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Siracusa
Full name	Unione Sportiva Siracusa SRL
Nickname(s)	Azzurri (All-Blues),; Aretusei
Founded	1924
Ground	Stadio Nicola De Simone,; Syracuse, Italy; (Capacity: 6,200)
Chairman	Luigi Salvoldi
Manager	Giuliano Sonzogni
League	Lega Pro Seconda Divisione C
2008–09	Serie D/I, 1st
Home colours	Away colours

Unione Sportiva Siracusa, commonly referred to as simply Siracusa or the abbreviation US Siracusa, is an Italian football club located in Syracuse, Sicily. The club was founded in 1924 and for most of its history has played in the lower divisions of professional Italian football;^[2] however, they currently play in Serie D for the 2008–09 season.

The highest position Siracusa have finished a season at within the Italian football league system is 5th in Serie B, this was achieved during 1950–51.^[2] As well as gaining several promotions during its history, Siracusa have won the Coppa Italia Serie C. For many years the club used the name Associazione Sportiva Siracusa, until they fell into financial troubles in the mid-1990s.

[edit] History

The earliest clubs representing the city of Syracuse were brought to the city by English sailors. The earliest of which were named Ortigia 1907; as the name suggests that club was founded in 1907, Esperia and Insuperabile. However, cycling remained the most popular sport by far during this time so these clubs did not reach much prominence.

[edit] Early years

This club was founded as Gruppo Sportivo Tommaso Gargallo on 1 April 1924, by two men who were part of the military, the lieutenant of the 75° infantry Genisio Pioletti and his advanced captain Luigi Santuccio. The club were entered into the Italian Serie C league. Successively the team switched its denomination to Associazione Sportiva Siracusa.

In 1945–46, Siracusa was admitted to Serie B, where played for seven consecutive seasons. After a relegation to the amateur leagues, Siracusa returned to Serie C in 1970–71, after two playoffs against Fincantieri, a team from Palermo, both ended in a tie: then, Siracusa won a tie-breaking coin toss and was awarded promotion.

In 1978–79, Siracusa won the Italian Serie C Cup, defeating Biellese in the final. That same year, Siracusa promoted to Serie C1, where played for two season. Siracusa played Serie C2 until 1988, when, under coach Paolo Lombardo, the Sicilian club gained promotion to Serie C1. In 1994–95, despite serious financial troubles, Siracusa almost reached promotion to Serie B under head coach Giuliano Sonzogni, losing on playoffs to Avellino. Successively, the team was not able to go on financially, and Siracusa was consequently cancelled by the Italian Football Federation. The second local team, U.S. Marcozzi Siracusa 1956 of regional Promozione league, successively switched to the current denomination, thus taking on the legacy of the old club.

[edit] Return

The team reached Serie D in 1999, but quickly relegated to Eccellenza. Siracusa returned to play Serie D in 2002; since then, the Sicilian team unsuccessfully tried to reach a spot into professional football until 2009, when they dominated the Girone I of Serie D, getting finally promoted back to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione (formerly known as Serie C2) in advance of six weeks, after a 2–0 home win to Rosarno in front of 5,000 local supporters.^[3]

In their first season back into professionalism, Siracusa have re-appointed Giuliano Sonzogni as head coach; fan favourite Sonzogin had already served as head coach in what proved to be the most successful season in the club history, in 1994–95.