A.S. Bari
Encyclopedia
Associazione Sportiva Bari is an Italian football
club founded in 1908, they are based in Bari
, Apulia and plays in Serie B
. The club have spent many seasons bouncing between the top two divisions in Italian football, Serie A
and Serie B
.
During 1927, the original football club representing the city was merged with a team named Liberty Bari, a year following this the new club was merged too, this time with US Ideale; hence the sometimes given foundation date of 1928.
Statistically Bari are the most successful club from the Apulia region, in terms of the all-time Serie A records. They are amongst the elite in Southern Italian
football and are ranked 17th in the all-time Serie A records for all of Italy. Notably they won the Mitropa Cup
in 1990. Bari also held the British football transfer record
, when it paid £ 5,500,000 for David Platt in 1991. It was the most expensive fee paid by a foreign club for a British player for four years.
One of the most notable achievements in the club's history was in the 1996 season, when their forward Igor Protti
became the top scorer in the Serie A with 24 goals. The club are known in the wider footballing world for producing Antonio Cassano
who was born in Bari, he shone at the club as a youngster.
The first players included many non-Italians, the FBC Bari originals included; founder Ludwig, along with Barther (English), Bach (Swiss), Attoma, Roth (Swiss), Labourdette (Spanish), Jovinet (French), Giordano, Gazagne (French), Randi and Ziegler. Originally the club wore red shirts with white shorts, early on they would play against English sailors at the San Lorenzo field in the San Pasquale area of Bari.
Although the club was founded early on, clubs from the Mezzogiorno
were not very well represented in the early Italian football championships and thus Bari did not take part in the early seasons. In fact only Campania had a regional section in the league from that area prior to the First World War. The war would see the original club becoming defunct, before being reorganised under the same name.
By this time other clubs from the city had begun playing too, including; Foot-Ball Club Liberty who originally wore blue and white stripes, they were founded as a dissident club from the original Bari in 1909 and their rivals Unione Sportiva Ideale who wore green and black stripes. In fact it was FBC Liberty who became the first ever side from the Province of Bari
to take part in the Italian Football Championship
, this was during the 1921–22 CCI season, when the main clubs in the country had a falling out with FIGC.
The following season
Ideale became the first side from Bari to progress to the Southern Italian semi-finals round, but lost out to Lazio
. All three clubs featured in the championship for the first time in 1924–25
however FBC Bari were relegated, Liberty on the other hand reached the Southern semi-finals before losing out heavily to Alba Roma
.
.
The whole of Italian football was changing during this period and beginning to become more organised, similar mergers were taking place in Naples
, Florence
and Rome around the same time. The second part of the Bari merger was competed on 27 February 1928 when FBC Bari merged with US Ideale to create Unione Sportiva Bari. The original US Bari shirts incorporated the stripes of Ideale, with the red and white colours of FBC Bari.
After the Italian Championship of 1928–29
, the league system was reorganised and Bari was placed in Serie B
. One of their players was called up to the Italian national football team that season for the first time, in the form of Raffaele Costantino
, this made Bari the first Serie B club to contribute a player and a scorer to the national side.
The 1930s and 1940s were Bari's golden age, spending much of that time in Serie A
with a finish of 7th in 1947 being the best they achieved.
In the 1950s Bari went into a sharp decline and an equally rapid revival towards the end of the decade to spend three more years in Serie A (1958–61). Stars of the team in this period included Biagio Catalano and Raúl Conti
. The club return to Serie A twice more in this period (1963–64 and 1969–70) with the latter proving especially harrowing with only 11 goals scored, the lowest of any top-flight club. In 1974 Bari descended to Serie C
, finishing that season with only 12 goals scored and 26 conceded in 38 games.
By the late 1970s Bari were back in Serie A and on something of an upward swing, narrowly missing promotion in 1982. They managed promotion to Serie A in 1985 and acquired English players Gordon Cowans
and Paul Rideout
, but they were unable to prevent an instant return to Serie B
.
A return to Serie A in 1989 with stars including stalwart defender Giovanni Loseto, midfielder Pietro Maiellaro
and Brazilian striker João Paulo
saw a respectable 10th place finish in 1990, their last season at the Della Vittoria
. The following season saw Bari move to the San Nicola stadium
, built for the 1990 World Cup, but by 1992– despite the signing of David Platt- they would be relegated once more.
Promotion in 1994 saw another two-year stay in Serie A with Igor Protti
a regular scorer, and another promotion in 1997 saw the emergence of promising youngsters like Nicola Ventola
, Gianluca Zambrotta
, Antonio Cassano
and Diego De Ascentis
. This time they managed a four-year stay in Serie A under the guidance of Eugenio Fascetti, despite his uneasy relationship with many sections of the club's support. The club has since had a generally indifferent spell in Serie B. However, having been near the top of the Serie B table for much of the 2008–09 season they gained promotion to Serie A on 8 May 2009, under the guidance of Antonio Conte
.
In November 2009, a take-over bid was rejected. A Texas
-based company JMJ Holdings also gave an intent to takeover in August 2009.
With Leonardo Bonucci
and Andrea Ranocchia
as centre-back and Barreto as striker, Bari preformed well in the first half of the season. Eventually Bari finished 10th. However, Bari losses €19 million in 2009 financial year., which Bari was quiet in 2010 summer and January 2011 transfer window, and failed to find a replacement of Bonucci and Ranocchia.
In the season 2010-11 after round 34, Bari were relegated to Serie B
, with the team 14 points short of the 17th placed Sampdoria
.
Bari have had many managers and trainers, some seasons they have had co-managers running the team, here is a chronological list of them from 1928 onwards:
: 3
Mitropa Cup
: 1
Football in Italy
Football is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italian national football team has won the FIFA World Cup 4 times , trailing only Brazil . Italy's club sides have won 27 major European trophies, making them the most successful European nation in the subject of football...
club founded in 1908, they are based in Bari
Bari
Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...
, Apulia and plays in Serie B
Serie B
Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...
. The club have spent many seasons bouncing between the top two divisions in Italian football, Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
and Serie B
Serie B
Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...
.
During 1927, the original football club representing the city was merged with a team named Liberty Bari, a year following this the new club was merged too, this time with US Ideale; hence the sometimes given foundation date of 1928.
Statistically Bari are the most successful club from the Apulia region, in terms of the all-time Serie A records. They are amongst the elite in Southern Italian
Southern Italian
Southern Italian , or Napoletano-Calabrese, is a group of Italo-Dalmatian Romance dialects spoken in Southern Lazio, Southern Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Basilicata, Apulia, and Northern Calabria....
football and are ranked 17th in the all-time Serie A records for all of Italy. Notably they won the Mitropa Cup
Mitropa Cup
The Mitropa Cup, officially called the La Coupe de l'Europe Centrale was one of the first really international major European football cups for club sides...
in 1990. Bari also held the British football transfer record
British football transfer record
The progression of the British football transfer fee record tracks the increases in the record for the highest transfer fee paid or received by British association football clubs. A transfer fee is the sum of money paid by one club to purchase the contract, and therefore the playing services, of a...
, when it paid £ 5,500,000 for David Platt in 1991. It was the most expensive fee paid by a foreign club for a British player for four years.
One of the most notable achievements in the club's history was in the 1996 season, when their forward Igor Protti
Igor Protti
Igor Protti is a former Italian footballer. He was a prolific, penalty box striker who became a legend at Livorno...
became the top scorer in the Serie A with 24 goals. The club are known in the wider footballing world for producing Antonio Cassano
Antonio Cassano
Antonio Cassano is an Italian footballer who plays for Serie A club Milan as a striker. Nicknamed Il Gioiello di Bari Vecchia , he is known for his short temper as much as his ability on the pitch, which led to the coining of the neologism Cassanata by his former coach, Fabio Capello, in November...
who was born in Bari, he shone at the club as a youngster.
History
Foot-Ball Club Bari was founded in the city on 15 January 1908. Like the majority of early Italian football clubs, foreign people were involved in the foundation of the club. Amongst the main founders were; German Floriano Ludwig, Swiss Gustavo Kuhn and a native trader of Bari called Giovanni Tiberini.Although the club was founded early on, clubs from the Mezzogiorno
Mezzogiorno
The Midday is a wide definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the southern half of the Italian state, encompassing the southern section of the continental Italian Peninsula and the two major islands of Sicily and Sardinia, in addition to a large number of minor islands...
were not very well represented in the early Italian football championships and thus Bari did not take part in the early seasons. In fact only Campania had a regional section in the league from that area prior to the First World War. The war would see the original club becoming defunct, before being reorganised under the same name.
By this time other clubs from the city had begun playing too, including; Foot-Ball Club Liberty who originally wore blue and white stripes, they were founded as a dissident club from the original Bari in 1909 and their rivals Unione Sportiva Ideale who wore green and black stripes. In fact it was FBC Liberty who became the first ever side from the Province of Bari
Province of Bari
The Province of Bari is a province in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Bari.It has an area of 5,138 km², and a total population of 1,594,109 . There are 48 comuni in the province, see Comuni of the Province of Bari...
to take part in the Italian Football Championship
Italian Football Championship
The Italian Football Championship was the most senior football championship in Italy from the 1897/1898 season to the 1921/1922 season. In that last season, a concurrent championship, the Prima Divisione, was played by the richest clubs, which wanted to improve their income with a more elitarian...
, this was during the 1921–22 CCI season, when the main clubs in the country had a falling out with FIGC.
The following season
Italian Football Championship 1922-23
The winner was Genoa C.F.C.-Pre-league qualifications:Due to the high numbers of partecipants, the FIGC had to organize a qualification tournament, in order to reduce them to three rounds of 12 sides each.Moreover, after U.S...
Ideale became the first side from Bari to progress to the Southern Italian semi-finals round, but lost out to Lazio
S.S. Lazio
Società Sportiva Lazio, commonly referred to as Lazio, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. The team, founded in 1900, play in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian football...
. All three clubs featured in the championship for the first time in 1924–25
Italian Football Championship 1924-25
The winner was Bologna F.C..-Classification:-Results table:* Please note that the home teams are read down the left hand side while the away teams are indicated along the top.-Classification:-Results table:...
however FBC Bari were relegated, Liberty on the other hand reached the Southern semi-finals before losing out heavily to Alba Roma
A.S. Roma
Associazione Sportiva Roma, commonly referred to as simply Roma, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma have participated in the top-tier of Italian football for all of their existence but one season in the early 50s...
.
Unione Sportiva Bari
A series of club mergers took place in the city over the course of two years, which would create one united club to represent Bari. The first merger took place between FBC Bari and FBC Liberty, they opted to keep the Bari name and first used it on 6 February 1927 in a match against Audace TarantoTaranto Sport
A.S. Taranto Calcio is an Italian association football club, based in Taranto, Apulia. The club was founded in 1904. Taranto currently plays in Lega Pro Prima Divisione, having last been in Serie B in 1993. The team's colors are red and blue.-History:...
.
The whole of Italian football was changing during this period and beginning to become more organised, similar mergers were taking place in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
and Rome around the same time. The second part of the Bari merger was competed on 27 February 1928 when FBC Bari merged with US Ideale to create Unione Sportiva Bari. The original US Bari shirts incorporated the stripes of Ideale, with the red and white colours of FBC Bari.
After the Italian Championship of 1928–29
Italian Football Championship 1928-29
The winner was Bologna. This was the last Italian Championship before Serie A and Serie B were instated.-Classification:-Results table:* Please note that the home teams are read down the left hand side while the away teams are indicated along the top....
, the league system was reorganised and Bari was placed in Serie B
Serie B
Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...
. One of their players was called up to the Italian national football team that season for the first time, in the form of Raffaele Costantino
Raffaele Costantino
Raffaele Costantino was an Italian football player from Bari, Apulia. At club level he played for hometown side AS Bari where he is remembered in high regard, he also played for a period of time at AS Roma.Costantino earned the distinction of being the first ever Serie B player to be called up to...
, this made Bari the first Serie B club to contribute a player and a scorer to the national side.
Between Serie A and Serie B
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
with a finish of 7th in 1947 being the best they achieved.
In the 1950s Bari went into a sharp decline and an equally rapid revival towards the end of the decade to spend three more years in Serie A (1958–61). Stars of the team in this period included Biagio Catalano and Raúl Conti
Raúl Conti
Raúl Conti is a retired Argentine professional football player. He also holds Italian citizenship.-External links:*...
. The club return to Serie A twice more in this period (1963–64 and 1969–70) with the latter proving especially harrowing with only 11 goals scored, the lowest of any top-flight club. In 1974 Bari descended to Serie C
Serie C
The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico , commonly known as Lega Pro , is the governing body that runs the third and fourth highest football divisions in Italy, the Prima Divisione and Seconda Divisione respectively. It also includes the sole professional club of San Marino...
, finishing that season with only 12 goals scored and 26 conceded in 38 games.
By the late 1970s Bari were back in Serie A and on something of an upward swing, narrowly missing promotion in 1982. They managed promotion to Serie A in 1985 and acquired English players Gordon Cowans
Gordon Cowans
Gordon Sidney Cowans is an English retired football player and coach.Cowans started his career at Aston Villa as an apprentice in 1974, and signed as a professional in 1976...
and Paul Rideout
Paul Rideout
Paul Rideout is a retired English professional football player who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He is a youth coach with Sporting Kansas City, heading their U-16, U-17 and U-18 teams.-Playing career:...
, but they were unable to prevent an instant return to Serie B
Serie B
Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...
.
A return to Serie A in 1989 with stars including stalwart defender Giovanni Loseto, midfielder Pietro Maiellaro
Pietro Maiellaro
Pietro Maiellaro is a former Italian football player, in the role of midfielder, and now a coach....
and Brazilian striker João Paulo
Sérgio Luís Donizetti
Sérgio Luís Donizetti, best known as João Paulo is an association footballer striker.-Career with Bari:...
saw a respectable 10th place finish in 1990, their last season at the Della Vittoria
Stadio della Vittoria
Stadio della Vittoria is a multi-purpose stadium in Bari, Italy. The stadium holds 40,400 people. In 1991, it was used as a refugee camp, for 20,000 Albanians refugees, of the ship Vlora....
. The following season saw Bari move to the San Nicola stadium
Stadio San Nicola
The Stadio San Nicola is a multi-use all-seater stadium designed by Renzo Piano in Bari, Italy. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Associazione Sportiva Bari. It hosted the 1991 European Cup Final, won by Red Star Belgrade. The stadium itself resembles a...
, built for the 1990 World Cup, but by 1992– despite the signing of David Platt- they would be relegated once more.
Promotion in 1994 saw another two-year stay in Serie A with Igor Protti
Igor Protti
Igor Protti is a former Italian footballer. He was a prolific, penalty box striker who became a legend at Livorno...
a regular scorer, and another promotion in 1997 saw the emergence of promising youngsters like Nicola Ventola
Nicola Ventola
Nicola Ventola is an Italian footballer playing as a striker. He was a member of the Italian squad at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and represented Italy in the under-21s team.He plays for Novara....
, Gianluca Zambrotta
Gianluca Zambrotta
Gianluca Zambrotta is a world cup winning Italian footballer who currently plays as a full back for Serie A club Milan.Zambrotta was decorated as Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2000 and he was made an Officer of the same order in 2006.-Como:Zambrotta began his...
, Antonio Cassano
Antonio Cassano
Antonio Cassano is an Italian footballer who plays for Serie A club Milan as a striker. Nicknamed Il Gioiello di Bari Vecchia , he is known for his short temper as much as his ability on the pitch, which led to the coining of the neologism Cassanata by his former coach, Fabio Capello, in November...
and Diego De Ascentis
Diego De Ascentis
Diego De Ascentis is an Italian football midfielder, who is currently a free agent.-Career:He started his career at Como and moved to A.S. Bari and A.C. Milan ....
. This time they managed a four-year stay in Serie A under the guidance of Eugenio Fascetti, despite his uneasy relationship with many sections of the club's support. The club has since had a generally indifferent spell in Serie B. However, having been near the top of the Serie B table for much of the 2008–09 season they gained promotion to Serie A on 8 May 2009, under the guidance of Antonio Conte
Antonio Conte
Antonio Conte is an Italian former footballer and manager. He is the current manager of Juventus.-Playing career:...
.
In November 2009, a take-over bid was rejected. A Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
-based company JMJ Holdings also gave an intent to takeover in August 2009.
With Leonardo Bonucci
Leonardo Bonucci
Leonardo Bonucci is an Italian footballer who plays as a defender for Serie A club Juventus and the Italian national team.-Internazionale:Bonucci started his career at Viterbese but was loaned to Internazionale in the summer of 2005. He played a number of pre-season friendlies for Inter first team...
and Andrea Ranocchia
Andrea Ranocchia
Andrea Ranocchia is an Italian footballer who plays as a defender for Serie A club Internazionale.-Club career:Born in Assisi in the province of Perugia, Ranocchia started his career at Perugia then in Arezzo. Ranocchia played for Arezzo's Primavera team in 2005–06 season and promoted to the first...
as centre-back and Barreto as striker, Bari preformed well in the first half of the season. Eventually Bari finished 10th. However, Bari losses €19 million in 2009 financial year., which Bari was quiet in 2010 summer and January 2011 transfer window, and failed to find a replacement of Bonucci and Ranocchia.
In the season 2010-11 after round 34, Bari were relegated to Serie B
Serie B
Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...
, with the team 14 points short of the 17th placed Sampdoria
U.C. Sampdoria
Unione Calcio Sampdoria is an Italian association football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria...
.
Current squad
Out on loan
Presidential history
The official presidential history of Bari, since 1929 until the present day.- Alfredo Atti (1929–31)
- Liborio Mincuzzi (1931–32)
- Sebastiano Roca (1932–33)
- Raffaele Tramonte (1933–34)
- Giovanni Tomasicchio (1934–35)
- Giovanni Di Cagno Abbrescia (1935–36)
- Vincenzo Signorile (1936–37)
- Giuseppe Abbruzzese (1937–38)
- Giambattista Patarino (1938–39)
- Angelo Albanese (1939–40)
- Pasquale Ranieri (1940–41)
- Giuseppe Santoro (1941–42)
- Antonio De Palma (1941–44)
- Andrea Somma (1942–43)
- Tommaso Annoscia (1944–50)
- Rocco Scafi (1950–51)
- Florenzo Brattelli (1951–52)
- Francesco Saverio Lonero (1952–53)
- Achille Tarsia Incuria (1953–56)
- Gianfranco Brunetti (1956–59)
- Vincenzo La Gioia (1959–61)
- Angelo Marino (1961–63)
- Angelo De Palo (1961–77)
- Antonio MatarreseAntonio MatarreseAntonio Matarrese is an Italian sports manager for soccer.-Career:Matarrese graduated with a degree in business administration and he is Certified Public Accountant. He is CEO of the S. Matarrese Plc Group...
(1977–83) - Vincenzo Matarrese (1983–2011)
- Claudio Garzelli (2011–) (as Chief Executive)
Managerial history
- See also .
Bari have had many managers and trainers, some seasons they have had co-managers running the team, here is a chronological list of them from 1928 onwards:
Honours
Serie BSerie B
Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...
: 3
- Champions: 1934–35Serie B 1934-35The Serie B 1934-35 was the sixth tournament of this competition played in Italy since its creation. This championship was organized with two gironi and a final round to determine the promoted team....
, 1941–42Serie B 1941-42-Final classification:-Results:...
, 2008–09Serie B 2008-09The 2008–09 Serie B season was the seventy-seventh since its establishment. A total of 22 teams will contest the league, 15 of which will be returning from the 2007–08 season, four of which will have been promoted from Serie C1 , and three relegated from Serie A.-Teams:Noted teams featured in the... - Runners-up: 1930–31Serie B 1930-31The Serie B 1930–31 was the second tournament of this competition played in Italy since its creation.-Final classification:-Results:...
, 1933–34Serie B 1933-34The Serie B 1933-34 was the fifth tournament of this competition played in Italy since its creation. This championship was organized with two gironi and a final round to determine the promoted team.-Girone A:-Final classification:-Results:...
(without promotion), 1957–58Serie B 1957-58This season had no relegation in order to expand the number of participants from 18 to 20.Moreover Bari, the second ranked team, had to play a qualification match with Verona, that ranked 17th in Serie A 1957-58.-Final classification:-Results:...
, 1962–63Serie B 1962-63-Final classification:-Results:-References and sources:*Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005...
, 1988–89, 1993–94Serie B 1993-94This article contains information on the 1993-1994 season of Serie B, the second highest football league in Italy.-Final classification:-Results:... - Other Promotions: 1927–28, 1968–69, 1984–85, 1996–97
Mitropa Cup
Mitropa Cup
The Mitropa Cup, officially called the La Coupe de l'Europe Centrale was one of the first really international major European football cups for club sides...
: 1
- Winners: 1990