory of 2-1 on the San Siro against Milan thanks to a goal that was that was scored by Francesco Valliani. The following months were characterized by Bologna struggle in the league, they suffered eight losses over nine games. A disappointing 5-1 defeat to Cagliari ended up causing the management of the club to dismiss Daniele Arrigoni on November 3 2008 and then appoint Sinisa Mihajlovic as the new boss of the club's rossoblu division.
On April 14, 2009 Giuseppe Papadopulo was appointed as manager for the first time, and was able to boost the spirit of the team, and avoid being relegated to Serie B only in the final game in the league. In 2009-10, Bologna was at Serie A for the 65th time and avoided being relegated again, despite financial difficulties under the new Coach Franco Colomba.
In June of 2010 the club tookover was concluded and the club was transferred to the Menarini family to Sardinian businessman Sergio Porcedda. Franco Colomba was sacked right prior to the start of the 2010-11 season on August 29th, 2010 despite being able to avoid relegation with his team during 2009.10 season. The club's president, Sergio Porcedda, said that the decision was taken mostly "because he was uneasy about this team."
On the 23rd of December, 2010, the group Bologna 2010 headed by Banker Giovanni Consorte and coffee businessman Massimo Zanetti acquired the club from Sergio Porcedda, after the owner failed to pay the salaries to the club during his brief ownership, putting Bologna in danger of going bankrupt. Bologna also owed agent fees towards Leonardo Corsi in the Andrea Raggi transfer. Zanetti was appointed as the new chairman of the club and popular Italian singer and long-time Bologna supporters Gianni Morandi being appointed the honorary president.
On the 21st of January, 2011 the chairman Massimo Zanetti, as well as the chief executive Luca Baraldi, after only 28 days, quit due to inconvenient differences with their financial and personal partners. Stefano Pedrelli became the new director general. For 76 days director general Marco Pavignani.
Beginning on April 7, 2011, following the resignation of Pavignani , and paying EUR2.5m of capital growth The chairperson was Albano Guaraldi. He was the second largest shareholder in the company "Bologna 2010" with the 17 percent of the quotas, just behind Zanetti, who was the chairman before him. Zanetti.
The 2013-14 season was a time when Bologna once more relegated to the Serie B, and also revealed a variety of financial issues affecting the club and the owner Albino Guaraldi. Guaraldi was heavily criticized by team's supporters for a variety of controversial decisions, like the decision to sell superstar athlete Alessandro Diamanti to Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande. An interim head coach was identified in the former Cagliari manager Diego Lopez for the new season, and Guaraldi has stated clearly his desire to sell the Bologna stakes to an owner who is a new one. An North American group headed by Joe Tacopina and Joey Saputo (owner of CF Montreal, also the team of former Bologna legend Marco Di Vaio) then declared its interest in buying the club. This was followed by an offer from an ex-chairman Massimo Zanetti. On the 15th of October, 2014 the directors' board approved the transfer from the club's ownership to BFC 1909 Lux SPV, and Tacopina was appointed the new chairman of the club.
The new ownership of the BFC 1909 Lux Spv S.A. of Luxemburg is an intermediate holding corporation, Bologna was elevated into Serie A in 2015. Saputo was also succeeded by Tacopina to become the chairman of BFC 1909 Bologna on November 17, 2014.
In their first year back with Serie A, Bologna finished 14th, avoiding the relegation. The following two years, Bologna ended up in 15th position in the table. For the 2017-19 Serie A season, Bologna placed in a respectable 10th place in the league table.
The stadium that is officially used in Bologna has been named the Stadio Renato dall'Ara. Dall'Ara is the most important sporting facility in Bologna and the name named after an ex-chairman from Bologna, Renato Dall'Ara and who passed away three days prior to the final of the Bologna's Serie A's Scudetto. Its capacity is 38.500. Curva Bulgarelli (in English, Bulgarelli curve) is the curvature of Bologna's ultras dedicated to the player Giacomo Bulgarelli, who died on the 21st of February, 2009. The second curve, a portion of which is reserved for away supporters, is dedicated Arpad Weisz, who was the coach of Bologna's pre-war winning team who was killed in the hands of Nazis in the concentration camp of WWII.
Detail of the players as below mentioned.
As of 1 August 2022
No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
---|---|---|---|
4 | DF | ITA | Kevin Bonifazi |
5 | DF | FRA | Adama Soumaoro |
7 | FW | ITA | Riccardo Orsolini |
8 | MF | ARG | Nicolás Domínguez |
9 | FW | AUT | Marko Arnautović |
10 | FW | ITA | Nicola Sansone |
12 | GK | ALB | Marco Molla |
15 | DF | SEN | Ibrahima Mbaye |
16 | MF | NGA | Kingsley Michael |
17 | DF | CHI | Gary Medel |
20 | MF | SUI | Michel Aebischer |
21 | MF | ITA | Roberto Soriano (captain) |
23 | GK | ITA | Nicola Bagnolini |
28 | GK | POL | Åukasz Skorupski |
29 | DF | ITA | Lorenzo De Silvestri (vice-captain) |
30 | MF | NED | Jerdy Schouten |
31 | DF | ITA | Riccardo Stivanello |
33 | MF | FIN | Niklas Pyyhtiä |
35 | DF | NED | Mitchell Dijks |
55 | MF | ITA | Emanuel Vignato |
66 | DF | ITA | Wisdom Amey |
71 | DF | NED | Denso Kasius |
76 | FW | ITA | Antonio Raimondo |
77 | DF | GHA | Ebenezer Annan |
99 | FW | GAM | Musa Barrow |
— | DF | ITA | Matteo Angeli |
— | DF | ITA | Andrea Cambiaso (on loan from Juventus) |
— | DF | GRE | Charalampos Lykogiannis |
— | MF | SCO | Lewis Ferguson |
— | MF | POL | Kacper UrbaÅ„ski |
— | FW | ITA | Mattia Pagliuca |
— | GK | ITA | Nicola Bagnolini |
As of 25 July 2022
No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
---|---|---|---|
— | DF | ITA | Emanuele Acampora |
— | FW | GAM | Musa Juwara |
— | FW | NGA | Orji Okwonkwo |
As of 21 July 2022
No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
---|---|---|---|
— | GK | CAN | Sebastian Breza (at CF Montréal until 31 December 2022) |
— | GK | ITA | Federico Ravaglia (at Reggina until 30 June 2023) |
— | DF | ENG | Luis Binks (at Como until 30 June 2023) |
— | DF | ITA | Gabriele Corbo (at CF Montréal until 31 December 2022) |
— | MF | ISL | Andri Baldursson (at NEC Nijmegen until 30 June 2023) |
— | FW | ITA | Gianmarco Cangiano (at Bari until 30 June 2023) |
— | FW | NED | Sydney van Hooijdonk (at Heerenveen until 30 June 2023) |
Bologna have had a variety of Chairmen throughout their history. Some of them were the patrons of the Club, while others have been honorary chairsmen. This is a full record o
Name | Years |
---|---|
Louis Rauch | 1909–10 |
Pio Borghesani | 1910 |
Emilio Arnstein | 1910 |
Domenico Gori | 1910–12 |
Rodolfo Minelli | 1912–15 |
Arturo Gazzoni (Honorary chairman) | 1916–18 |
Rodolfo Minelli | 1918–19 |
Cesare Medica | 1919–21 |
Angelo Sbarberi |
1921–22
|
Antonio Turri | 1922 |
Ruggero Murè (Honorary chairman) |
1923
|
Enrico Masetti | 1923–25 |
Paolo Graziani | 1925–28 |
Gianni Bonaveri | 1928–34 |
Renato Dall'Ara | 1934–64 |
Luigi Goldoni | 1964–68 |
Raimondo Venturi | 1968–70 |
Filippo Montanari | 1970–72 |
Luciano Conti | 1972–79 |
Tommaso Fabbretti | 1979–83 |
Giuseppe Brizzi | 1983–85 |
Luigi "Gino" Corioni | 1985–91 |
Piero Gnudi | 1991–93 |
Giuseppe Gazzoni Frascara | 1993–2002 (Honorary chairman) |
Renato Cipollini | 2002–05 |
Alfredo Cazzola | 2005–08 |
Francesca Menarini | 2008–10 |
Sergio Porcedda | 2010 |
Massimo Zanetti | 2010–11 |
Marco Pavignani | 2011 |
Albano Guaraldi | 2011–14 |
Joe Tacopina | 2014-2015 |
Joey Saputo | 2014–Present |
Position | Name |
---|---|
Sporting Director | Marco Di Vaio |
Manager | Siniša Mihajlović |
Assistant Manager | Miroslav Tanjga |
Senior Goalkeeper Coach | Luca Bucci |
Technical Coach | Renato Baldi Emilio De Leo |
Athletic Coach | Nicolò Prandelli Massimiliano Marchesi Paolo Aiello |
Video Analyst | Davide Lamberti |
Head of Medical | Gianni Nanni |
Team Doctor | Luca Bini Giovanbattista Sisca |
Physiotherapist | Luca Ghelli Luca Govoni Carmelo Sposato Simone Spelorzi |
Secretary | Maurizio Rizzi |
Academy Manager | Daniele Corazza |
Head of Scouting | Marco Zunino |
Scout | Pasquale Ussia |
Team Manager | Tommaso Fini |
Technical Director | Giovanni Sartori |
Bologna have had a variety of trainers and managers, in at times they been run by co-managers. This is a chronology of the managers and trainers from 1920 until today.
Name | Years | Name | Years | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hermann Felsner | 1920–31 | Alfredo Magni | 1982 | |
Gyula Lelovics | 1931–32 | Paolo Carosi | 1982–83 | |
József Nagy | 1932 | Cesarino Cervellati | 1983 | |
Achille Gama | 1932–33 | Giancarlo Cadé | 1983–84 | |
Technical Commission Pietro Genovesi Bernardo Perin Angelo Schiavio |
1933–34 | Nello Santin | 1984 | |
Lajos Kovács | 1934 | Bruno Pace | 1984–85 | |
Árpád Weisz | 1934–38 | Carlo Mazzone | 1985–86 | |
Hermann Felsner | 1938–42 | Vincenzo Guerini | 1 Jul 1986 – 4 May 1987 | |
Mario Montesanto | 1942–43 | Giovan Battista Fabbri | 1987 | |
Alexander Popovic | 1945–46 | Luigi Maifredi | 1 Jul 1987 – 30 Jun 1990 | |
Technical Commission Pietro Genovesi Angelo Schiavio |
1946 | Francesco Scoglio | 1990 | |
József Viola | 1946–47 | Luigi Radice | 1990–91 | |
Gyula Lelovics | 1947–48 | Luigi Maifredi | 1991 | |
Tony Cargnelli | 1948–49 | Nedo Sonetti | 1991–92 | |
Edmund Crawford | 1950–51 | Eugenio Bersellini | 1992–93 | |
Raffaele Sansone | 1951 | Aldo Cerantola | 1993 | |
Giuseppe Galluzzi | 1951–52 | Romano Fogli | 1993 | |
Gyula Lelovics | 1952 | Alberto Zaccheroni | 1993 | |
Giuseppe Viani | 1952–56 | Edoardo Reja | 8 Dec 1993 – 30 Jun 1994 | |
Aldo Campatelli | 1956–57 | Renzo Ulivieri | 1994–98 | |
Ljubo BenÄiÄ | 1957 | Carlo Mazzone | 1 Jul 1998 – 30 Jun 1999 | |
György Sárosi | 1957–58 | Sergio Buso | 1999 | |
Alfredo Foni | 1958–59 | Francesco Guidolin | 1 Jul 1999 – 30 Jun 2003 | |
Federico Allasio | 1959–61 | Carlo Mazzone | 1 Jul 2003 – 30 Jun 2005 | |
Fulvio Bernardini | 1961–65 | Renzo Ulivieri | 2005 | |
Manlio Scopigno | 1965 | Andrea Mandorlini | 9 Nov 2005 – 5 Mar 2006 | |
Luis Carniglia | 1965–68 | Renzo Ulivieri | 2006–07 | |
Giuseppe Viani | 1968 | Luca Cecconi | 2007 – 30 Jun 2007 | |
Cesarino Cervellati | 1968–69 | Daniele Arrigoni | 1 Jul 2007 – 3 Nov 2008 | |
Oronzo Pugliese | 1969 | Siniša MihajloviÄ | 3 Nov 2008 – 14 Apr 2009 | |
Edmondo Fabbri | 1969–72 | Giuseppe Papadopulo | 14 Apr 2009 – 20 Oct 2009 | |
Oronzo Pugliese Cesarino Cervellati |
1972 | Franco Colomba | 21 Oct 2009 – 29 Aug 2010 | |
Bruno Pesaola | 1972–76 | Paolo Magnani (interim) | 29 Aug 2010 – 31 Aug 2010 | |
Gustavo Giagnoni | 1976–77 | Alberto Malesani | 1 Sep 2010 – 26 May 2011 | |
Cesarino Cervellati | 1977 | Pierpaolo Bisoli | 26 May 2011 – 4 Oct 2011 | |
Bruno Pesaola | 1977–79 | Stefano Pioli | 4 Oct 2011 – 8 Jan 2014 | |
Marino Perani | 1979 | Davide Ballardini | 8 Jan 2014 – 30 Jun 2014 | |
Cesarino Cervellati | 1979 | Diego López | 1 Jul 2014 – 4 May 2015 | |
Marino Perani | 1979–80 | Delio Rossi | 4 May 2015 – 28 Oct 2015 | |
Luigi Radice | 1980–81 | Roberto Donadoni | 28 Oct 2015 – 24 May 2018 | |
Tarcisio Burgnich | 1981–82 | Filippo Inzaghi | 1 Jul 2018 – 28 January 2019 | |
Francesco Liguori | 1982 | Siniša MihajloviÄ | 28 January 2019 – |
Detail of the sponsors as below mentioned.
Most appearances
No. | Name | Apps |
---|---|---|
1 | Giacomo Bulgarelli | 488 |
2 | Tazio Roversi | 459 |
3 | Carlo Reguzzoni | 417 |
Carlo Nervo | 417 | |
5 | Marino Perani | 415 |
6 | Felice Gasperi | 405 |
7 | Franco Cresci | 404 |
8 | Franco Janich | 376 |
9 | Angelo Schiavio | 364 |
10 | Mario Gianni | 363 |
Most goals
No. | Name | Goals |
---|---|---|
1 | Angelo Schiavio | 251 |
2 | Carlo Reguzzoni | 168 |
3 | Ezio Pascutti | 142 |
4 | Giuseppe Savoldi | 140 |
5 | Gino Cappello | 122 |
6 | Gino Pivatelli | 109 |
7 | Giuseppe Della Valle | 104 |
Harald Nielsen | 104 | |
9 | Bruno Maini | 101 |
10 | Ettore Puricelli | 96 |
Detail of the honours as below mentioned.
Honours Domestic.
Serie A
Serie B
Serie C1
Coppa Italia
Mitropa Cup
UEFA Intertoto Cup
Anglo-Italian League Cup
Series | Years | Last | Promotions | Relegations |
---|---|---|---|---|
A | 75 | 2021–22 | — | Down 4 (1982, 1991, 2005, 2014) |
B | 12 | 2014–15 | Up 4 (1988, 1996, 2008, 2015) | Down 2 (1983, 1993) |
C | 3 | 1994–95 | Up 2 (1984, 1995) | never |
90 years of professional football in Italy since 1929 |