Spezia Calcio 1906 - last updated on 22 January 2008
(Courtesy of Johnny Beaufays)
Club name: Spezia Calcio 1906
Foundation: October 10th 1906
City: La Spezia
Colours: White and black
Website: www.acspezia.com
Honours:
Coppa Italia Serie C - 1 (2004-05)
Supercoppa di Lega Serie C1 - 1 (2005-06)
Serie C - 3 (1928-29, 1935-36, 1939-40, 2005-06)
Serie C1 - 1 (2005-06)
Serie C2 - 2 (1979-80, 1985-86, 1999-00)
Serie D - 2 (1957-58, 1965-66)
A bit of history:
In 1944, because of the World War II the Italian football federation decided to split the top league in regional rounds. The team, named
42 °Corpo dei Vigili del Fuoco della Spezia (Firefighters of La Spezia) after a merger with the local firefighter in order to have a sufficient number of players, was included in Round D of Emilia-Romagna, together with Corradini Suzzara, Fidentina, Orlandi Busseto and Parma. Spezia won the round and qualified to the semi-finals, in which it challenged Suzzara, Carpi and Modena. Spezia won also this round, winning five of the six matches played, losing only to Carpi. By winning the semi-final round, Spezia was admitted to play a two-legs play-off against Bologna.
The first match, played in Bologna, was suspended because of incidents started after the 1-0 goal of Spezia, contested by the Bologna supporters; Spezia was awarded a 2-0 win because of that. The return match, scheduled to be played in La Spezia, was first moved to Carpi, because of the heavy bombings underwent by the Ligurian city in the period, then cancelled because of protest by Bologna chairman Renato Dall'Ara, so Spezia was admitted to the final without playing the return match.
The finals, held in Milan, were played against Venezia and Torino. On July 9, 1944, the first match between Spezia and Venezia was played: it ended in a 1-1 draw, commented by the Gazzetta as "surprising result".
On July 16, Spezia challenged the Great Torino, with Vittorio Pozzo as coach and Silvio Piola as striker. The matched ended in an epic 2-1 victory of Spezia. After the third match, in which Torino beat Venezia in a 5-2 win, Spezia was declared champion.
However, the Italian league of 1944 was not immediately considered as official by the Italian federation, because it was obtained during war times in a reduced league, and the first and only
scudetto of Spezia was finally awarded only in 2002 by the Federation, even if not counted officially as Italian championship triumph, but as "decoration".
Today, Spezia remembers the 1944 triumph by playing with a tricolour badge on the team's official jersey (but differ from the
Scudetto), with the authorization of the Football Federation.
Club crests: (roll on the crest to get more informations)
Spezia Calcio 1906
