Lecce

Lecce was established in 1908 as Sporting Club Lecce on 15 March 1908 and initially included cycling, track and field, and football sports. The first president of the club was Francesco Marangi. The first colors worn by Lecce during that period were white and black stripes, referred to in Italy as the bianconeri.

In its early years, Lecce played in mostly regional competitions and leagues. In the 1923-24 season, Lecce was disbanded before re-emerging on September 16, 1927 in the form of Unione Sportiva Lecce. The club was still sporting stripes in white and black (similar to Juventus kit) at this time with the initial president to be under that title Unione Sportiva Lecce was Luigi Lopez y Rojo.

Taranto Sport played Lecce in the game to gain promotion in Serie B from the local Southern Italian league; Lecce prevailed, winning 3-2 after extra time. Lecce were enrolled into Serie B for the 1929-30 season. The first game played for the club was against Novara on the 6th of October 1929. The result was a 2-1 win. Lecce ended up finishing 13th. However, for the first time in its history, it stopped playing after the 1931-32 season.

The following year, Lecce returned and competed Serie C, finishing 11th in their first season back. In the meantime Lecce was in turmoil. The next season they pulled out of Serie C after four days in the season 1938-39, the team finished third but were relegated to 12th place after it was discovered that the club had violated federal league rules.

The team finished in the top position during the 1943-44 season However, club football was suspended following World War II. But when club football returned, Lecce finished as champions of Serie C, gaining promotion back to Serie B. Two solid seasons were followed (finishing third and fourth in their respective seasons) The most notable of which was Silvestri who scored 20 goals within just one season before the club was dismissed.

Lecce continued to play to Serie C for six seasons in this time, but this was not an especially prosperous period for Lecce. The striker Anselmo Bislenghi scored 83 goals for the club in this time and became the hero of the club. The club fell further down to Serie IV, where they were for three years.

From 1959 until 1975, Lecce had 17 games during Serie C. They came very close to being promoted numerous times throughout the time as they finished in second place three times in succession (1971-72, 1972-73, 1973-1974) prior to gaining promotion during the season 1975-76.

In the same year of the club was promoted, Lecce tasted cup success and won their first cup, the Coppa Italia Serie C. In 1976, Lecce took part in the Anglo-Italian Cup, notching up the win with a score of 4-0 against Scarborough.

In the year 1980 an incident occurred that caused a ruckus in Italian football including Lecce under the leadership of president Franco Jurlano. The truth is, Jurlano was able to show his innocence and the scandal led to the exclusion of player Claudius Merlo. The club was hit by tragedy in 1983 when the players Michele Lo Russo and Ciro Pezzella were killed in an auto accident. In the present, Lo Russo remains the club record holder with the most games played, having 415.

Under the direction under the direction of Eugenio Fascetti Lecce could be promoted Serie A for the first time in 1985. They were bottom of the table and eliminated after just one season, but they beat Roma by a score of 3-2 in the final game of the season to deliver a devastating loss to the title hopes of Roma. In the play-off for promotion, they lost with a score of 2-1 to Cesena the following season they were relegated in Serie A in 1988.

under Carlo Mazzone, Lecce finished with a respectable ninth spot in 1989. Lecce's top players were forward Pedro Pasculli and midfielders Antonio Conte and Paolo Benedetti. They played for three seasons prior to losing their place, and then returned two years after. The 1993-94 season was the most disappointing, with Lecce end up in last place with just 11 points. This was the lowest score ever recorded by a Serie A team, and another relegation was announced the following season.

Giampiero Ventura helped Lecce get two advancements in the transition from Serie C to Serie A before he left for Cagliari. It was difficult to make it into Serie A despite the best efforts of striker Francesco Palmieri and a famous away victory against Milan on October 19 in 1997.

The summer of 1998 saw Pantaleo Corvino was appointed the new director of sports, and has since earned the reputation of scouting for promising young players for the future. The team was strong enough to be able to return in Serie A in 1999 and continue for a further three years in the top league, before the team returning in Serie A in 2003.

In 2004 under the direction of Delio Rossi who was the manager of this club from 2002 on, Lecce had a remarkable results, and reached a peak of tenth, despite a mediocre beginning to the season. The most memorable performances include two stunning victories in a row: firstly with Italian big-names Juventus with a score of 3-4 at Turin (the first time that Lecce has won on the Stadio Delle Alpi for Lecce) and later against Internazionale with a 2-1 win on the Stadio Via del Mare.

In the 2004-05 season the team's coach Zdenek Zeman managed an focused team who scored lots of goals. Lecce was able to finish the season with a tenth place finish, bringing into the spotlight stars such as Valeri Bojinov, and Mirko Vucinic. Lecce had the second best attack, scoring the most goals, 66 (Juventus had the top spot with 67) and the worst defense which conceded 73 goals. This is an incredible record, as it was the first time that a team with the weakest defence has survived throughout the entire history of Serie A.

It was a constant battle for Lecce. The club's manager changed twice (Silvio Baldini for Angelo Adamo Gregucci and in January 2006, the youth manager Roberto Rizzo, supported by goalkeeper coach Franco Paleari, for Baldini). The many managerial changes could not change the fortunes of Lecce as they were dropped with only a handful of games left and finished the season 19th. Then, in June of 2006 Giovanni Semeraro returned at the Lecce's helm for nine more months. The club was able to appoint Zdenek Zeman to be manager just one year after leaving the club.

Lecce did not manage to prevent the fate of being dropped to Serie A, despite some initial optimism due to an Serie A match-fixing scandal.

The club experienced mixed results to begin the 2006-07 season of Serie B, winning three home games (including an early win over leading league team Genoa) but they had a poor performance away. After a dramatic decline in performance, registering losing 10 times in 18 matches, Zeman was sacked as manager, and was succeeded with Giuseppe Papadopulo. On the 10th of March, 2007 Lecce won a historic victory against Frosinone defeated 5-1 at the Stadio Via Del Mare. After gaining 36 points during the second portion of the season Lecce finished its season with the top of the list at ninth. In 2007 Lecce had the most points of any team that is part of Serie B.

In 2007 and 2008, Lecce compete for a place within Serie A for the next season. Despite netting an impressive 83 points (12 more than the sixth-placed Pisa) and having the best defense of the tournament the Giallorossi were forced to play-offs in order to be promoted to the top division. In the semi-finals they defeated Pisa in both of their legs (1-0 in the away leg and then 2-1 home) to earn a place to play in the final with AlbinoLeffe. Then , they won the initial match 1-0 away after which they drew 1-1 in the second match in the Studio Via del Mare to be promoted.

There were rumors that kept coming up, Papadopulo quit due to an opinion clash regarding the chief manager. He became replaced Mario Beretta, who had an impressive start to the 2009-2010 Serie A season. The manager remained for a total of 27 games, but after four losses during the final five games and the team being just one point off the level of survival then he was fired as well. Luigi De Canio was appointed as the new manager. Seven points in 10 matches was not enough to earn Lecce to be in the following Serie A season. The club was officially relegated with just only one match remaining following a 1-1 draw at home against Fiorentina.

Lecce experienced a mixed start during this 2009-2010 Serie B campaign, but they won the top spot in November 2009, and held it for the remainder of the season. In May Lecce was just a few steps away from being promoted, but missed opportunities during their final two games resulted in them having to wait until their final game in order to commemorate their eight promotion to the top division over the past 25 years. A draw in the home stadium with Sassuolo helped them win their Serie B title with 75 points and also win the Coppa Ali della Vittoria.

Lecce finished a successful season in 2010-11 Serie A season successfully avoiding the relegation process with just one match to spare after defeating the arch-rival and already delegated Bari at home 2-0 on May 15th, 2011. In the final few games Lecce managed to beat a difficult battle against underdogs as well as magnificent teams like Sampdoria which ended the season with an euphoria. The manager Luigi De Canio left the team in June.

The 2011-12 Serie A season, Lecce was sent into Serie B. The season's start was not good and the new manager Eusebio Di Francesco, was dismissed in December after nine defeats in 13 games. Serse Cosmi was appointed as the new manager. Lecce did not give up because Cosmi's arrival infused battling characteristics in the relegation-strugglers who were able to earn scores during the subsequent months, but ultimately did not avoid relegation due to losing four times in the final five games. Lecce did not give up until the final match.

On August 10, 2012 Lecce received a provisional relegation in the Disciplinary Commission set up for the Scommessopoli scandal investigation 2011-13 Lega Pro Prima Divisione due to due to their role. In addition Semeraro, the president who was previously in charge of Lecce, Semeraro, was exiled from all football-related events for five consecutive years. On the 22nd of August, 2012, Lecce's demotion was approved in Lecce's Federal Court of Justice. The first time they were relegated to the third division, Lecce was ranked second in the outsiders' league behind Trapani and was defeated in the finals of the promotion playoffs by another outsider team, Carpi. The following season ended the same manner and ended with Lecce not winning the league again, and falling in the championship finals again to Frosinone despite the presence of top-quality signings, including the former Palermo player and famous Lecce supporters, Fabrizio Miccoli. In 2014-15, Lecce finished in the sixth spot and was not able to make the playoffs.

After the departure of Tesoro family the club was acquired by a group of businessmen led by Saverio Sticchi Damiani. The club finished the 2015-16 season third just two points ahead of the second-placed team. They also was able to qualify to play in the round of playoffs. After beating Bassano by 3-0 at home in the semi-finals, Lecce was defeated by Foggia at home and away game. The subsequent campaign, Lecce finished in second position. The team was eliminated in the play-off semi-finals against Alessandria in penalties following two draws in two games.

In September of 2017, Fabio Liverani was appointed as the new coach at Lecce and he received two promotions direct to Serie C to Serie A and brought Lecce's Salento club back into the Italian top league, after just seven seasons. Lecce was then fighting Genoa to survive and reached the final date of their 2019-20 campaign before being eliminated with an away loss to Parma. The salentini were not promoted into Serie A in the 2020-21 season, and lost against Venezia at the Play-off semi-finals following a 4th-place finish however, along with the guidance of coach Marco Baroni, won the 2021-22 Serie B championship, thus marking their 10th promotion to the top division and gaining with the Coppa Nexus. Lecce forward Massimo Coda was the leading scorer of Serie B for two seasons consecutively in both 2021-22 and 2020-21.

The team is represented in stripes of yellow and red as the colors of the heraldic the city. The Lecce fans and players are known as giallorossi or salentini. The official anthem for Lecce can be found in Giallorossi per Sempre composed by Gioy Rielli. Lecce's symbol Lecce is an emaciated female wolf seated under an oak tree with holm that is common to Apulia and also serves as the symbol for Lecce as a city. Lecce.

Lecce's home matches are played at the 31,533-seater Stadio Via del mare.

The most important rivalry is with the other football club that has been successful, the team located in Apulia, S.S.C. Bari. The game played against them is known as Derby di Puglia. First Derby di Puglia was played on December 8, 1929, during Serie B in Lecce, where the home team won by 1-0. The derby of Puglia was played several times throughout Serie C and Coppa Italia particularly when it came to Serie A. The first derby during Serie A was played on 27 October 1985 in Bari which was won by Bari's home side. The final one was held in Bari on May 15th, 2011, and ended with Lecce win 2-0, getting their place as a team in Serie A (however that match was later the subject of an investigation into match-fixing). As one of the biggest games in the derby of Lecce there's an Serie B match ended 4-0 in Bari on the 22nd of December in 2007.

On the other side, Lecce has a famous and long-standing connection with the Palermo fans. Palermo.

.

•  Antonio Conte – Scudetto-winning manager of Juventus and English Premier League-winning manager of Chelsea as well as former Juventus and Italy national team player; product of Lecce's youth system and Lecce native best known for his 13-year career playing for the bianconeri side
•  Graziano Pellè – Italy international, product of Lecce's youth system and San Cesario di Lecce native, he is from Monteroni di Lecce. He made his Serie A debut with Lecce in 2004
•  Javier Chevantón – Uruguay international, all-time top-scorer for Lecce
•  Juan Cuadrado – Colombia international
•  Guillermo Giacomazzi – Uruguay international
•  Fabrizio Miccoli – former Italy international and childhood supporter of the club. He was born in Nardò and is from San Donato di Lecce, a town close to Lecce
•  Luis Muriel – Colombia international
•  Massimo Oddo – part of the squad which won the 2006 FIFA World Cup, spent a season on loan at Lecce towards the end of his career
•  Dimitris Papadopoulos – Greece international and member of the UEFA Euro 2004-winning squad
•  Pedro Pablo Pasculli – Argentina international, 1986 FIFA World Cup Winner
•  Nenad Tomović – Serbia international
•  Mirko Vučinić – Montenegro international, began his career in Serie A with Lecce
•  Gheorghe Popescu – Romania international
•  Valeri Bojinov – Bulgaria international
•  Sebastjan Cimirotič – Slovenia international
•  Samuel Umtiti – France international, 2018 FIFA World Cup Winner
•  Franco Causio – Italy international, 1982 FIFA World Cup Winner
•  Christian Maggio – Italy international, spent a season on loan at Lecce towards the end of his career
•  Francesco Moriero – Italy international, began his career in Serie A with Lecce
•  Pietro Paolo Virdis – Italy international, ended his career in Lecce

Lecce have had many coaches throughout the history of a club, in some seasons more than one coach was in charge. Here is a chronological list of them from 1927 onwards.

.

• Serie B

• Champions (2): 2009–10, 2021–22

• Serie C
  • Champions (4): 1945–46, 1975–76, 1995–96, 2017–18
• Coppa Italia Serie C
  • Champions (1): 1975–76
• Anglo-Italian Semiprofessional Cup
  • Champions (1): 1976–77

• Campionato Nazionale Primavera
  • Champions (2): 2002–03, 2003–04
• Coppa Italia Primavera
  • Champions (2): 2001–02, 2004–05
• Supercoppa Primavera
  • Champions (2): 2004, 2005

.

Player	Appearances
Michele Lorusso	418
Guillermo Giacomazzi	312
Carmelo Miceli	291
Ruggero Cannito	249
Giuseppe Materazzi	228
Salvatore Di Somma	222
Pedro Pablo Pasculli	214
Angelo Maccagni	205
Luigi Piangerelli	205
Angelo Cesana	184

• Marco Cassetti (3 call-ups, 2 caps) – 2005
• Vincenzo Sicignano (1 call-up) – 2005
• Andrea Esposito (1 call-up) – 2009

• Giulio Donati (8 caps)
• Cesare Bovo (7 caps, 1 goal) (UEFA European under-21 Championship winner)
• Andrea Bertolacci (7 caps, 1 goal)
• Luigi Garzya (7 caps)
• Pierluigi Orlandini (6 caps)
• Marco Amelia (5 caps)
• Giampiero Maini (5 caps)
• Marco Baroni (5 caps)
• Jonathan Bachini (3 caps)
• Guido Marilungo (3 caps, 1 goal)
• Jonathan Bachini (3 caps)
• Alberto Di Chiara (2 caps)
• Graziano Pellè (2 caps)
• Andrea Rispoli (2 caps)
• Alessio Scarchilli (2 caps)
• Antonio Conte (1 cap)
• Francesco Moriero (1 cap)
• Massimo Margiotta (1 cap)
• Giacomo Cipriani (1 cap)
• Matteo Ferrari (1 cap)
• Erminio Rullo (1 cap)

• Simone Altobelli (3 caps)

• Pietro De Santis (3 caps)

List of foreign football players who had at least one cup in their national team while playing for Lecce

The following players have been selected by their country in the World Cup Finals, while playing for Lecce.

The following players have been selected by their country in the European Championship Finals, while playing for Lecce.

The following players have been selected by their country in the Copa América Finals, while playing for Lecce.

• Name – Stadio Via del Mare
• City – Lecce
• Capacity – 31,533
• Inauguration – 1966
• Pitch Size – 105 x 70 metres

Lecce is featured in a variety of famous Italian films and TV shows. In the list are the films Al bar dello sport, Benvenuti al Nord and Eccezzziunale truly (also known as Capitolo 2... my as well as the television series I Cesaroni.

U.S. Lecce is also featured in a variety of songs.

The game is in the game Captain Tsubasa 5: Hasha no Shogo Campione the principal character Tsubasa Ohzora is a member of this team.