Ground Capacity ca. 2,500 Manager Francesco Cozza League Serie D Founded 1909 | Chairman Giuseppe Leonardi Location Lentini, Italy Ground Lentini | |
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Full name Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Sicula Leonzio | ||
Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Sicula Leonzio, commonly known as Sicula Leonzio or Leonzio, is an Italian football club located in Lentini.
Contents
Throughout its history, Leonzio has competed in one Serie C, one Serie C1 and five Serie C2 seasons.
History
The club was founded in 1909 as Sport Club Leonzio by some students attending the Technical and Commercial Institute of Augusta. Among them, Giuseppe Messina, Angelino Nobile and Francesco Siracusano were from Lentini. They chose black and white as club's colors. After having participated in regional and juvenile tournaments for decades, Leonzio was admitted to the 1945–46 Serie C. At the end of the season economic troubles, which have characterized the club throughout its history, prevented Leonzio to renew the registration to the league.
Starting from the 1969–70, Leonzio competed for ten consecutive seasons in Serie D, achieving the second place as a best result in the 1972–73 Serie D.
The most prominent era of the club started in 1988, when Società Sportiva Atletico Leonzio was formed after the fusion between Società Sportiva Leonzio and Società Sportiva Atletico Catania. This new society joined the 1988–89 Serie C2. In the fifth consecutive seasons in Serie C2, Atletico Leonzio achieved the second place in Girone C, therefore got promoted to 1993–94 Serie C1. However, Franco Proto, the chairman at that time, decided to move the club to Catania at the end of the season. The fusion with Atletico Catania was, therefore, disrupted. The old club was reformed by the name of Società Sportiva Leonzio 1909, which enrolled the 1994–95 Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti.
At the end of the season, S.S. Leonzio 1909 were relegated to the 1995–96 Eccellenza Sicily, in which they will remain for six seasons before being relegated again to Promozione at the end of the season 2000–2001. In the summer of 2002, the title of the freshly promoted to Serie D Misterbanco was moved to Lentini under the nomination of Associazione Calcio Lentini, This new team participated to the 2002–03 Serie D, but at the end of the season it was relegated to Eccellenza after losing relegation play-offs Nuova Vibonese. In the meanwhile, S.S. Leonzio 1909 had participated in 2002–03 Promozione, being relegated to 2003–04 Prima Categoria at the end of the season.
A new club, Associazione Calcio Sporting Leonzio 1909, was created through the fusion of A.C. Lentini and S.S. Leonzio 1909 during the 2003 summer. A.C.S. Leonzio 1909 enrolled the 2003–04 Serie D. Even though the relegation was barely avoided by winning the relegation play-offs, the endless financial problems of the club forced it to join the 2004–05 Eccellenza instead with the name Associazione Calcio Leonzio 1909. By the 2009–10 season, Leonzio, which in the meanwhile had taken the name Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Leonzio, sank to Prima Categoria. In this season, they reached but lost promotion play-offs against Real San Cristoforo because of a tough 0–5 at home. However, Leonzio was admitted to the 2010–11 Promozione through repechage.
On April 2, 2011, Leonzio was promoted to Eccellenza by winning 1–0 against Comiso. Leonzio ended the 2011–12 Eccellenza at the fifteenth place with only 6 points. On August 2012, Leonzio remained without a chairman and did not enrolled any league. As a consequence, Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Atletico Leonzio restarted from Terza Categoria, the bottom of the Italian league system.
On July 1, 2013, a new club, named Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Sicula Leonzio and formed from the title of Real Belpassese, was admitted to Promozione. Sicula Leonzio achieved the third place at the end of the season, but they lost the promotion play-offs against Comprensorio Normanno, missing the promotion to Eccellenza. However, Sicula Leonzio achieved two promotions in a row in the following two seasons. In 2015–16, the club obtained the first place and was directly promoted. In the 2015–16 season, Sicula Leonzio achieved the third place and then beat 3–1 (a.e.t.) Troina in the semifinal and 1–0 Acireale in the final of the promotion play-offs. As a result, the team qualified for the national play-off for the promotion in Serie D, when they beat San Giorgio 1926 in the semi-final and Real Metapontino in the final.
Sicula Leonzio managed to keep a clean sheet for the first six league games of the 2015–16 Serie D (Girone I), receiving attention from the national Italian media as being the only team among the 264 professional football clubs in the first four tiers of Italian football league system having not conceded a goal up to that point. On November 22, 2016, Francesco Cozza was appointed as a new manager, replacing Seby Catania.
Colours and badge
Sicula Leonzio's colours are black and white.
Stadium
Sicula Leonzio play their home matches at the Stadio Angelino Nobile.