S.S. Virtus Lanciano 1924 is an Italian association football club, based in

Lanciano Lanciano (; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Chieti, part of the Abruzzo region of central Italy. It has 33,944 inhabitants as of 2023. The town is known for the first recorded Catholic Church, Catholic Miracle of Lanciano, Eucharis ...

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, ; ; , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; ), historically also known as Abruzzi, is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy with an area of 10,763 square km (4,156 sq mi) and a population of 1.3 million. It is divided into four ...

. It last played in

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 ...

in 2015–16 as Virtus Lanciano. Virtus Lanciano now competes in youth football only.

History

The club was founded in 1919 and refounded in 2008 with the name S.S. Virtus Lanciano 1924. That year S.S. Lanciano S.r.l. bankrupted; anew company S.S. Virtus Lanciano 1924 acquired the sports title by using the

Article 52 of N.O.I.F. ("Article 52 of the Italian Football Federation regulations for internal organisation") governs the status of Phoenix club (sports), phoenix clubs of football in Italy. The article was revised in 2004, 2008, 2010, and 2014. Many Commas, or paragra ...

In the season 2011–12 it was promoted to

for the first time under the guidance of Carmine Gautieri, who also led the team to its debut season in the second tier, and ended in a safe mid-table position. Virtus Lanciano gained national news in end-2013 after the club, now headed by

Marco Baroni Marco Baroni (born 11 September 1963) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is currently the head coach of club Torino. Playing career Baroni started his career with Fiorentina, and reached his football ...

, surprised the whole country by leading the league table undefeated, against all odds, by the end of October. The club ended the 2015–16 season with relegation, and successively renounced to register for the new

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 ...

season due to financial and administrative issues. The first team was excluded altogether from the Italian football league pyramid. As of 2020–21 season, Virtus Lanciano still runs their youth teams, and have derbies with the illegitimate successor, Lanciano 1920.

Illegitimate Phoenix club

After Virtus Lanciano was withdrew from the Italian football pyramid, another club, A.S.D. Marcianese, renamed itself as A.S.D. Lanciano Calcio 1920. That club claimed as a Phoenix club of Virtus Lanciano. That club promoted 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 ...

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 ...

and then

Eccellenza Abruzzo Eccellenza Abruzzo is the regional Eccellenza football division for clubs in Abruzzo, Italy. It is competed amongst 18 teams and the winner is promoted to Serie D (usually to Girone F). The clubs that finishes between the second and the fifth plac ...

in 2019.

Colors and badge

The team's official colors are red and black.

Notable former players

* Alessio Cragno (2016)

Managers

Fabrizio Castori Fabrizio Castori (born 11 July 1954) is an Italian football coach, currently in charge of club Südtirol. Career Castori was born in San Severino Marche but grew up in Tolentino. He started his coaching career in 1980 at the age of 26 as he ...

(1998–99), (2000–03) * Maurizio Pellegrino (2004–05) * Francesco Monaco (2005–06) * Andrea Camplone (2006–07) *

Francesco Moriero Francesco "Checco" Moriero (; born 31 March 1969) is an Italian association football, football former player and current Manager (association football), manager, who played as a midfielder, usually as a Midfielder#Winger, winger on the right flan ...

(2007–08) *

Eusebio Di Francesco Eusebio Di Francesco (; born 8 September 1969) is an Italian manager and former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the head coach of club Venezia. Club career Di Francesco started his career with Tuscan teams Empoli and ...

(2008–09) * Dino Pagliari (2009–10) * Andrea Camplone (2010–11) * Carmine Gautieri (2011–13) *

(2013–14) * Roberto D'Aversa (2014–16) * Primo Maragliulo (2016)

References

Football clubs in Abruzzo Association football clubs established in 1924 Serie B clubs Serie C clubs Serie D clubs Eccellenza Promozione Phoenix clubs (association football) 1924 establishments in Italy Companies based in the Province of Chieti {{Italy-footyclub-stub