Football Club Messina was an Italian football club based in

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, formerly known as ''S.S.D. Città di Messina'' and ''U.S.D. Camaro Messina'', and disbanded in 2021.

History

Foundation

The club is the direct heir of U.S.D. Camaro Messina, an amateur football club from the Messina neighbourhood of Camaro that was founded in 1969.

Città di Messina

In 2010 the club was renamed to S.S.D. Città di Messina. In the season 2011–12 the team was promoted from

Eccellenza Sicily Eccellenza Sicily () is the regional Italian Eccellenza football division for clubs in Sicily. It is competed among 32 teams in two groups (A and B). The winners of the Groups are promoted to Serie D. The clubs that finish second also have the c ...

Group B to

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 ...

after playoffs. However, they were then relegated twice, and won two straight promotion in 2017 from and 2018 from to find themselves back to Serie D for the

2018–19 Serie D The 2018–19 Serie D was the seventy-first edition of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represents the fourth tier in the Italian football league system. A total of 168 teams, divided on geographical grounds into ...

, at the same level with the historical main team in the city,

ACR Messina Associazioni Calcio Riunite Messina S.r.l. is a football club based in Messina, Sicily, Italy, that competes in the Serie C, the third tier of the Italian football league system. History Football in Messina The origins of the team go b ...

. The club escaped relegation in 2019 after winning a playoff against Locri.

Football Club Messina

In the summer of 2019, the club was acquired by

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

entrepreneur Rocco Arena, who was also the owner of Spanish club CF Independiente Alicante (heir of

Alicante CF Alicante Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1918, it played its home matches at ''Estadio Alicante CF'', with a 4,000-seat capacity. History ''Alicante Club de Fútbol'', under t ...

). On 13 July 2019, the Italian Football Federation approved a change name request for the club, which was renamed Football Club Messina. In the

2020–21 Serie D The 2020–21 Serie D was the seventy-third edition of the top level Italian non-professional Association football, football championship. It represents the fourth tier in the Italian football league system. Changes from 2019–20 A total 166 c ...

season, FC Messina ended in second place, behind crosstown rivals

. They later won the

Girone I playoffs, defeating

Acireale Acireale (; , locally shortened to ''Jaci'' or ''Aci'') is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the north-east of the Metropolitan City of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy, at the foot of Mount Etna, on the coast facing the Ionian Sea. It is home to ...

in the semifinal and Gelbison in the final, thus ensuring them the right to be admitted 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 ...

in case of a league vacancy. In July 2021, following Serie D Girone A champions Gozzano's withdrawal, FC Messina applied to be readmitted to Serie C. However, the request to be readmitted was denied by the

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 ...

committee, and successively also on appeal, due to the club's inability to provide a valid

surety In finance, a surety , surety bond, or guaranty involves a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults. Usually, a surety bond or surety is a promise by a person or company (a ''sure ...

in time. The

2021–22 Serie D The 2021–22 Serie D was the seventy-third season of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represents the fourth tier in the Italian football league system. Rules The season will provide a total nine promotions to S ...

campaign saw club owner Rocco Arena relinquishing from investing in the club during the season. In December the club released most of its players and failed to show up at two consecutive league games, thus being excluded from the league with immediate effect.

Colors and badge

Its colors are yellow and red. They usually play with blue kit, to avoid getting confused with the principal team of the city,

Stadium

The club originally played its home games in the old stadium of the city, the 11,900 seater Stadio Giovanni Celeste. In 2018 the club announced their relocation to the newly rebranded "Despar Stadium" in the outskirts of the city, a football field owned by local amateur football club Camaro. However, as the stadium did not meet the minimum requirements to host Serie D games, Città di Messina used the city's main venue

Stadio San Filippo Stadio San Filippo - Franco Scoglio (''Saint Philip Stadium'') is a association football, football stadium in Messina, Italy. It is currently the home of A.C.R. Messina. It is currently the largest stadium in Europe to not have eligibility to hos ...

as its home for the beginning of the season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Messina Football Club

Association football clubs established in 1969 Association football clubs disestablished in 2021 1969 establishments in Italy 2021 disestablishments in Italy Sport in Messina