Novara Football Club, commonly referred to as Novara, is an Italian football club based in

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

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

History

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 Turin ( , ; ; , then ) 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. The city is main ...

, who won 2–1. In the years between World War I and World War II, Novara challenged with

Pro Vercelli Football Club Pro Vercelli 1892, commonly referred to as Pro Vercelli, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Vercelli, Piedmont. The club is mostly renowned as one of the most successful teams in the early football era of Ital ...

Alessandria Alessandria (; ) is a city and commune in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. It is also the largest municipality of the region. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, ...

and Casale to make the so-called ''"quadrilatero piemontese" (Piedmont Quadrilateral)''. Novara played 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 ...

final against

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

in 1939. Novara's highest finish came in 1952 when they finished in eighth place in

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

During these years of staying in the top flight, Novara had

Silvio Piola Silvio Piola (; 29 September 1913 – 4 October 1996) was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. He is known as a highly prominent figure in the history of Italian football due to several records he set, and he is regarded as one of the ...

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 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 ...

, and another five years afterwards, they slipped down to

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, 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 ...

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 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 ...

. 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.

From Serie C1 to Serie A

Consolidation in Serie C1 followed, later becoming

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into ...

, until the historic promotion of the 2009–10 season where the club returned to

after 33 years. On 12 June 2011, Novara remarkably secured its promotion to

after a 55-year absence from the league, by defeating

Padova Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of ...

in the play-off final. 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

for 55 years, Novara recorded an historic 3–1 victory over Inter. 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 San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 75,817, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal ...

. The manager Attilio Tesser was replaced by veteran coach

Emiliano Mondonico Emiliano Mondonico (9 March 1947 – 29 March 2018) was an Italian professional association football, footballer and Coach (sport), coach. He played as a winger (association football), winger. His playing career was spent mostly with U.S. Cremon ...

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

after one season. Novara finished 5th in 2012–13 season but were eliminated by

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

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 Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...

, losing 4–2 on aggregate. Thus, Novara were relegated to

Lega Pro The Lega Italiano Calcio Professionistico (Italian for Professional Football Italian League), commonly known as Lega Pro (Pro League), is the governing body that runs the third tier of professional football competitions in Italy, the Serie C. I ...

. 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 Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

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 and a phoenix club was founded 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 ...

according to article 52 of FIGC's regulations ''NOIF''. They were promoted back to Serie C in May 2022, after finishing top of their group in

Current squad

Out on loan

Managers

Ferenc Molnár Ferenc Molnár ( , ; born Ferenc Neumann; January 12, 1878April 1, 1952), often anglicized as Franz Molnar, was a Hungarians, Hungarian-born author, stage director, dramatist, and poet. He is widely regarded as Hungary's most celebrated and c ...

(1931–32) * Árpád Weisz (1934–35) * Evaristo Barrera (1956–58) * Carlo Parola (1969–74) * Bruno Bolchi (1978–79) * Angelo Domenghini (1989–90) *

Luigi Delneri Luigi Delneri (born 23 August 1950), often incorrectly written as Del Neri, is an Italian football manager and a former player. After a playing career as a midfielder including for several Serie A clubs, he began managing in the lower leagues, a ...

(1992–94) * Franco Colomba (1994–95) * Alberto Marchetti (1999) * Giuliano Zoratti (1999–00) * Luciano Foschi (2002–04) *

Antonio Cabrini Antonio Cabrini (; born 8 October 1957) is an Italian professional football manager and a former player. He played as a left-back, mainly with Juventus. He won the 1982 FIFA World Cup with the Italy national team. Cabrini was nicknamed ''Bell'A ...

(2005–06) * Attilio Tesser (2009–12),

(2012), Attilio Tesser (2012) * Alfredo Aglietti (2012–13) * Alessandro Calori (2013–14) * Alfredo Aglietti (2014) * Marco Baroni (2015–16) * Roberto Boscaglia (2016–17) * Eugenio Corini (2017–18) * Domenico Di Carlo (2017–18) * William Viali (2018–19) * Giuseppe Sannino (2018–19) * William Viali (2018–19) * Simone Banchieri (2019–20) * Simone Banchieri (2020–21) * Michele Marcolini (2020–21) * Simone Banchieri (2020–21) * Marco Marchionni (2021–22) * Franco Semioli (2022–23) * Giacomo Gattuso (2023–24)

Honours

League

** Winners: 1926–27, 1937–38, 1947–48 *

** Winners: 1964–65, 1969–70, 2009–10, 2014–15 *

** Winners: 1995–96 *

** Winners: 2021–22

Cups

Supercoppa di Serie C The Supercoppa di Serie C, formerly named Supercoppa di Lega Pro, is an Italian football competition played by the three group winners of Serie C. The competition was inaugurated in 2000. Forerunners The FIGC introduced a third-level national foo ...

** Winners: 2010, 2015

Divisional movements

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Novara Football clubs in Italy Football clubs in Piedmont and Aosta Valley Association football clubs established in 1908 Italian football First Division clubs Serie C clubs 1908 establishments in Italy