S.S. Audace Cerignola, commonly known as Audace Cerignola or simply Cerignola, is an Italian association football club from

Cerignola Cerignola (; ) is a town and ''comune'' of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, southeast from the town of Foggia. It has the third-largest land area of any ''comune'' in Italy, at , after Rome and Ravenna and it has the largest land ar ...

Apulia Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...

. They play in the .

History

The club was originally founded in 1912 as ''Gruppo Sportivo Cerignola''. They played

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 ...

from 1935 to 1937, after which they exclusively took part at amateur leagues. The club voluntarily stepped out in 2013 due to financial issues, and restarted from

Prima Categoria The Prima Categoria 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 the Prima Categoria level progress ...

only a year later. In 2017 they returned to play

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 ...

, a league they had not played since the year 2000. In 2019, Audace Cerignola ended the season in an impressive second place, behind AZ Picerno; in the following playoffs, they made it to the final, where they defeated

Taranto Taranto (; ; previously called Tarent in English) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base. Founded by Spartans ...

, thus ensuring a priority slot in the

repechages. However, due to a number stadium-related issues, the Italian Football Federation denied Serie C entry to the club. After winning a first appeal to the

Italian National Olympic Committee The Italian National Olympic Committee (, CONI), founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the development and management of sports activity in ItalyWithin Italy, CONI recognizes 48 national ...

Court, and FIGC declining Audace Cerignola's admission due to other stadium-related technicalities, on 5 August 2019 the CONI Court once again overturned the latter's decision, confirming Audace Cerignola's right to take part in the

2019–20 Serie C The 2019–20 Serie C was the 61st season of the Serie C, the third tier of the Italian football league system, organized by the Lega Pro. The season was scheduled to run from 24 August 2019 to 26 April 2020, however, on 9 March 2020, the Italian ...

. Audace Cerignola were finally promoted to Serie C in 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 ...

season, as Group H champions, under the guidance of head coach

Michele Pazienza Michele Pazienza (; born 5 August 1982) is an Italian football coach and a former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He was most recently the head coach of club Benevento. Career Foggia Pazienza was born in San Severo in the provin ...

Current squad

Out on loan

References

External links

Official website
Football clubs in Apulia Association football clubs established in 1912 1912 establishments in Italy Serie C clubs Cerignola {{Italy-footyclub-stub