F.C.D. Brera 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 only Bra ...

club in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

, which plays in

Seconda Categoria The Seconda Categoria is a level of football in Italy. It is the 8th level (since 2014-15) in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Seconda Categoria level progresses to their closest regional league in the ...

Colours

Its colours are green and black.

History

Brera Football Club was founded in 2000 by the young publisher and journalist Alessandro Aleotti. The first manager appointed was former Inter and

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

goalkeeper

Walter Zenga Walter Zenga (; born 28 April 1960) is an Italian manager (association football), football manager and former player who last managed Serie A club Cagliari Calcio, Cagliari. He was a long-time Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for In ...

. The team played its matches in the newly reopened

Arena Civica Arena Civica (), officially Arena Gianni Brera, is a multi-purpose stadium in Milan, Italy, which was opened on 18 August 1807. One of the city's main examples of neoclassical architecture, today it mainly hosts football and rugby union games, c ...

, but was relegated from

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

. In the season 2003/2004, through a partnership with the

FIGC The Italian Football Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio; FIGC), known colloquially as ''Federcalcio'', is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It ...

and Carcere di Opera (one of the biggest

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

s in

and in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

), Brera founded FreeOpera Brera, a team composed of detainees. Allowed to take part to 2003/2004

Terza Categoria The Terza Categoria is the lowest level of amateur football in Italy. It is the ninth level in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Terza Categoria level progresses to their closest regional league in the ...

, the team won the championship and was promoted to

. The initiative obtained a lot of praise and RAI talked about it in a "Sfide" episode. In the season 2006/2007 Brera, under the leading of coach Noureddine Zekri, obtained its first promotion, beating Bresso in the playoff and gaining the right to take part to

Promozione The Promozione (, "promotion") is the sixth level in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Promozione level progresses to their closest regional league in the Eccellenza level. Depending on each league's lo ...

the following season. In the season 2011/2012, after temporarily ceasing the first team's activity, Brera took part to the Torneo di Viareggio under the name of Brera Emergence Gabon, a team composed of young

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

ian footballers. In the season 2014/2015 the team, with Andrea Mazza appointed as coach, won its first championship, getting promoted from

Prima Categoria The Prima Categoria is a level of football in Italy. It is the seventh level (since 2014–15) in the Italian football league system and is organized by the National Amateur League by the Regional Committees. Each individual league winner within t ...

. In January 2016, in collaboration with the Serbian Roma actress and activist Dijana Pavlovic, Brera started managing the Romani People football team. From 2016/2017 Brera played in Eccellenza and

Enzo Gambaro Enzo Gambaro (born 23 February 1966 in Genoa, Italy) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Gambaro was a part of the Parma team that won promotion to Serie A, and played for Sampdoria before joining A.C. Milan in ...

has been appointed as new coach. Due to a poor beginning of season, in October 2016

has resigned and has been replaced with former Brera manager Andrea Mazza. The season ended with the team's relegation and Andrea Mazza's resignment. In July Andrea Valle was appointed as new coach. The 2017/2018 season saw some changes on the roster side, as it was mostly composed by young foreign players: the adaption to the league was hard and, despite some outstanding performances, the team eventually got relegated. In August 2018 Marco Resca was appointed as new coach of the team now facing the

division. After a promising start, the team went through some tough time and in March, after Resca's resignation, former AS Roma defender

Amedeo Mangone Amedeo Mangone (born 12 July 1968 in Milan) is an Italian association football coach and former player, who played as a defender. He currently serves as head coach of Italian amateur club Villa Valle. Playing career A product of A.C. Milan's yo ...

came in as new coach and led the team so a smooth season ending. The following season, with former Brera legend Marco Nichetti in charge of the team, was affected by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, which suspended the ongoing championship. In September 2020 Amedeo Mangone agreed on resuming his activity as Brera head coach.

Notable managers

* Noureddine Zekri *

* Andrea Mazza * Marco Nichetti * Marco Nicoletti *

Notable players

Dario Drudi Dario Hernan Drudi (born 23 April 1987) is an Argentine football manager. Career Drudi lived in Spain from age 15 and the next year joined the youth team of CF Gandía. But later he decided to concentrate on a coaching career. He started his ma ...

Sergio D'Autilia Sergio D'Autilia (born 20 August 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He made his fully professional club debut for Inter Milan in the 1996–97 Coppa Italia on 6 November 1996 against Cagliari. While h ...

Guido Corteggiano Guido Sebastian Corteggiano (born June 23, 1987) is an Argentine footballer who currently plays for AC Mestre. Career During his professional career he mainly played for Italian Serie D clubs, where capped 211 matches and scored 12 goals. Also ...

Andrea Merenda Andrea Merenda (born 10 June 1977 in Milan) is an Italian football midfielder who currently plays for Marconi Stallions in the NSW Premier League. Biography Merenda had been in training with the Mariners for a month before earning his shot at ...

Martín Belforti Martín Belforti Rodríguez (born 4 July 1981) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Born in Buenos Aires, Belforti played in the Argentine Primera División with Argentinos Juniors, also repres ...

José Belforti José María Belforti Rodríguez (born 4 July 1981) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a central defender. Club career Born in Buenos Aires, Belforti played in the Argentine Primera División with Argentinos Juniors, ...

* Maximiliano Martinez

External links

Official Website

References

{{Reflist Football clubs in Milan Football clubs in Italy Association football clubs established in 2000 2000 establishments in Italy