Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Licata Calcio is an Italian association football club located in

Licata Licata (, ; , whence or ''Plintis''), formerly also Alicata (), is a city and ''comune'' located on the south coast of Sicily, at the mouth of the Salso River (the ancient ''Himera''), about midway between Agrigento and Gela. It is a major se ...

, Sicily. Licata is a historical Sicilian team, and one of the six Sicilian football clubs to have ever reached the

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as 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 b ...

league in Italian football history. The club currently plays in

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

History

The club was founded in 1931 as Associazione Calcio Licata by a few local students who discovered the game of association football thanks to some Swedish sailors who worked in the area; the official team colours, in fact, refer to the

flag of Sweden The national flag of Sweden () consists of a yellow or gold Nordic cross (i.e. a horizontal cross extending to the edges, with the crossbar closer to the hoist than the fly) on a field of light blue. The Nordic cross design traditionally repres ...

. The club was renamed Polisportiva Licata in 1967. The first appearance of Licata in a professional league, is dated in 1982 within

Serie C2 Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging t ...

. During the 1984–85 season, Licata, coached by a young

Zdeněk Zeman Zdeněk Zeman (; born 12 May 1947) is a Czech-Italian football manager. Known for his exciting, offensive footballing tactics and use of the 4–3–3 formation, Zeman has managed numerous teams over the years, mostly in Italian football. He ...

, won Serie C2 and was promoted to Serie C1, despite a team composed almost entirely by players from the youth squad. In 1988, with Aldo Cerantola as coach, Licata won also Serie C1/B, and was promoted to

for the first time in the club's history. During its first season in the Italian second division, with

Giuseppe Papadopulo Giuseppe Papadopulo (; born 2 February 1948) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a defender. He was last in charge as head coach of Torino. Early life and playing career Papadopulo was born in Casale Marittimo, Pisa ...

as a coach, then replaced by Francesco Scorsa, Licata ended in ninth place; finishing above

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

. They also achieved the honor of playing a

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

match at the Stadio San Siro against

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

. The following season however, Licata were relegated to Serie C1 after finishing in 18th position. A couple of seasons later, in 1991–92 they were relegated down to

. They were then relegated in the 1992–94 season, and were set to compete in the CND league, but slow decay for the Sicilian club was complete and they became bankrupt in 1994.

Refoundations

A new club, Licata AC, was then founded and admitted to the regional

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football.Official ...

league.CalcioDIEcecellenza.it
/ref> But in 1996, after having daringly avoided relegation, Licata AC did not register to Eccellenza and was cancelled too; a new team, Santos Licata (then Nuovo Licata, that finally switched to the current denomination), started from

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 ...

(7th level in the

Italian football league system The Italian football league system, also known as the Italian football pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for association football in Italy. It consists of nine national and regional tournaments, the first three b ...

). During the 2005–06 season, Licata won the round A of Sicilian Eccellenza, consequently returning to

for the first time for a decade. In the season 2010–11 it was promoted from Eccellenza Sicily group A to

. A new club was created in 2014 after another bankruptcy.

Colors and badge

The traditional club colours of Licata is yellow and blue; known in Italy as ''gialloblu''. The club has two other nicknames; I Santi which means The Saints, and I Falchi which translates as The Hawks.

Notable former managers

* Aldo Cerantola *

Honours

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

*Champions: 1987–88

*Champions: 1984–85

References

External links

Official homepage

Fans' site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Licata Football clubs in Italy Football clubs in Sicily Licata Association football clubs established in 1931 Serie D clubs 1931 establishments in Italy