A.C. ChievoVerona
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| Chievo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona SrL |
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| Nickname(s) | Mussi Volanti ("Flying Donkeys"), Ceo ("Chievo") |
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| Founded | 1929 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi, Verona, Italy |
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| Capacity | 42,160 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Luca Campedelli |
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| Manager | Luigi Del Neri |
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| League | Serie A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | Serie A, 7th (4th) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Associazione Calcio Chievo Verona ( most commonly called Chievo) is an Italian professional football club named after and based in a suburb of Verona, Veneto, and owned by Paluani, a cake company and the inspiration for their original name, Paluani Chievo.
The club's historic nickname is gialloblu (from the club colors of yellow and blue), but is more often referred to today as the Mussi Volanti ("Flying Donkeys" in the Verona dialect of Venetian). Local supporters often call the club simply Ceo, which is Veronese for Chievo. The "Flying Donkeys" nickname was originally a derogatory term from a playful match chant sung by fans from crosstown rivals Hellas Verona, who claimed Chievo had stolen Hellas' colors, name, and stadium. Hellas fans also said that 'donkeys would fly before Chievo made it to Serie A'. However, with Chievo now a secure Serie A side and Hellas struggling in Serie B, Chievo fans have now largely embraced the nickname as a badge of honor. Chievo's official Web site even shows an image of a flying donkey next to the club's crest, and the club's online shop sells a stuffed flying donkey doll.
The club's crest represents Cangrande I della Scala (an ancient seignor from Verona).
The club shares its stadium with Hellas which is the 42,160 seater Marcantonio Bentegodi stadium.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early years
The team was founded in 1929 by a small number of football fans from the small borough of Chievo, a Verona neighbourhood. Initially the club was not officially affiliated to the Italian Football Federation, but played under the denomination "Ond Chievo" imposed by the fascist regime several amateur tournament and friendly matches. The formal debut in an official league is dated November 8, 1931. The team colours at the time were blue and white. However, Chievo disbanded in 1936 because of economic woes, and the team returned to play in 1948 after World War II, being registered in the regional league of "Seconda Divisione" (Second Division). In 1957 the team moved to the "Carlantonio Bottagisio" parish field, where Chievo played until 1986. In 1959, after the restructuring of the football leagues, Chievo was admitted to play the "Seconda Categoria" (Second Category), a regional league placed next-to-last in the Italian football pyramid. That year, Chievo changed its denomination to "Cardi Chievo", after the new sponsor, and was quickly promoted to the "Prima Categoria", which it left in 1962 after having experienced its first (and only, as of today) relegation ever.
[edit] A series of promotions
In 1964, Luigi Campedelli, a businessman and owner of the Paluani company, is named new Chievo chairman. Under Campedelli's presidency, Chievo climbed the entire Italian pyramid, reaching the Serie D after the 1974/1975 season. Under the name "Paluani Chievo", the team is promoted to Serie C2 in 1986. After this promotion, Chievo was forced to move to the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi, the main venue in Verona; another promotion, to Serie C1, then arrived in 1989. In 1990, the team finally changed its name to the current one, "A.C. ChievoVerona".
In 1992, President Luigi Campedelli, who returned at the helm of the club two years before, died of a heart attack, and his son Luca Campedelli, aged just 23, became the new chairman. Luca Campedelli, the youngest chairman of all Italian professional football clubs, promoted Giovanni Sartori as Director of Football and named Alberto Malesani the new head coach. Under Malesani, the team astonishingly won the Serie C1 and was promoted to Serie B, where city rival Hellas Verona was playing at the time. In 1997, after Malesani signed for Fiorentina, Silvio Baldini was appointed new head coach. The following season, with Domenico Caso as new coach, saw the first dismissal ever in the presidency of Luca Campedelli, with Caso fired and replaced with Lorenzo Balestro.
In 2000/2001, Luigi Del Neri was signed as new coach, and led Chievo to a historic promotion to Serie A, the first-ever in the team's history, ending its Serie B run in third-place.
[edit] Serie A times
[edit] 2001-02
In its 2001/2002 Serie A debut, to everyone's great surprise the small and unconsidered Chievo, most critics' choice for an instant return to Serie B, quickly became the most astonishing team in the league, playing spectacular and entertaining football and even leading the top division for six consecutive weeks, finally ending the season with a highly respectable fifth place, qualifying the team to play in the UEFA Cup.
[edit] 2002-03 & 2003-04
In 2002/2003, Chievo debuted at the European level but were eliminated in the first round against Red Star Belgrade. The team finished the Serie A season in seventh place, again proving itself one of the most valued Serie A teams. The 2003/2004 season, the last with Del Neri at the helm, saw Chievo ending in ninth place.
[edit] 2004-05
The 2004/2005 season is remembered as one of the toughest ever in Chievo's history. Mario Beretta, a Serie A novice from Ternana, was named new coach: after a good start which brought Chievo to a third place behind Juventus and AC Milan, the team slowly lost positions in the Serie A table. Three matches before the end of the league, Chievo was third from last, a position which would relegate it to Serie B. As a last resort Beretta was fired and Maurizio D'Angelo, a highly respected former Chievo player, was appointed temporarily to replace him as coach. Morale improved, and two wins and a tie from the final three matches proved just enough to keep Chievo in Serie A.
[edit] 2005-06
In 2005/2006, Giuseppe Pillon of Treviso FBC was appointed as new coach. The team experienced a throwback to the successful Del Neri era, both in style of play and results, and Chievo consequently gained a place in the next UEFA Cup, ending the season in a solid seventh place. However, because of the football scandal involving several top-class teams, all placed before Chievo in the 2005/2006 season, the Flying Donkeys had a chance of playing the next Champions League preliminary phase.
[edit] 2006-07
On July 14, 2006, the verdict in the scandal was made public. Juventus, AC Milan and Fiorentina, all qualified for the 2006-07 Champions League, and Lazio, originally inscribed for the 2006-07 UEFA Cup, were all banned from UEFA competition for the 2006/07 season, although AC Milan were allowed to enter the Champions League after their appeal to FIGC. Chievo took up a place in the third qualifying stage of the competition along with AC Milan and faced Bulgarian Levski Sofia. Chievo lost the first leg 2-0 in Sofia and managed a 2-2 home draw on the second leg. Levski advanced to the Champions League group stage on a 4-2 aggregate score, and Chievo was knocked out. As a Champions League third round qualifying loser, Chievo was placed in the UEFA Cup final qualifying round. On August 25, 2006 Chievo was drawn to face Portuguese Braga. The first leg, played on September 14 in Braga, ended in a shock 2-0 win for the Portuguese side. The return match, played on September 28 in Verona, was won by Chievo 2-1. However, the Italian side lost 3-2 on aggregate and was knocked out of any further European competitions.
On October 16, 2006, following a 1-0 defeat against Torino F.C., head coach Giuseppe Pillon was fired, and replaced by Luigi Del Neri, one of the original symbols of the miracle Chievo, who had led the club to Serie A in 2002.
[edit] Current squad
[edit] Current first team squad
As of January 27, 2007 [1]
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For recent transfers, see the "Transfer Deals" section of 2006-07 in Italian football or the list of Serie A transfers 2006-07.
- Technical staff
- Luigi Del Neri – Head Coach (replacing Giuseppe Pillon from October 16, 2006)
- Francesco Conti – Assistant Coach
- Ugo Maranza, Roberto De Bellis – Fitness Coaches
- Graziano Vinti – Goalkeeping Coach
- Rinaldo Danese – Team Manager
- Francesco De Vita – Medical Director
- Giuliano Corradini – Club Doctor
- Giovanni Musatti – Orthopaedic Adviser
- Alfonso Casano, Marco Crivellari – Masseurs
- Davide De Angeli – Physiotherapist
- Silvano Danese, Luigi Perlina, Gianfranco Filippi - Kit Managers
[edit] Players out on loan
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GK | Mattia Passarini (on loan to Cremonese) | |
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GK | Enrico Alfonso (on loan to Pizzighettone) | |
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DF | Tommaso Chiecchi (on loan to Modena) | |
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DF | Francesco Carbone (on loan to Frosinone) | |
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DF | Stefano Oliveri (co-ownership with Pescara) | |
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DF | Emanuele Pesaresi (on loan to Triestina) | |
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MF | Filippo Agomeri Antonelli (on loan to Pescara) | |
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MF | Simone Bentivoglio (co-ownership with Juventus, on loan to Modena) | |
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MF | Alfredo Cariello (co-ownership with Crotone) | |
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MF | Emiliano Landolina (co-ownership with Roma, on loan to Prato) | |
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MF | Andrea Mengoni (on loan to Frosinone) | |
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FW | Diego Silva Reis (on loan to Prato) | |
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Federico Arduini (on loan to Mantova) | ||
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FW | Denis Godeas (on loan to Mantova) | |
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MF | Stefano Garzon (on loan to Avellino) | |
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MF | Mattia Marchesetti (on loan to Triestina) |
[edit] Retired numbers
- 6 Maurizio D'Angelo, sweeper/centre back, 1988-1989, 1991-2002, 2003-2004
- 30
Jason Mayélé, left/right winger, 2001-2002
[edit] Notable former players
- See Also: Category:A.C. ChievoVerona players
- Simone Barone
Oliver Bierhoff
Saša Bjelanović- Eugenio Corini
- Bernardo Corradi
- Stefano Fiore
- Alberto Fontana
- Nicola Legrottaglie
- Cristiano Lupatelli
- Massimo Marazzina
- Luca Marchegiani
Christian Manfredini
John Mensah- Simone Perrotta
- Flavio Roma
Mario Alberto Santana
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] External links
- Official site (Italian) (English)
