Salernitana

From Unione Sportiva Salernitana to Salernitana Calcio 1919

The Salerno-based club was originally founded in 1919 as the Unione Sportiva Salernitana.^[] The club was known as Società Sportiva Salernitanaudax for a time^[][] during the 1920s following a merger with Audax Salerno.^[] In 1978, the club was renamed Salernitana Sport.^[] The club has spent the majority of its history at the Serie B and Serie C levels of Italian football.^[]

Salernitana play their home matches at Stadio Arechi.^[][]

In their early years, Salernitana competed in the regional Italian Football Championship for four seasons during the 1920s.^[] After that time, the club returned to the top level of Italian football twice; they played in Serie A during 1947–48 and 1998–99.^[]

In 2005, the club went bankrupt, but was restarted by Antonio Lombardi, changing the name from Salernitana Sport to Salernitana Calcio 1919.^[]

In 2011, the club did not appeal against a decision by Commissione di Vigilanza sulle Società di Calcio Professionistiche (Co.Vi.So.C) and was excluded from Italian football.

Club refoundation: from Serie D to the top flight

On 21 July 2011, following the exclusion of the original Salernitana club, Salerno mayor Vincenzo De Luca, in compliance with Article 52 of NOIF, assigned the new title to Marco Mezzaroma, brother-in-law of Lazio owner and chairman Claudio Lotito.^[] The new club was admitted to Serie D under the denomination of Salerno Calcio.

In the 2011–12 season, Salernitana was immediately promoted to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione after winning Group G of Serie D.^[]

On 12 July 2012, the club was renamed US Salernitana 1919. In the 2012–13 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione season, Salernitana finished first in Girone B, and was promoted to Lega Pro Prima Divisione.^[] This was the second consecutive promotion for the team.^[] Finally^[][][] Salernitana won Group C of Lega Pro^[] and returned Serie B in 2014–15 season.^[][][]

After several seasons at Serie B level, Salernitana won promotion to Serie A at the end of the 2020–21 Serie B season under the tenure of head coach Fabrizio Castori, finishing in 2nd place behind champions Empoli.^[] Promotion was secured with a 3–0 victory over Pescara on the final matchday.^[] Salernitana's return to Serie A, however, required Lotito and Mezzaroma to sell the club, due to Italian football laws not allowing two clubs from the same owner to play in the same league. On 7 July 2021, the FIGC Federal Council approved the trust of Salernitana to take control of the club, meaning it was officially enrolled in Serie A for the first time in 23 years.

Return to Serie A: 2021–present

Salernitana's first match in its return to the top flight was a 3–2 defeat against Bologna on 22 August 2021. After a poor start to the season, earning only one point from the first six matches, the club picked up its first Serie A victory against Genoa on matchday seven, winning 1–0 due to a goal from Milan Đurić. In October, the Salernitana board fired Castori after a 2–1 loss to Spezia had left the club at the bottom of the table, with four points from their opening eight league games. Stefano Colantuono was named as his replacement, returning for a second spell as head coach having previously led Salernitana from December 2017 to December 2018.

On 22 May 2022, Salernitana avoided relegation by finishing with the lowest points tally in Serie A history with just 31 points.^[][][] Salernitana managed to^[] pull off^[] the great escape^[] by securing 18 points from their last 15 matches.