Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to US Triestina or just Triestina, 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

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, in the northern

Friuli-Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia () is one of the 20 regions of Italy and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The regional capital is Trieste on the Gulf of Trieste, a bay of the Adriatic Sea. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of and a ...

region. Originally established in 1918, Triestina was one of the founding members of

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 ...

in 1929 and featured in Italian top flight until the late 1950s. Triestina spent the following decades in lower levels, and during that time the club was folded and re-established several times. As of the 2024–25 season it plays in

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 ...

, the third tier of Italian football.

History

From the foundation to Serie A

The club was founded in 1918 as merger of local teams "Ponziana" and "Foot-Ball Club Trieste". The club reached Seconda Divisione (now known as

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 1924. The club successively featured in the first-ever

season in 1929, and played consecutively to the Italian top flight until 1956. During those successful times, the team also featured the likes of local Trieste native

Nereo Rocco Nereo Rocco (; 20 May 1912 – 20 February 1979) was an Italian association football, football player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, he is famous for having been one of the most successful head coaches in Italy ...

, who played as winger for Triestina from 1930 to 1937, becoming also the first player from the team to become part of the ''Azzurri'' squad (in 1934). Successively, Rocco returned to Triestina as a head coach in 1947, and completed the 1947–48 as Serie A runners-up, only behind

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 ...

; this is still, as of today, the best result in history for the Trieste-based club. Rocco then left in 1950 to be replaced by Hungarian coach Béla Guttman, who managed to save the club from relegation only in the final matchday. Another struggling season followed in 1951–52, with Triestina escaping relegation only after winning playoffs against Lucchese and

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

. During the 1952–53 season,

Cesare Maldini Cesare Maldini (; 5 February 1932 – 3 April 2016) was an Italian professional football manager and player who played as a defender. Father to Paolo Maldini and grandfather to Daniel Maldini, Cesare began his career with Italian side Trie ...

made his Serie A debut in a Triestina jersey. In 1953 Rocco returned to Triestina, but was sacked after 21 matchdays due to poor results. Three more mid-table seasons followed before Triestina suffered its first relegation in 1957. Successively, Triestina returned to Serie A in 1958, but were relegated in their first comeback season, which is also their last top flight campaign to date. US Triestina - 1930s - Nereo Rocco

The club were successively relegated to

in 1961 once, in 1965 twice, and even

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 ...

in 1971, forcing the ''alabardati'' to a local derby with "Ponziana" in 1975. The club returned to Serie C in 1976, and was admitted to

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

in 1978, and finally returned to Serie B in 1983, missing promotion to the top flight for a few seasons before being relegated in 1988. Triestina also played in second level between 1962–1965 and 1989–1991.

The first refoundation in 1994

In 1994, the team was forced to fold, because of financial insolvency, and was re-founded by Giorgio Del Sabato. The team restarted as U.S. Triestina Calcio from Serie D and was readmitted 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 ...

by the federation one year later. In 2001, after six seasons in Serie C2, the club won promotion to Serie C1 after playoffs; this was followed by a second consecutive promotion, this time to Serie B, both under head coach

Ezio Rossi Ezio is an Italian masculine name, originating from the Latin name ''Aetius''. It may refer to: * Flavius Aetius (c. 396–454), Roman general, after whom Metastasio's libretto and all the operas below are named. ** Ezio (libretto), opera libretto ...

. In the 2005–06 season, Triestina changed its manager five times. The list include the tandem Alessandro Calori-

Adriano Buffoni Adriano is the form of the Latin given name ''Hadrianus'' commonly used in the Italian language; the form Adrião can be used in the Portuguese language while the form Adrian is used in the English language. Notable people with the name include: ...

Pietro Vierchowod Pietro Vierchowod (, born 6 April 1959) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, and a manager. He represented the Italy national side during his career and was in the Italian squad that won the 1982 FIFA World ...

, caretaker

Francesco De Falco Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis", is one of the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation) ...

, youth team coach

Vittorio Russo Vittorio Russo (born 16 February 1939) is an Italian football manager and former player. He last served head coach of Serie A outfit A.S. Livorno Calcio until October 2009. Career Russo was born in Trieste. A defender, he played for Sambenede ...

and

Andrea Agostinelli Andrea Agostinelli (born 20 April 1957) is an Italian football coach and former professional footballer. He played as midfielder. Coaching career In April 2013, he was hired by Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''co ...

. In addition, Triestina's owner Flaviano Tonellotto was forced to resign on 1 February 2006 by the magistrates because of a pending court procedure for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

, and his wife Jeannine Koevoets was named to replace him at the helm of the club. However, Tonellotto was successively ordered to leave the association because of financial troubles. The magistrates named

as caretaker chairman with the idea of finding somebody interested to buy the club. Curiously, in the 2005–06 De Falco, a player for Triestina in the 80's, covered three different roles in the club: director of football, manager and chairman. In April 2006 the team was purchased by the Fantinel family, owners of a wine company in the region. In recent years, Triestina struggled to mount a promotion campaign to end half-century absence from the Italian top flight. Triestina finished 8th in 2008–2009 season. However failed to remain in Serie B in the 2009–10 season, with a crashing 3–0 defeat to

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 ...

at the play-outs, and was relegated to

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 ...

after 8 years of endeavour in the second tier of Italian football, only to be readmitted to Serie B after

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 ...

filed for bankruptcy. On 21 May 2011, in the season 2010–11, after a disastrous campaign, Triestina was relegated from

, having returned there in 2002 after 11 seasons in

and

2012: Relegation and bankruptcy

On 25 January 2012 the club in strong financial difficulty, has been declared bankrupt by the court of Trieste. In the season 2011–12 Triestina was relegated from Lega Pro Prima Divisione group B to

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione 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 ...

. On 19 June 2012 the club was finally declared bankrupt and the team was disbanded. Stefano Mario Fantinel, former chairman of the club, was suspended from football activities for 5 years after the prosecutor found accounting irregularities of the club. In July, three more months were added due to player transfer irregularities. Fantinel was also suspended for 3 months in

2006–07 Serie B The 2006–07 Serie B season is the 75th season since its establishment in 1929. It started on 9 September 2006 and ended on 10 June 2007. The 22 clubs in Serie B each played 42 matches during the regular season. The 2006–07 season marked the ...

, also causing the club 1 point, for irregularities on preparing quarterly management report on 30 March 2006.

Unione Triestina 2012 / U.S. Triestina Calcio 1918

On 31 July 2012 a new company Unione Triestina 2012 S.S.D. a. r.l. was founded, that restarted from

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

thanks to

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 ...

The sports title was later transferred to another "limited company in amateur sport" () U.S. Triestina Calcio 1918 s.s.d. a. r.l. in 2016. After the promotion to

on 4 August 2017, the company dropped the legal suffix "amateur sport" from the name.

Colors and badge

The club's badge features a white

spontoon A spontoon, sometimes known by the variant spelling espontoon or as a half-pike, is a type of European polearm that came into being alongside the pike. The spontoon was in common use from the mid-17th century to the early 19th century, but it wa ...

halberd A halberd (also called halbard, halbert or Swiss voulge), is a two-handed polearm that was in prominent use from the 13th to 16th centuries. The halberd consists of an axe blade topped with a spike mounted on a long shaft. It may have a hook or ...

—from where the club gets the nickname ''Gli Alabardati'' (The Halberded)—on a red background. This is inspired by the coat of arms and flag of the city of

. Other features of the badge include a shining white star and the words ''U. S. Triestina''. After this badge, the team's colours both home and

away Away may refer to: Film and television * ''Away'' (2016 film), a British film directed by David Blair * ''Away'' (2019 film), a Latvian animated silent film by Gints Zilbalodis * Away (2025 film), a drama film by Gerard Oms * ''Away'' (TV series ...

are red and white.

Honours

** Winners: 1957–58 *

** Winners: 1961–62, 1982–83 *

Coppa Italia Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C (), formerly named Coppa Italia Lega Pro, is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie C in Italian football first held in 1972. Format There are a total of six rounds in the competition. It begins i ...

** Winners: 1993–94

Divisional movements

Current squad

Out on loan

Former managers

* Rudolf Soutchek (1929–30) * István Tóth (1930–31) * Béla Révész (1931–32) * Károly Csapkay (1932–34) * István Tóth (1934–36) * Lajos Kovács (1936–37) * Mario Grassi (1932) *

Luis Monti Luis Felipe Monti (15 May 1901 – 9 September 1983) was an Italian Argentine footballer who played as a midfielder and an Olympian. Monti has the distinction of having played in two FIFA World Cup final matches with two different national teams ...

(1939–40) * Rudolf Soutchek (1940–41) * Mario Villini (1941–42) * Guido Testolina (1943–44) * Mario Villini (1945–46) *

Mario Varglien Mario Varglien (; 26 December 1905 – 11 August 1978), also known as Varglien I, was an Italian football player and manager born in Fiume (today Rijeka), who played as a midfielder. Club career Varglien played club football with Juventus for mo ...

(1946–47) *

(1947–50) *

Béla Guttmann Béla Guttmann (; 27 January 1899 – 28 August 1981) was a Hungarian footballer and coach. He was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, and was Jewish. He was deported by the Nazis to a Nazi slave labor camp where he was tortured; he survived the ...

(1950–52) * Mario Perazzolo (1952–53) *

(1953) * Severino Feruglio (1953–56) * Piero Pasinati (1956–57) * Aldo Olivieri (1957–59) * Guglielmo Trevisan (1959–61) * Vasco Tagliavini (1974–79) * Fulvio Varglien (1979–80) * Ottavio Bianchi (1980–81) * Adriano Buffoni (1981–84) *

Massimo Giacomini Massimo Giacomini (born 14 August 1939) is an Italian former football player and manager. Today, Giacomini is a TV pundit for the Italian television Udinese Channel. References External links Enzo Ferrari Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari (; ; 18 February 1898 – 14 August 1988) was an Italian racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of Scuderia Ferrari in Grand Prix motor racing, and subsequently of the Ferrari automobile marque. Under h ...

(1985–88) * Marino Lombardo (1988–90) *

(1993) * Adriano Buffoni (1993–94) * Franco Pezzato (1994–95) * Giorgio Roselli (1995–97) *

Adriano Lombardi Adriano Lombardi (7 August 1945 – 30 November 2007), nicknamed , was an Italian football player and coach, mostly known for his time spent at Avellino. Career Lombardi played as a midfielder with many teams, in particular Perugia, Como and Ave ...

(1997) *

Giuseppe Marchioro Giuseppe Marchioro (born 13 March 1936) is an Italian professional former footballer and manager. Career Footballer As a footballer, he grew up in A.C. Milan youth team, winning a Torneo di Viareggio in 1957. Later, he played only in lower Ita ...

(1997–98) * Paolo Beruatto & Giuseppe Dossena (1998) * Paolo Ferrario (1998–99) *

Andrea Mandorlini Andrea Mandorlini (born 17 July 1960) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. Playing career Mandorlini made his playing debut on 4 February 1979 with Torino. He left Torino in 1980 to join then-Serie B team Atalanta. Aft ...

(1999) * Maurizio Costantini (1999–2000) * Ezio Rossi (2000–03) *

Attilio Tesser Attilio Tesser (born 10 June 1958) is an Italian football manager and former player, currently in charge of club Triestina. Playing career A full-back, Tesser started his playing career with Treviso. He moved to Napoli in 1978, where he play ...

(2003–05) * Adriano Buffoni & Alessandro Calori (2005) *

(2005) * Francesco De Falco (2005) *

(2005–06) *

(2006–07) * Franco Varrella (2007) *

Rolando Maran Rolando Maran (born 14 July 1963) is an Italian football manager. His playing career as a defender was spent mostly with Chievo. He then managed several Serie B clubs, and after losing the promotion play-off final with Varese in 2012, had his f ...

(2007–09) * Luca Gotti (2009) *

Mario Somma Mario Somma (born 17 September 1963) is an Italian football manager. Playing career Somma, who was born in Latina, Lazio, started his career with Genoa and then spent his later years mostly at the Serie C1 and Serie C2 level, playing for several ...

(2009–10) *

Daniele Arrigoni Daniele Arrigoni (born 28 August 1959) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a defender. Playing career Arrigoni was born in Cesena. A defender, made fifteen Serie A appearances in his first professional playing se ...

(2010) *

Ivo Iaconi Ivo Iaconi (born 11 March 1956 in Teramo) is an Italian football manager and former player. Playing career A defender, Iaconi played mostly with Serie C and amateur clubs, starting his career with Giulianova in the 1970s. He retired in 1992 aft ...

(2010) * Sandro Salvioni (2010–11) * Massimo Pavanel (2011) * Gian Cesare Discepoli (2011) *

Giuseppe Galderisi Giuseppe Galderisi (; born 22 March 1963) is an Italian football manager and a former footballer who played as a forward. Club career At club level, Galderisi played for several Italian teams throughout his career, scoring almost 200 goals a ...

(2011–12) * Fabio Sambaldi (2012) * Maurizio Costantini (2012–13) * Fabio Rossitto (2013–14) * Stefano Lotti (2014) * Giuseppe Ferazzoli (2014–15) * Gianluca Gagliardi (2015) * Cristiano Masitto (2015) * Stefano Lotti (2015) * Elio Roncelli (2015) * Paolo Doardo (2015–16) * Roberto Bordin (2016) * Antonio Andreucci (2016–17) * Giuseppe Sannino (2017–18) * Nicola Princivalli (2018) * Massimo Pavanel (2018–2019) * Nicola Princivalli (2019) * Carmine Gautieri (2019–2020) * Giuseppe Pillon (2020–2021) *

Cristian Bucchi Cristian Bucchi (born 30 May 1977) is an Italian football manager and former player who is the head coach of club Arezzo. A forward, he was best known for his goal-scoring ability in Serie B during the peak of his career. Club career Early ca ...

(2021–2022) *

Andrea Bonatti Andrea Bonatti (born 6 August 1984) is an Italian professional football coach. Career His career started in 2008 as an athletic trainer for Lumezzane for two years. He continued with the same role with Crotone, Grosseto and Salernitana. In F ...

(2022) * Massimo Pavanel (2022–2023) * Augusto Gentilini (2023–2023) *

(2023–2024) * Roberto Bordin (2024) * Michele Santoni (2024) *

Pep Clotet Josep "Pep" Clotet Ruiz (born 28 April 1977) is a Spanish Association football, football coach. As well as working as assistant at several clubs, he managed UE Cornellà, Cornellà, UE Figueres, Figueres, RCD Espanyol B, Espanyol B, Halmstads B ...

(2024)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Triestina Football clubs in Italy Sport in Trieste Association football clubs established in 1918 Serie A clubs Serie B clubs Serie C clubs Serie D clubs Eccellenza 1918 establishments in Italy Phoenix clubs (association football) 1994 establishments in Italy 2012 establishments in Italy Coppa Italia Serie C winning clubs