Società Sportiva Calcistica Ancona, commonly referred to as Ancona, is an

Italian football Football ( ) is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italy national football team have won the FIFA World Cup four times (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), trailing only Brazil (with five), runners-up in two finals both against Brazil, (1970, 1994) and ...

club based in

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

Marche Marche ( ; ), in English sometimes referred to as the Marches ( ) from the Italian name of the region (Le Marche), is one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. The region is located in the Central Italy, central area of the country, ...

. The club is the heir of the defunct former

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 ...

club

, with whom it shares its official historical logo. The continuation of football in Ancona goes back to 1905, when the original club was first founded.

History

Ancona has a long history of football clubs sharing the same red and white colours and a similar logo. Originally, the club was named Anconitana, but the name was changed to reflect the city of Ancona in the 1980s. Reaching the final of the 1994 Coppa Italia and spending two seasons in the Serie A eleven years apart, the original club was refounded after a

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

relegation from the top flight in last place. This came after the club had loaded up on experienced players of high profile, such as

Mário Jardel Mário Jardel de Almeida Ribeiro (; born 18 September 1973) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was most noted for his positioning on the field and his heading ability. In spite of only representing Gr� ...

Dario Hübner Dario Hübner (born 28 April 1967) is an Italian former professional footballer. Nicknamed ("The Bison"), he scored over 300 goals throughout his career, only playing in the higher divisions towards the end of his career. Hübner became the ol ...

and

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 ...

, without success. Six years later, the club was refounded again, demoting it from the second to fourth tier. In 2017, a third bankruptcy saw the refounded club drop out of the professional leagues. The most recent club was founded in 2021 as the merger of

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 ...

club S.S. Matelica Calcio 1921, from the city of

Matelica Matelica is a (municipality) of the Province of Macerata in the Italian region of Marche. Located about southwest of Ancona and west of Macerata, it extends over an area of . Geography Matelica lies in an ample valley where the Braccano ...

, with Ancona-based

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

club Anconitana. As part of the merger, all logos and naming rights of Matelica were given away to

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 ...

club G.S. Corrado Fabiani Matelica, formally owned by chairman Mauro Canil's wife and which is now to be legally considered the heir of Matelica itself, whereas, as part of the merger, Anconitana brought the original footballing logo, as well as the rights to use the

Stadio del Conero Stadio del Conero was the home field of the Italian football club A.C. Ancona until 2010 when the club was canceled by every league. Currently it is the home of U.S. Ancona A.S.D.. It is an all seater built in 1992 with a capacity of 23,967. ...

in the city of

. The new club's board will be the same as Matelica's, with Mauro Canil as majority shareholder and chairman, whereas Anconitana's original owner Stefano Marconi will be linked to Ancona-Matelica as the club's official main sponsor for the following five years. The club board stated their aim to have the official name changed to just "Ancona" by 2022, pending approval by the Italian Football Federation. On 30 March 2022,

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

n billionaire entrepreneur Tony Tiong, nephew of Tiong Hiew King, was announced as the new majority shareholder, after having acquired 95% of the club's shares. By the end of the season, the club changed its denomination to Unione Sportiva Ancona, thus severing its association with Matelica altogether. After two seasons, the club was excluded again from Serie C after the ownership failed to comply with the financial and legal requirements in time and then restarted from

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 ...

with the denomination of SSC Ancona ASD by means of

Article 52 of NOIF ("Article 52 of the Italian Football Federation regulations for internal organisation") governs the status of phoenix clubs of football in Italy. The article was revised in 2004, 2008, 2010, and 2014. Many Commas, or paragraphs, are present throu ...

Colors and badge

The team's colors are white and red.

Stadium

Ancona play their home matches at the 25,000-capacity Stadio del Conero, located in the city of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ancona Football clubs in Italy Football clubs in the Marche Ancona Serie C clubs Association football clubs established in 2021