From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lecce
Full name	Unione Sportiva Lecce SpA
Nickname(s)	Giallorossi (Yellow-Reds), Salentini (Salenters); Lupi del Sud (Southern Wolves)
Founded	March 15, 1908
Ground	Stadio Via del Mare, Lecce, Italy (Capacity 36,285[1])
Chairman	Giovanni Semeraro
Manager	Giuseppe Papadopulo
League	Serie B
2006-07	Serie B, 9th
Home colours 　 Away colours

Unione Sportiva Lecce or simply U.S. Lecce is a football club based in Lecce, Apulia. The club was formed in 1908 and has spent a large part of its seasons bouncing between Italy's second division and Serie A, where the team gained its first promotion in 1985.

The team plays in red and yellow stripes. Lecce's home games are played in the 36,285-seater Stadio Via del Mare. Currently Lecce are playing in the Italian league Serie B for the 2006-07 season.

Contents 1 History 1.1 League: Early years 1930s, 40s and 50s 1.2 Seventeen seasons of Serie C: 1960s, 70s and 80s 1.3 Promotion to Serie A: mid-1980s and 90s 1.4 Recent times 2 Current first team squad 2.1 Confirmed 2007-08 summer signings 3 Notable former players 4 Honours and Club Records 5 Player records 6 Stadium Information 7 References 8 External links

Lecce was founded as Sporting Club Lecce on 15 March 1908,^[1] initially the club comprise of football, track-and-field and cycling sports. The first club president was Francesco Marangi. The first colours worn by Lecce during this time were black and white stripes, known in Italy as bianconeri.

In its formative years, Lecce played in mostly regional leagues and competitions. During the 1923/24 season the club broke up, before coming back on 16 September 1927 as Unione Sportiva Lecce. The club were still wearing black and white stripes (similar to Juventus) at this point, and the first president under the name Unione Sportiva Lecce was Luigi Lopez y Rojo.

Taranto Sport played Lecce in a game for promotion to Serie B from the local Southern Italian league, Lecce were victorious winning 3-2 after extra time. They were entered into Serie B for the 1929/30 season, the first game they played in the league was against Novara Calcio on 6 October 1929 , which they won 2-1. They would eventually finished 13th. But for the second time in the clubs history, it sized activity at the end of the 1931-32 season.

Four years later, Lecce came back and went into Serie C, finishing 11th in their return season. Around this time the club was in termoil, the following season they withdrew from Serie C after four days, and then during the 1938-39 season they finished in 3rd place but were moved down to 12th after it was revealed that the club had violated the league's federal regulations.

The club finished 1st during the 1943-44 season, but club football was suspended for the Second World War. Non the less, when club football resumed they finished as champions of Serie C once more, gaining promotion back into Serie B. Two decent seasons followed (finishing 4th and 3rd in respective seasons), with star Silvestri scoring 20 goals in one season, before the club were relegated.

Lecce stayed down in Serie C for six seasons during this period, though this was not a particularly successful time for the club, striker Anselmo Bislenghi scored 83 goals for the club during this period, thus becoming a hero. The club slipped even lower to Serie IV where they spent three years.

From 1959 to 1975, Lecce had seventeen seasons in Serie C. They came extremely close to promotion several times during that period, finishing second three seasons in a row (1971-72, 1972-73, 1973-74) before gaining promotion in the 1975-76 season.

The same year as their promotion Lecce tasted cup success, winning the Coppa Italia Serie C. In 1976 Lecce took part in the Anglo-Italian Semiprofessional Cup, notching up a 4-0 victory against Scarborough F.C.,^[2] ].

During 1980, a scandal which rocked Italian football, Lecce under president Franco Jurlano occurred. However, Jurlano was able to demonstrate his innocence and the scandal only lead to disqualification of the player Claudius Merlo. The club was struck by a tragedy in 1983, players Michele Lo Russo and Ciro Pezzella died in an automotive accident. To this day, Lo Russo remains the club record holder for most number of appearances with 415.

Under the management of Eugenio Fascetti, Lecce would achieve promotion to Serie A for the first time in 1985. They finished bottom and were relegated after only one season, but defeated Roma 3-2 away in the penultimate game to deal a fatal blow to Roma's title hopes. Losing a promotion play-off 2-1 to Cesena the following season, they would return to Serie A in 1988.

Under Carlo Mazzone, Lecce finished a respectable 9th place in 1989. Stars of the side included striker Pedro Pasculli and midfielders Antonio Conte and Paolo Benedetti. They lasted three seasons before relegation, and returned two years later. Season 1993-94 saw Lecce finish last with a pitiful 11 points, the lowest ever of any Serie A team, and a second relegation came the following year.

Giampiero Ventura saw Lecce achieve successive promotions before leaving for Cagliari. Once more, it proved a struggle in Serie A despite the best efforts of striker Francesco Palmieri and a famous away win against AC Milan in 1997. Nonetheless the team were good enough to return to Serie A in 1999 and begin another three-year stint in the top-flight, with yet another return to Serie A in 2003. In 2004, under Delio Rossi, who had been managing the club since 2002, Lecce achieved an impressive result, reaching the 9th final position after an awful first half of the season. Famous performances include two sensactional victories in a row, first against Italian giants Juventus 4-3 in Turin and then they beat Internazionale FC 2-1 in Lecce, this helped the club to finish in 10th position. The following season in 2004-05 Zdenek Zeman oversaw a highly attack-minded team which scored plenty of goals, they ended up in 10th position.

The 2005-06 was a continual struggle for Lecce. The club has changed its manager two times (Silvio Baldini for Angelo Adamo Gregucci, and then to youth team coach Roberto Rizzo supported by goalkeeper coach Franco Paleari). The numerous managerial moves could not turn Lecce's fortune as they were relegated in 19th place. In June Giovanni Semeraro returned at the helm of the club after 9 months. The club re-appointed Zdenek Zeman as manager, just one year after he had left for Brescia.

Lecce were unable to avoid relegation from Serie A despite some initial hope due to the Serie A match-fixing scandal. The club had a mixed start to the 2006-07 season in Serie B, winning three home games (including a win against early league leaders, Genoa), though they have suffered poor away form. After a large drop in form, recording 10 losses in 18 matches, Zdenek Zeman was sacked as manager and replaced by Giuseppe Papadopulo. On March 10, 2007 Lecce clinched a historical victory over Frosinone, beaten 5-0 at Stadio Via del Mare. Having gained 36 points in the second-leg part of the season, Lecce ended the season in the middle of the table (9th place).

As of July 25, 2007^[3]

No. Position Player 1 GK Antonio Rosati 3 DF Tiziano Polenghi 4 DF Marcello Cottafava 5 DF Souleymane Diamoutene 6 DF Ângelo 7 MF Andrea Zanchetta 8 MF Gianni Munari 9 FW Elvis Abbruscato 10 MF Anej Lovrečič 11 DF Alberto Giuliatto 14 DF Medina Da Silva Fabiano 15 DF Hemza Mihoubi 16 DF Andrea Esposito

No. Position Player 17 MF Drissa Diarra 19 MF Luca Ariatti 20 FW Jaime Andrés Valdés 21 MF Andrea Ardito 23 DF Raffaele Schiavi 25 FW Axel Cédric Konan 26 GK Ugo Gabrieli (from youth team) 27 MF Antonio Tundo 28 DF Fabio Franceschini (from youth team) 30 FW Vittorio Triarico (from youth team) 32 FW Alessandro Tulli 80 MF Giuseppe Vives 90 FW Simone Tiribocchi 99 GK Francesco Benussi

Not including loan returns

No. Position Player 21 MF Andrea Ardito (from Torino)[4] 10 MF Anej Lovrečič (from Koper)[5] 9 FW Elvis Abbruscato (from Torino, co-ownership)[6] 14 DF Medina Da Silva Fabiano (Monza)

Marco Amelia Paolo Benedetti Sergio Brio Pasquale Bruno Stefano Casale Marco Cassetti Franco Causio Antonio Conte Francesco Cozza Domenico Di Carlo Alberto Di Chiara Stefano Di Chiara Cosimo Francioso Luigi Garzya

Giuseppe Giannini Fabrizio Lorieri Cristiano Lucarelli Francesco Moriero Salvatore Nobile Francesco Palmieri Ezio Rossi Marco Pecoraro Scanio Roberto Rizzo Giuliano Terraneo Gaetano Vasari Pietro Paolo Virdis Juan Alberto Barbas Cristian Ledesma

Pedro Pablo Pasculli Juárez Francisco Lima Mazinho Luís Carlos Tóffoli Valeri Bojinov Alexei Eremenko István Vincze Gheorghe Popescu Mirko Vučinić David Sesa Klas Ingesson Javier Chevantón Sergei Aleinikov Massimo Margiotta Ricardo Paciocco Gabriel Cichero Dejan Govedarica

See Also: Category:U.S. Lecce players

• Serie B
  • Promoted - 1984-85, 1987-88, 1992-93, 1996-97, 1998-99, 2002-03

• Serie C1
  • Champions - 1995-96

• Serie C
  • Champions - 1945-46, 1975-76

• Divisione I
  • Champions - 1928-29

• Divisione II
  • Promoted - 1927-28

• Serie IV
  • Promoted - 1957-58

• Coppa Italia Serie C
  • Champions - 1975-76

• Coppa Italo-Inglese Semiprofessionisti
  • Champions - 1975-76

All-time Top 10 Lecce Goalscorers

Player	Goals
Anselmo Bislenghi	87
Franco Cardinali	66
Pedro Pasculli	54
Aurelio De Marco	50
Gaetano Montenegro	49
Javier Chevantón	45
Luigi Silvestri	45
Pietro De Santis	43
Ennio Fiaschi	40
Giancarlo Ferrari	36

• Name - Stadio Via del Mare
• City - Lecce
• Capacity - 36,285[2]
• Inauguration - 1966
• Pitch Size - 105 x 70 metres

1. ^ Player History - Lecce formed 1908
2. ^ - RSSSF
3. ^ Assegnati i numeri delle maglie d'allenamento (Italian). US Lecce (2007-07-20). Retrieved on 2007-07-20.
4. ^ Ardito dal Torino al Lecce (Italian). US Lecce (2007-07-01). Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
5. ^ Lovrecic firma a titolo definitivo (Italian). US Lecce (2007-06-29). Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
6. ^ Arriva Abbruscato, Pellè lascia il ritiro per le visite mediche con l'Az Alkmaar (Italian). US Lecce (2007-07-25). Retrieved on 2007-07-25.

• Lecce's official website (Italian)
• Leccesidentro (Italian)
• WLecce (Italian)
• Lecce statistics (English)

Serie B • 2007-08 Clubs v • d • e
AlbinoLeffe • Ascoli • Avellino • Bari • Bologna • Brescia • Cesena • Chievo Frosinone • Grosseto • Lecce • Mantova • Messina • Modena • Piacenza Pisa • Ravenna • Rimini • Spezia • Treviso • Triestina • Vicenza
Serie B seasons
1929-30 • 1930-31 • 1931-32 • 1932-33 • 1933-34 • 1934-35 • 1935-36 • 1936-37 1937-38 • 1938-39 • 1939-40 • 1940-41 • 1941-42 • 1942-43 • 1945-46 • 1946-47 1947-48 • 1948-49 • 1949-50 • 1950-51 • 1951-52 • 1952-53 • 1953-54 • 1954-55 1955-56 • 1956-57 • 1957-58 • 1958-59 • 1959-60 • 1960-61 • 1961-62 • 1962-63 1963-64 • 1964-65 • 1965-66 • 1966-67 • 1967-68 • 1968-69 • 1969-70 • 1970-71 1971-72 • 1972-73 • 1973-74 • 1974-75 • 1975-76 • 1976-77 • 1977-78 • 1978-79 1979-80 • 1980-81 • 1981-82 • 1982-83 • 1983-84 • 1984-85 • 1985-86 • 1986-87 1987-88 • 1988-89 • 1989-90 • 1990-91 • 1991-92 • 1992-93 • 1993-94 • 1994-95 1995-96 • 1996-97 • 1997-98 • 1998-99 • 1999-00 • 2000-01 • 2001-02 • 2002-03 2003-04 • 2004-05 • 2005-06 • 2006-07 • 2007-08