U.S.D. Nuorese Calcio are an Italian association football

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 from Nuoro

Nuoro

Nuoro is a city and comune in central-eastern Sardinia, Italy, situated on the slopes of the Monte Ortobene. It is the capital of the Province of Nuoro. With a population of 36,443 Nuoro is a city and comune (municipality) in central-eastern Sardinia, Italy, situated on the slopes of the Monte...

, Sardinia, founded in 1930. The club was known as A.S. Nuorese Calcio until 2006, and F.C. Nuorese Calcio from 2006 to 2008.

The colours of the team are blue and green.

History

Nuorese has a long history of playing in Serie C2

Serie C2

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione is the name of the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consists of 54 teams, but in the season 2010–11 the teams are only 49 divided geographically into three divisions of 17, 16 and 16 teams each...

 and top amateur leagues, and also featured a young Gianfranco Zola

Gianfranco Zola

Gianfranco Zola, OBE, Ufficiale OMRI is a retired Italian footballer and manager, who most recently managed West Ham United from 2008 to 2010, after having been assistant manager of the Italy U-21 under Pierluigi Casiraghi...

 during the 1980s.

In 2004 the club, then playing in the Eccellenza

Eccellenza

Eccellenza is the sixth level of Italian football. It is a regional league, composed of 28 divisions divided geographically. All 20 regions are represented by at least one division except for Piedmont and Aosta Valley which share 2 divisions...

 league, was acquired by former Torino

Torino F.C.

Torino Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Torino, is a professional Italian football club based in Turin, Piedmont, that was founded in 1906. The club has spent most of its history in the top tier in Italian football....

 chairman Roberto Goveani, with the aim to lead the verdeazzurri back into professionalism. Under Goveani, and under the captaincy of former Cagliari

Cagliari Calcio

Cagliari Calcio is an Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia. The club was formed in 1920 and currently plays in Italian Serie A, having spent a large part of recent years mainly in Serie A and Serie B....

 mainstay Gianluca Festa

Gianluca Festa

Gianluca Festa is an Italian footballer former defender turned coach-Playing career:Festa played with several notable teams, including Internazionale, AS Roma and Middlesbrough, being one of the first Italians to play in the Premier League. Festa arrived at Middlesbrough from Inter Milan in the...

, Nuorese promptly won two promotions in a row, being crowned Eccellenza Sardinia

Eccellenza Sardinia

Eccellenza Sardinia is the regional Eccellenza football division for clubs on the island of Sardinia, Italy. It consists of 16 teams competing in one group. The winning team is promoted to Serie D, the top level of Italian amateur football...

 champions in 2004–05 and Serie D – Girone B

Serie D

Serie D is the top level of the Italian non-professional football association called Lega Nazionale Dilettanti. The association represents over a million football players and thousands of football teams across Italy. Serie D ranks just below Lega Pro Seconda Divisione , and is thus considered the...

 winners in 2005–06, thus returning to play in Serie C2 the following season.

Playing in Serie C2/A

Serie C2 2006-07

The 2006-07 Serie C2 was the football league season of Italian Serie C2 for the years 2006 and 2007. It was divided into two phases: the regular season, played from September 3, 2006 to May 13, 2007 and the playoff phase. Once the regular season was over, teams placed 2nd to 5th entered a playoff...

 in 2006–07, Nuorese finished in fourth place, then losing the promotion playoff semifinal round to third-placed Pergocrema

U.S. Pergocrema 1932

Unione Sportiva Pergocrema 1932 is an Italian association football club, based in Crema, province of Cremona, Lombardy. The club was founded in 1932 as Pergolettese in Pergoletto, a suburb of the town. Pergocrema currently plays in Lega Pro Prima Divisione...

, 3–1 on aggregate.

Nuorese played again in Serie C2/A for the 2007–08 season, finishing the season in eighth place; however, due to its failure to present proper documentation to confirm their football membership, the club was dropped from professional leagues for the 2008–09 season. Nuorese was successively admitted to play amateur, regionally-based Promozione

Promozione

Promozione is the name of a level of football in Italy. It is considered to be the 7th level in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Promozione level progresses to their closest regional league in the Eccellenza level...

 league in 2008–09.

Noted players who spent days at Nuorese include Pietro Paolo Virdis

Pietro Paolo Virdis

Antonio Pietro Paolo Virdis is a former Italian footballer who played for Cagliari Calcio, Juventus F.C., Udinese Calcio, AC Milan and was part of their European Cup victory in 1989.-Club:...

, Gianfranco Zola

Gianfranco Zola

Gianfranco Zola, OBE, Ufficiale OMRI is a retired Italian footballer and manager, who most recently managed West Ham United from 2008 to 2010, after having been assistant manager of the Italy U-21 under Pierluigi Casiraghi...

 and, more recently, Gianluca Festa

Gianluca Festa

Gianluca Festa is an Italian footballer former defender turned coach-Playing career:Festa played with several notable teams, including Internazionale, AS Roma and Middlesbrough, being one of the first Italians to play in the Premier League. Festa arrived at Middlesbrough from Inter Milan in the...

 and former Belgium international Luis Oliveira

Luis Oliveira

Luis Airton Barroso Oliveira is a former Brazilian-Belgian football player and currently coach of the Nuorese.He spent most of his playing career in Italy.-Career:...

.

Noted players

Gianluca Festa

Gianluca Festa

Gianluca Festa is an Italian footballer former defender turned coach-Playing career:Festa played with several notable teams, including Internazionale, AS Roma and Middlesbrough, being one of the first Italians to play in the Premier League. Festa arrived at Middlesbrough from Inter Milan in the...

 Thomas Mandl

Thomas Mandl

Thomas Mandl is an Austrian football goalkeeper, who currently plays for Trenkwalder Admira in the Austrian Football First League.-Club career:...

 Luis Oliveira

Luis Oliveira

Luis Airton Barroso Oliveira is a former Brazilian-Belgian football player and currently coach of the Nuorese.He spent most of his playing career in Italy.-Career:...

 Pietro Paolo Virdis

Pietro Paolo Virdis

Antonio Pietro Paolo Virdis is a former Italian footballer who played for Cagliari Calcio, Juventus F.C., Udinese Calcio, AC Milan and was part of their European Cup victory in 1989.-Club:...

 Gianfranco Zola

Gianfranco Zola

Gianfranco Zola, OBE, Ufficiale OMRI is a retired Italian footballer and manager, who most recently managed West Ham United from 2008 to 2010, after having been assistant manager of the Italy U-21 under Pierluigi Casiraghi...

External links

Official website