Benevento Calcio, commonly referred to as Benevento, is an

Italian football Football ( it, calcio ) is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italy national football team is considered to be one of the best national teams in the world. They have won the FIFA World Cup four times ( 1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), trailing on ...

club based in Benevento,

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

. The club was originally founded in 1929 and then re-founded in 2005. They currently compete in

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

, having been relegated from

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

in the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season.

History

Early history

The club was founded as Associazione Calcio Benevento in 1929, their original home was the ''Meomartini'' which was built by Ciccio Minocchia. After working their way up the country's lower divisions during their early years, Benevento reached Prima Divisione, Italy's third highest professional league at the time, in the 1934–35 season. They finished above clubs such as

Reggina Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are ni ...

during the club's first season within the league. Although they did not win promotion to

, the team did remain in the third tier of Italian football for the 1935–36 season, re-organized to a smaller 64-team league renamed

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega P ...

21st century

The club F.C. Sporting Benevento S.r.l. folded in 2005. At the same time Benevento Calcio S.p.A. was founded, using the same stadium and playing kit. In the 2007–08 Serie C2 regular season the team finished first in Girone C, winning direct promotion to the now called

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1. Before the 197 ...

for the 2008–09 season. In the 2008–09 season, Benevento's first season in Lega Pro Prima Divisione, they finished in 2nd place. This meant Benevento would be in a two-legged play-off. They won their first two-legged play-off, but lost to

Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages unti ...

1–0 (2–1) on aggregate in the final. Gaetano Auteri was appointed as the head manager for the 2015–16 season. In this season, Benevento won its league and reached

for the first time in its history. The mathematical certainty arrived on 30 April 2016, after defeating

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label= Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the provi ...

3–0. On 8 June 2017, they were promoted to

, for the first time in their history, after defeating Carpi in the Serie B play-offs 1–0 on aggregate, remarkably winning promotion in their inaugural season in Serie B. The club struggled in its top-flight debut in the 2017-18 season as Benevento set a record for the worst start to a season in any of Europe's top five leagues by losing their first 14 Serie A matches. This streak ended on 3 December 2017, with a 95th-minute equalising header from goalkeeper

Alberto Brignoli Alberto Brignoli (born 19 August 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Greek Super League club Panathinaikos. Career Early career Born in Trescore Balneario, Brignoli made his debut as a senior with A.C. Mon ...

for a 2–2 home draw against A.C. Milan. Benevento's time in Serie A lasted one season and they were relegated after a last-place finish, although there was a clear uptick in form after their dismal opening to the campaign, ultimately winning six of their last 23 games. On 22 June 2019, Benevento hired Filippo Inzaghi as their new manager. In June 2020, with seven matches still left in the league season, the club won promotion back to the first-division of Italian football following an impressive Serie B campaign. Benevento's second season in Serie A was again unsuccessful, ending with another relegation, but the club was much more competitive and performed particularly admirably in the first half of the season. By the campaign's midway point, Benevento had won six matches and was placed in 10th position, appearing well-set for a mid-table finish. However, a dramatic downturn in form from January until the end of the campaign, scoring only 16 goals and winning just one of the final 22 matches in that time, meant that the club again fell back into Serie B for the 2021-22 season. Benevento eventually finished in 18th place, with four points fewer than

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

in the final non-relegation position.

Colours and badge

The team's colours are yellow and red, and their badge features red and yellow stripes and the black image of a witch riding a broom. Benevento are nicknamed the ''Stregoni'', Italian for sorcerers, or occasionally, the ''Streghe'', Italian for witches, a reference to the legends dating to the 13th century of the

witches of Benevento The history or legend of the witches of Benevento is folklore dating from at least the 13th century. Its dissemination is one reason for the fame of this Samnite city. The popular beliefthat Benevento would be the Italian witches' gathering plac ...

Stadium

Benevento plays their home matches at the

Stadio Ciro Vigorito Stadio Ciro Vigorito (formerly Stadio Santa Colomba) is a multi-use stadium in Benevento, Italy. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Benevento Calcio Benevento Calcio, commonly referred to as Benevento ...

. Building on the stadium broke ground in 1976 and it was opened in 1979. It is able to hold 25,000 people. The stadium was originally named Santa Colomba but was renamed to honor Ciro Vigorito who was the brother of club president Oreste Vigorito. Ciro was a successful entrepreneur and sports manager who was the managing director and oversaw the youth sector at Benevento from 2006 until his death in 2010.Ufficiale, lo Stadio Santa Colomba si chiamerà Ciro Vigorito
/ref>

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Coaching staff

Notable former players

World Cup players

The following players have been selected by their country in the World Cup Finals, while playing for Benevento. *

Massamasso Tchangai Komi Massamasso Tchangai (8 August 1978 – 8 August 2010) was a Togolese professional footballer who played as a defender. Club career Tchangai signed to the Italian club Udinese Calcio in 1998 after appearing for Togo at the 1998 African Cup ...

(

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

) * Kamil Glik ( 2022)

Notable former managers

* Giuseppe Zilizzi (1935–36) * Giuseppe Viani (1945–46) *

Francisco Lojacono Francisco Ramón Lojacono (, ; 11 December 1935 – 19 September 2002) was an Italian Argentine football player and manager. A midfielder, he began his playing career in Argentina with San Lorenzo, before moving to Italy to play with Vicenza, ...

(1974–75) *

Gastone Bean Gastone Bean (; born 11 August 1936) is a former Italian professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Growing up in San Canzian d'Isonzo, he joined A.C. Milan as a youngster.

(1981–83) *

Giuseppe Materazzi Giuseppe Materazzi (born 5 January 1946 in Arborea, Province of Oristano) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a midfielder. Playing career Sardinian-born Materazzi is best remember as one of the most representative ...

(1984–85) * Adriano Lombardi (1995–96) * Massimo Silva (1996–98) *

Nello Di Costanzo Cuono "Nello" Di Costanzo (born 26 July 1961) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a forward, last in charge of Taranto. Career Playing A striker, he played in the youth ranks of AC Milan and Napoli, winning also a ...

(2002–04) *

Giovanni Simonelli Giovanni Simonelli (born 23 October 1952) is an Italian professional football manager, who is currently out of work after a spell as manager of Benevento Calcio. Managerial career After spending his much of his early year managing many of the min ...

(2006–08) *

Antonio Soda Antonio Soda (born 24 June 1964) is an Italian football manager and former striker. He is the head coach of Serie D club Correggese. Career Playing Soda started his professional career with Catanzaro, where he played from 1982 to 1988 (e ...

(2008–09) * Leonardo Acori (2009) *

Andrea Camplone Andrea Camplone (born 27 July 1966) is an Italian professional football coach and a former player. He was most recently the head coach of Serie C club Arezzo. Playing career Born in Pescara, Camplone grew up playing with his hometown club, for ...

(2009–10) * Leonardo Acori (2010) *

Giuseppe Galderisi Giuseppe Galderisi (; born 22 March 1963) is an Italian football manager and a former footballer who played as a forward, most recently in charge as head coach of Serie C club Mantova. Club career At club level, Galderisi played for several ...

(2010–11) *

(2011) * Carmelo Imbriani (2011–12) * Guido Ugolotti (2012–13) *

Guido Carboni Guido Carboni (born 27 January 1963) is an Italian football manager most recently in charge of Olbia and a former player, who played as a forward. He is the brother of former Italian international footballer Amedeo Carboni, who also played for ...

(2013–14) * Gaetano Auteri (2015–16) *

Marco Baroni Marco Baroni (born 11 September 1963) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a defender. He is current manager of Serie A club Lecce. Playing career Baroni started his career with Fiorentina, and reached his football pe ...

(2016–17) *

Roberto De Zerbi Roberto De Zerbi (; born 6 June 1979) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of club Brighton & Hove Albion. Playing career De Zerbi started his professional career at AC Milan. He spent four season ...

(2017–2018) *

Cristian Bucchi Cristian Bucchi (born 30 May 1977) is an Italian football manager and former player who is the head coach of Serie B club Ascoli. A forward, he was best known for his goal-scoring ability in Serie B during the peak of his career. Club caree ...

(2018–2019) * Filippo Inzaghi (2019–2021) * Fabio Caserta (2021–)

Honours

Serie B *Winners: 2019–20 *Play-off winner: 2016–17 Serie C *Winners: 2015–16 Serie C2 *Winners: 2007–08 Group C

References

External links

Benevento Calcio official website
{{Football in Italy Football clubs in Italy Football clubs in Campania Association football clubs established in 1929 Serie A clubs Serie B clubs Serie C clubs 1929 establishments in Italy Phoenix clubs (association football)