Novara FC

Novara

Full name	Novara Football Club
Nickname(s)	Gli Azzurri (The Blues/The Light Blues) I Gaudenziani (The Gaudentians)
Founded	1908; 116 years ago (1908) 2021; 3 years ago (2021) as Novara FC
Ground	Stadio Silvio Piola, Novara, Italy
Capacity	17,875
Chairman	Marco La Rosa
Manager	Giacomo Gattuso
League	Serie C Group A
2023–24	Serie C Group A, 17th of 20
Website	www.novarafootballclub.it
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Novara Football Club, commonly referred to as Novara, is an Italian football club based in Novara, Piedmont.^[1]

The club was founded in 2021 by the City of Novara to replace old Novara Calcio that lost its professional status.

In December 1908 the F.A.S. (Football Association Studenti) was created by eight students of Liceo Carlo Alberto, aged between 15 and 16 years; among them an engineer, Gianni Canestrini, and a lawyer, Piero Zorini. In Novara in those days, there were other small clubs like Voluntas, Pro Scalon, Ginnastica e Scherma, Forza & Speranza, Collegio Gallarini and many other student bodies. The best players from these teams came together to form Novara Calcio, and made their debut in the Italian league on 3 November 1912.

The first match was played against a team already then established as Torino, who won 2–1.

In the years between World War I and World War II, Novara challenged with Pro Vercelli, Alessandria and Casale to make the so-called "quadrilatero piemontese" (Piedmont Quadrilateral). Novara played a Coppa Italia final against Inter Milan in 1939.^[2] Novara's highest finish came in 1952 when they finished in eighth place in Serie A.

During these years of staying in the top flight, Novara had Silvio Piola to thank. His many goals (which at the end of his career was over 300), made a huge contribution to the cause of Novara. Following his death in 1996, the stadium at which Novara play was dedicated in his name.

In 1956 came relegation to Serie B, and another five years afterwards, they slipped down to Serie C due to a fraudulent complaint by a Sambenedettese player.

A few successful seasons in Serie B followed, but then Novara stumbled again in 1977 with relegation to Serie C and worse in 1981 to Serie C2. In the 1995–96 season, Novara were back in Serie C1, but this joy was short-lived as the following year, the biancoazzurri again had to deal with relegation.

Years were spent in the shadows of Italian football until more recently when the league was won in the 2002–03 season.

Consolidation in Serie C1 followed, later becoming Lega Pro Prima Divisione, until the historic promotion of the 2009–10 season where the club returned to Serie B after 33 years.^[3]

On 12 June 2011, Novara remarkably secured its promotion to Serie A after a 55-year absence from the league, by defeating Padova in the play-off final.^[4] Both consecutive promotions were achieved under the tenure of head coach Attilio Tesser, who was confirmed as Novara boss also for the following 2011–12 top flight campaign.

On 20 September 2011, the first home game in Serie A for 55 years, Novara recorded an historic 3–1 victory over Inter.^[5]

This remarkable feat, however, was not representative of their season as Novara managed to win only one more game until the end of January, when it won again against Inter in San Siro. The manager Attilio Tesser was replaced by veteran coach Emiliano Mondonico and re-hired one month later in a desperate and ultimately vain attempt by the owners to save the club from relegation. The club was immediately relegated again to Serie B after one season. Novara finished 5th in 2012–13 season but were eliminated by Empoli in the promotion play-offs. The following season was terrible for Novara as the club finished 19th in Serie B and lost in a play-out against Varese, losing 4–2 on aggregate. Thus, Novara were relegated to Lega Pro. Novara were crowned as champions of Group A of Lega Pro in 2014–15 and immediately returned to Serie B. In their first season back in Serie B they finished in a playoff spot but they lost to eventual winners Pescara in the semifinal. The following season saw them finish outside the playoffs in 9th, 4 points from a playoff spot. The following season saw Novara get relegated back to Lega Pro following a 20th-place finish in the 2017–18 Serie B.

During the summer of 2021, Novara lost its professional status^[6][7] and a phoenix club was founded in Serie D according to article 52 of FIGC's regulations NOIF.^[8] They were promoted back to Serie C in May 2022, after finishing top of their group in Serie D.^[9]

As of 30 August 2024^[10]

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  ITA Stefano Minelli 3 DF  ITA Francesco Migliardi 4 MF  AUT David Cancola 5 DF  ITA Davide Bertoncini 6 DF  ITA Davide Riccardi 7 FW  ITA Filippo Gerardini 8 MF  ITA Alessandro Di Munno 9 FW  BIH Marko Brkić 10 FW  ITA Christian Donadio 11 MF  SVN Enej Jelenič 12 GK  ITA Edoardo Negri 13 FW  CAN Easton Ongaro 15 DF  MAR Omar Khailoti 17 FW  ITA Francesco Attanasio 19 MF  ITA Riccardo Calcagni 21 MF  ITA Roberto Ranieri

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 FW  ITA Leonardo Morosini 24 DF  ITA Luca Ghiringhelli 26 DF  ITA Filippo Lorenzini 28 DF  ITA Adrian Cannavaro 31 GK  CAN Axel Desjardins 44 DF  SVN Luka Koblar 45 FW  ITA Enoch Owusu (on loan from Inter Milan) 62 DF  ITA Nicola Camolese 70 FW  FRA Kamil Manseri 72 DF  ITA Giuseppe Agyemang 78 MF  ITA Edoardo De Mori 79 DF  ITA Edoardo Lancini 90 FW  ITA Simone Ganz 96 MF  ITA Alessandro Valenti 99 MF  ITA Gianmarco Basso — FW  ITA Raffaele Sibilio

• Serie B
  • Winners: 1926–27, 1937–38, 1947–48
• Serie C
  • Winners: 1964–65, 1969–70, 2009–10, 2014–15
• Serie C2
  • Winners: 1995–96
• Serie D
  • Winners: 2021–22

• Supercoppa di Serie C
  • Winners: 2010, 2015

Series	Years	Last	Promotions	Relegations
A	13	2011–12	-	5 (1929, 1937, 1941, 1956, 2012)
B	34	2015–16	5 (1927, 1936, 1938, 1948, 2011)	5 (1962, 1968, 1977, 2014, 2018)
C +C2	21 +21	2020–21	4 (1965, 1970, 2010, 2015) 2 (1996 C2, 2003 C2)	3 (1981 C1, 1997 C1, 2021✟)
89 out of 90 years of professional football in Italy since 1929
D	1	2021–22	-	-

• Official website (in Italian)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Novara Calcio.