Sunday, 26 April 2026

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All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author
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Saturday, 25 April 2026

ITALY: Venezia FBC (1913-1915) / Aurora FBC (1915-1919) / AC Venezia (1919-1930) / SS Serenissima (1930-1934) / AFC Venezia (1934-1944) / AC Venezia (1945-1983) / Calcio Venezia (I) (1983-1987) / Calcio Venezia (II) (1987-1991) / AC Venezia 1907 (1991-2005) / SSC Venezia (2005-2009) / FBC Unione Venezia (2009-2015) / Venezia FC SSD (2015-2016) / Venezia FC (2016-)

Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo, Venice = Venetië = Venezia (Venezia FC, formerly Venezia FBC / Aurora FBC / AC Venezia / SS Serenissima / AFC Venezia / AC Venezia / Calcio Venezia (I) / Calcio Venezia (II) / AC Venezia 1907 / SSC Venezia / FBC Unione Venezia / Venezia FC SSD)

Italy, region: Veneto

25 IV 2026 / Venezia FC - Empoli FC 2-0 / Serie B (= ITA level 2)

Timeline
  • 1907 / Venezia Foot-Ball Club (FBC) sees the daylight as a merger between the fledgling football branches of two local sports clubs, Palestra Marziale di Venezia and SVG Costantino Reyer. One of the founders of the new club is Walter Aemisseger, a Swiss player who formerly wore the shirt of FC Winterthur. Venezia FBC, which joins the Federazione Italiana del Football (FIF, later renamed FIGC) straightaway, settles on a pitch laid out in the pine forest on the Isola di Sant’Elena (St Helen’s Island), at the eastern tip of the main island group in the lagoon of Venice.
  • 1909 / Venezia FBC competes in the first season of the Veneto football competition, the Terza Categoria Veneto – a confusing name, given that there was no Prima or Seconda Categoria at the time – finishing as runner-up behind AC Vicenza. As Vicenza disdains taking part in the play-off phase of the competition, Venezia FBC qualifies for the Lombardy-Veneto semifinal of the national title race, in which the club suffers a humiliating 18-3 aggregate defeat at the hands of US Milanese.
  • 1910 / For the second year running, Venezia FBC finishes as runner-up in the Veneto competition – named Seconda Categoria this time around – behind AC Vicenza. However, due to the less than promising result of Venezia against US Milanese the year before, no clubs from Veneto are admitted to the play-off phase of the competition by the Italian Football Association.
  • 1912 / Clinching the title in the so-called Prima Categoria Veneto-Emiliana, a mix of the best clubs from the Veneto and Emilia regions in northeastern Italy, finishing 1 point ahead of closest rivals AC Vicenza, Venezia FBC qualifies for the national title final against the northwestern champions SG Pro Vercelli, suffering another clear-cut defeat (13-0 aggr.).
  • 1913 / On the Isola di Sant’Elena, only a stone’s throw away from the location of the original pitch of Venezia FBC, a new pitch is laid out, surrounded by a running track, with a wooden stand being erected alongside its west-side touchline; the construction was able to hold some 500 spectators. The new ground, the Campo di Sant'Elena, is inaugurated on September 7th, 1913, with a match against Genoa CFC.
  • 1915 / Venezia FBC ceases its activities for the time being due to Italy becoming a party in World War I that same year – and regular league football coming to a standstill as a result. A smaller club, Aurora Foot-Ball Club (FBC), is formed to allow recreational football to be played at the Campo di Sant’Elena, while the war was going on. 
  • 1919 / As World War I ends and regular life is resumed across Italy, a merger is concluded between the old Venezia FBC and the recreational club of Aurora FBC, resulting in the foundation of Associazione Calcio (AC) Venezia, which is placed in the Prima Categoria, the top tier of Italian football, for the 1919-20 season.
  • 1921 / As a conflict arises between the FIGC and a large number of clubs, including AC Venezia, a new, rivalling football association is formed, the so-called Confederazione Calcista Italiana; AC Venezia is one of the clubs to join this CCI, which organises its own competition.
  • 1922 / As the conflict between the FIGC and the breakaway clubs comes to an end, a play-off competition is organised between top flight clubs from the two rivalling competitions, with AC Venezia suffering a 3-1 (aggr.) defeat against US Rivarolese, resulting in the club being placed in the FIGC Seconda Divisione for the 1922-23 season – i.e. suffering relegation from the top level. 
  • 1924 / AC Venezia finishes as joint runner-up in Seconda Divisione Group E alongside CS Dolo, 1 point behind champions CS Olympia Fiume.
  • ± 1925 / The wooden (main) stand of the Campo di Sant’Elena is knocked down and replaced with a grandstand erected in stone.
  • 1926 / Champions in Seconda Divisione Group D, 2 points ahead of closest rivals Treviso FBC, AC Venezia wins promotion to the Prima Divisione – which, following the introduction of the Divisione Nazionale for the 1926-27 season, becomes the second tier of Italian football. The club’s successful Austrian coach is Franz Sedlacek.
  • 1927 / Following heavy investment by fascist authorities, the refurbished ground, officially renamed Campo Sportivo Facista di Sant’Elena on the occasion, is re-inaugurated on May 8th, 1927 in the presence of Finance Minister Giuseppe Volpi, with a Popolare stand having being added on the east side of the pitch, following a design by engineer Bruno Guadagnini. Total capacity is now an estimated 10,000. Two weeks after the inauguration, an inaugural gala match is played between AC Venezia and DFC Prag (5-3).
  • 1928 / Runner-up in Prima Divisione North Group A, 6 points behind champions Atalanta BC, AC Venezia joins the club from Bergamo in the Divisione Nazionale, the top tier of Italian football. The successful coach is Aldo Nordio.
  • 1929 / Finishing in eleventh place in Divisione Nazionale Group B with Hungarian coach Antal Mally, AC Venezia is placed in the newly introduced Serie B alongside US Biellese, US Pistoiese, FC Hellas Verona, and US Fiumana. As a single-tiered Serie A is introduced, the two bottom clubs in Group B, AC Reggiana and AC Fiorentina, are even retrograded two steps, to the Prima Divisione.
  • 1930 / Pressed down by financial problems, the board of AC Venezia decides to give the club a fresh start in the 1930-31 season under a new name, Società Sportiva (SS) Serenissima – a reference to the former Republic of Venice (not to be confused by the Republic of San Marino, lending this same nickname to its football club later on), marked by the club taking on the red colours of the Venetian flag and St Mark’s Lion as its logo.
  • 1931 / The Campo Sportivo Fascista di Sant’Elena is officially renamed Stadio Ppier Luigi Penzo in honour of the Venetian-born former Italian army pilot who had perished in a plane crash in France in 1928.
  • 1934 / Finishing bottom of the table in Serie B Group B, SS Serenissima should have suffered relegation – were it not for the fact that this was overturned due to an expansion of the second tier of Italian football the following season, with the number of participating teams increasing from 26 to 32. In the summer of 1934, the club changes its name to become Associazione Fascista Calcio (AFC) Venezia, replacing the red colours of SS Serenissima with green and black. 
  • 1935 / Due to the two Serie B groups being brought back to just one for the 1935-36 season, an eleventh place in Serie B Group B is not enough for AFC Venezia, coached by Imre János Bekey, to avoid relegation – and the club is retrograded into Serie C alongside US Cremonese, AC Padova, USF Catanzaro, AFC Vicenza, AC Comense, AC Perugia, and bottom club GSF Giovanni Grion (Pola).
  • 1936 / Champions in Serie C Group A, 2 points ahead of derby rivals AFC Vicenza, AFC Venezia manages an immediate return to Serie B. The successful coach is József Bánás.
  • 1937 / Finishing in joint twelfth place in Serie B with US Pro Vercelli and Sicilian sides AFC Catania and AC Messina, AFC Venezia has to play in a relegation play-off to determine which of the four would be condemned to relegation; losing the semifinal against Pro Vercelli, the club meets AFC Catania in the ‘final’ in Rome, which it manages to win 4-0 – thus only just staving off relegation.
  • 1939 / Joint runner-up in Serie B with Atalanta BC, 2 points behind champions AC Fiorentina, AFC Venezia wins promotion to Serie A by virtue of having a better goal average than the club from Bergamo. Promotion was secured on the final day of the season in the most dramatic of ways, beating Atalanta in Bergamo (0-1); the winning goal, scored by Francesco Pernigo, was celebrated by 5,000 fans from Venice who had travelled along to Lombardy. Venezia’s successful coach was Giuseppe Girani, who replaced Luigi Barbesino in the course of the season. This promotion marked the return of top flight football to Venice after an absence of ten years. In the summer of 1939, renovations and expansions are carried out to bring the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo up to Serie A standards. For this purpose, the main stand and the Popolare stand opposite to it were extended north and south with the addition of curved extensions and further expanded with stalls, maximising the available space near the edges of the pitch. The first stands were also built on the short sides of the pitch, in the form of low, wooden structures, five or six tiers high. Total capacity is now up to an estimated 22,000. 
  • 1941 / In what is the highlight in club history, AFC Venezia conquers the Coppa Italia, the country’s main cup competition. Reaching the final by successively eliminating PF Mario Umberto Borzecchini (Terni), AC Udinese, Bologna AGC, and SS Lazio, the club manages to defeat AS Roma 4-3 on aggregate, drawing away in Rome (3-3) and defeating the club from the capital at the Stadio Penzo in front of 15,000 spectators; the only goal of the match was scored by star midfielder Ezio Loik, who had joined from AC Milano one year previously. The successful coach of this victorious side was Giovanni Battista Rebuffo, who had taken over from Giuseppe Girani in the course of the season.
  • 1942 / In the best league result in club history, AFC Venezia finishes in third place in the Serie A, behind AS Roma and AC Torino. Midfielder Ezio Loik, who had scored the decisive goal in the final of the Coppa Italia the year before, leaves the club following the 1941-42 season, signing a contract with AC Torino. He would be part of the golden generation of AC Torino, while also winning 9 caps (4 goals) for Italy – and eventually losing his life along with most of his teammates in the notorious Superga air disaster in 1949.
  • 1943 / Finishing in fourteenth place in Serie A, AFC Venezia eventually secures its place in the top flight in a relegation play-off against US Bari and US Triestina – first engaging in a three-way play-off, in which the club draws against Bari and suffers defeat against Triestina, with the latter thus saving its skin. In an extra tie-breaker, played at Bologna’s Stadio Littoriale, Venezia defeats the club from Apulia, managing a clear-cut 3-0. Moreover, the club from Venice also reaches the final of the Coppa Italia for the second time in three years, however having to leave the honours to AC Torino (4-0) in the final played at the Arena Civica in Milan.
  • 1944 / In a temporary league with teams from Veneto, organised to replace regular league football which had come to a standstill in the latter stages of World War II, AFC Venezia finishes in first place in Group A, 4 points ahead of AFC Treviso. In the final against Group B team AC Verona, the club manages a 7-3 aggregate win, thus crowning themselves as Veneto champions – with no nationwide league title being disputed. In 1944-45, no league football goes on in Italy for the reasons described above.
  • 1945 / After one year of inactivity, AFC Venezia is re-established, obviously doing away with its fascist epithet, as Associazione Calcio (AC) Venezia. The club is placed in the Serie A for the 1945-46 season.
  • 1947 / Coached by Nereo Marini, AC Venezia finishes in second-last place in Serie A, resulting in the club being retrograded to Serie B along with the club in third-last place, AC Brescia. In an act of Italian patriotism, the Italian Football Association refused to allow bottom club US Triestina to go down into Serie B, due to the city of Trieste being claimed by Tito’s Yugoslavia at the time – a claim which would eventually be rejected by the Great Powers. After the season, Venezia striker Francesco Pernigo leaves the club after nine years, in which he scored 70 goals – a club record – to sign a deal with Modena Calcio; Pernigo would go on to be included in the Italian squad for the 1948 Summer Olympics, scoring 5 goals in 2 matches in the tournament in London.
  • 1949 / Runner-up in Serie B, 8 points behind champions AC Como, AC Venezia wins promotion to Serie A. The successful coach is Mario Villini.
  • 1950 / Finishing bottom of the Serie A table with coach Astro Galli, AC Venezia drops back into Serie B after just one season, alongside the club in second-last place, AS Bari.
  • 1952 / Finishing in sixteenth place in Serie B with coach Mario Villini, who replaced Sandro Puppo in the course of the season, AC Venezia suffers relegation into Serie C, alongside US Livorno, Pisa SC, AC Reggiani, and bottom club AC Stabia.
  • 1955 / Carlo Alberto Quario, former striker of AC Napoli, AS Ambrosiana-Inter, AC Brescia, and several other clubs, joins AC Venezia as coach. Quario would be at the helm of the club during three spells (1955-59, 1960-63, and 1968-70), leading it to several of its most important post-war successes – and still being the longest-serving Venezia coach until the present day.
  • 1956 / Joint champions in Serie C with SS Sambenedettese, 1 point ahead of number three club GS Carbosarda, AC Venezia wins promotion to Serie B alongside the club from San Benedetto del Tronto. The successful coach is Carlo Alberto Quario.
  • 1957 / Young Venezia striker Paolo Barison, who had made his debut in the club’s first team in 1954 at the age of 18, leaves the club for Genoa CFC – having a successful career ahead of him, with spells at Milan AC, UC Sampdoria, AS Roma, and SSC Napoli; Barison would also win 9 caps (6 goals) for Italy.
  • 1960 / Finishing in joint sixteenth place in Serie B with AS Simmenthal-Monza and AS Taranto, AC Venezia saves its skin in a play-off against these two clubs, suffering defeat against Monza, but defeating Taranto – and thereby condemning the club from Apulia, which fails to beat Monza in the third match, to relegation to Serie C.
  • 1961 / Champions in Serie B, 1 point ahead of closest rivals AC Ozo Mantova, AC Venezia manages a return to the top flight of Italian football after eleven years, being accompanied by the club from Mantua as well as number-three finishers US Palermo. The successful coach is Carlo Alberto Quario.
  • 1963 / Coached by Carlo Alberto Quario, AC Venezia finishes in second-last place in Serie A, thus dropping back into Serie B alongside AC Napoli and bottom club US Palermo.
  • 1966 / Champions in Serie B, 1 point ahead of AC Lecco, AC Venezia wins promotion to Serie A along with the Lombardian club as well as AC Mantova. The successful coach is Armando Segato. Following the promotion, renovation works were undertaken at the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo, with the Popolare stand being expanded and the two behind-goal constructions being rebuilt with a larger capacity in wood and tubular steel. In this way, aided by the lax regulations regarding safety and crowd restrictions of the time, the stadium reached its maximum capacity; for the 1966 league match against Milan AC, a total of 26,000 tickets were sold.
  • 1967 / Finishing in joint last place in Serie A with coach Armando Segato, AC Venezia drops back into Serie B along with SS Lazio, US Foggia & Intercedit, and fellow bottom finishers AC Lecco. 
  • 1968 / Finishing in joint third-last place in Serie B with AC Perugia, AC Lecco, Genoa 1893, and ACR Messina, AC Venezia meets these four clubs in a tie-break competition to determine which two of them would join bottom finishers AC Novara and Potenza SC in Serie C the following season. In a half competition, all clubs finish on 5 points – with the exception of Messina, which loses all four of its matches. With the Sicilian club thus being condemned to relegation, a new half competition is held to determine the fourth and last drop-out; in this last act of the season, Venezia, still coached by Armando Segato, loses all three of its matches, thus ultimately suffering relegation to the third tier of the Italian football pyramid. Later that same year, on November 3rd, 1968, the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo hosts an international rugby match between Italy and West Germany, with the home side managing a 22-14 win.
  • 1969 / Nine years after joining AC Venezia from Modena FC, midfielder Gianni Grosso hangs up his boots, having worn the green-and-black shirt in 269 official matches – a club record which has not been broken since.
  • 1970 / In September 1970, a tornado hits the Isola di Sant’Elena and the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo, causing heavy damage at the stadium. Due to the meagre results of the club in those years, which meant that home matches were attended by relatively small crowds, the devastation is only partially repaired, with total ground capacity thus being reduced to just over 5,000 places.
  • 1977 / Finishing bottom of the table in Serie C Group A with coach Mario Ardizzon, AC Venezia suffers the humiliation of descending into Serie D along with US Albese and FBC Union Clodia Sottomarina.
  • 1978 / Due to the introduction of a Serie C2 in between Serie C and Serie D, AC Venezia now finds itself sitting at the fifth level of the Italian football pyramid.
  • 1979 / Runner-up in Serie D Group B, 1 point behind AC Pordenone, AC Venezia wins promotion to Serie C2. The decisive points are clinched in a 1-0 home win over Pordenone, with Nello Scarpa scoring the only goal of the match in front of a crowd of 11,000. The successful coach is Beniamino Cancian, who replaced Humberto Rosa in the course of the season.
  • ± 1981 / The Popolare Stand at the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo, which had become unsafe following years of lack of maintenance, was knocked down and replaced by a new tubular steel stand, the Distinti, located on top of that the athletics track. This renovation having been carried out, the organised Venetian fan groups, who had previously occupied this area, decided to move to the Curva Nord, which was also rebuilt with prefabricated metal structures.
  • 1982 / Finishing in third-last place in Serie C2 Group B with coach Paolo Ferraro, who had replaced Leonardo Castigliola in the course of the season, AC Venezia descends into the Campionato Interregionale – as the Serie D had meanwhile been renamed – alongside AS L’Aquila and SS Chieti.
  • 1983 / Champions in the Campionato Interregionale Group C, 7 points ahead of closest rivals AC Contarina, AC Venezia manages an immediate return to the Serie C2. The successful coach is Gianni Rossi, who had replaced Paolo Ferrario in the course of the season. However, due to financial problems, the club is declared insolvent at the end of the 1982-83 season, with a name change to Calcio Venezia being sufficient to avoid outright bankruptcy. As if that were not enough, increasingly significant problems began to appear in the Stadio Penzo, the capacity of which had to be reduced to just 2,500 spectators – later increased again to 4,845 with a stopgap solution.
  • 1987 / After spending its four last years as an independent club at the Serie C2 level, Calcio Venezia concludes a merger with AC Mestre from the mainland part of Venice, a club with which it had been developing a rather fierce rivalry since dropping back into the lower tiers of national league football in the late 1970s. Founded as US Mestrina, the club from Mestre had taken on the name AC Mestre in 1980. The new merger club takes on the name Calcio Venezia-Mestre, with the orange clours of AC Mestre being added to the green and black of Venezia. In a move heavily resented in Venice proper, home matches of the newly formed merger club are staged at the Stadio Francesco Baracca in Mestre, with the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo being abandoned completely; in fact, most of the temporary stands of the Stadio Penzo were taken along and rebuilt at the ground in Mestre. To fill the void in the lagoon area of the city, a new non-league club is formed, taking on the name of the pre-merger club, Calcio Venezia, and settling at the Stadio Penzo. This new Calcio Venezia plays its football in the Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti.
  • 1988 / Runner-up in Serie C2 Group B, 1 point behind champions AC Mantova, Calcio Venezia-Mestre wins promotion to Serie C1. The successful coach is Ferruccio Mazzola.
  • 1989 / Calcio Venezia-Mestre changes its name to become Associazione Calcio (AC) Venezia 1907, a near-return to the green-and-black club pre-merger denomination.
  • 1991 / Joint runner-up in Serie C Group A with Como Calcio, 1 point behind champions Piacenza FBC, AC Venezia 1907 meets the club from the Italian-Swiss border in a play-off, oddly staged in Cesena’s Stadio Dino Manuzzi. Winning the encounter 2-1, Venezia thus wins promotion to Serie B. The successful coach is Alberto Zaccheroni. At that point, club authorities chose to return to the Stadio Penzo due to the lack of opportunities to expand the Stadio Baracca in Mestre. In a thorough renovation round, the athletics track surrounding the pitch was dismantled, while only the main stand was left in place – with all other three being knocked down and replaced with tubular steel constructions much closer to the pitch. All of this increased total capacity of the ground to 16,500. Meanwhile, plans were drawn up for a new stadium in Tessera, near the Marco Polo Airport on the mainland – plans which would be shelved in the following years. The return to AC Venezia 1907 to the Penzo stadium led to the demise of non-leaguers Calcio Venezia, which had settled at the ground four years previously. Meanwhile, in mainland Venice, the smaller club US La Malcontenta moves into the now vacant Stadio Francesco Baracca in Mestre, taking on the new name US Malcontenta-Mestrina. AC Venezia 1907 maintains its links with Mestre, though, as training sessions are held at the Centro Sportivo Taliercio in this part of the city. Following the promotion to Serie B in 1991, Venezia signs several high profile players, most notably Francesco Romano, a midfielder who had been part of Italy’s Euro 1988 squad (as an unused sub). Romano, who joined the club from Torino FC, had had previous spells at AC Reggiana, Milan AC, US Triestina, and SSC Napoli.
  • 1993 / Francesco Romano leaves AC Venezia 1907 after two seasons to sign a contract with US Triestina.
  • 1994 / AC Venezia 1907 signs Christian Vieri, a young striker who joins the club from US Ravenna. Vieri would only stay at Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo for one season, leaving for Atalanta BC. Vieri would go on to have a successful career with spells at Juventus FC, Club Atlético Madrid, SS Lazio, FC Internazionale, and AC Milan – moreover winning 49 caps for Italy.
  • 1998 / Runner-up in the Serie B, 8 points behind Salernitana Sport, AC Venezia 1907 wins promotion to the Serie A along with the aforementioned club as well as Cagliari Calcio and AC Perugia. This marks the return of top flight football to Venice after an absence of 31 years. The successful coach is Walter Novellino. 
  • 1999 / In the second half of the 1998-99 season, AC Venezia 1907 is joined on loan by Uruguayan international striker Álvaro Recoba of FC Internazionale. With his eleven goals (in 19 matches), Recoba plays no mean part in the club’s survival in Serie A. With Recoba leaving the club after this half season, Venezia is joined in the 1999 mid-season by Austrian goalkeeper Michael Konsel of AS Roma. The 43-fold Austrian international, who had defended the goal of SK Rapid for many years, would stay with Venezia for just one season, hanging up his boots in 2000 at the age of 38.
  • 2000 / Finishing in sixteenth place in Serie A with coach Francesco Oddo, who replaced Luciano Spalletti in the course of the season, AC Venezia 1907 descends into Serie B after two years, alongside Torino Calcio, Cagliari Calcio, and bottom club Piacenza FBC. In the mid-season, Venezia is joined by a new coach, Cesare Prandelli of Hellas Verona FC.
  • 2001 / Finishing in fourth place in Serie B, AC Venezia 1907 wins promotion to Serie A along with champions Torino Calcio as well as Piacenza FBC and AC Chievo Verona. The successful coach is Cesare Prandelli. For the new season, Venezia signs two Swedish international players, defender Joachim Björklund of Rangers FC and midfielder Daniel Andersson of AS Bari. Following a weak start of the 2001-02 season, Cesare Prandelli is replaced as coach by Alfredo Magni; Prandelli would go on to have a successful coaching career with spells at, among others, Parma AC, AS Roma, AC Fiorentina, the Italian national team, Valencia CF, and Genoa CFC.
  • 2002 / Finishing bottom of the Serie A table with coach Alfredo Magni, AC Venezia 1907 drops back into the Serie B after just one season, alongside Hellas Verona FC, US Lecce, and AC Fiorentina. Both of Prandelli’s Swedish signings leave the club, with Björklund joining Sunderland AFC and Andersson signing a contract with AC Chievo Verona.
  • 2004 / Finishing in joint twentieth place in Serie B with AS Bari, AC Venezia 1907 avoids relegation by virtue of defeating the Apulian club in a relegation play-off (2-1 aggr.). 
  • 2005 / Finishing in third-last place in Serie B with coach Andrea Manzo – the third trainer leading the club that season, after Julio César Ribas and Ezio Glerean – AC Venezia 1907 suffers relegation to Serie C1 alongside Pescara Calcio, US Catanzaro, and Genoa CFC. In fact, the club would have been put on trial over a scandal surrounding a 3-2 away defeat at Genoa – bringing the Genovese club the title, which was later commuted in relegation due to bribes having been offered to Venetian officials – were it not for the fact that Venezia went bankrupt in mid-2005. AC Venezia 1907 is wound up, being re-established straightaway as Società Sportiva Calcio (SSC) Venezia, which has to start one further step down the league ladders, in Serie C2. As crowds dwindle, part of the temporary stands at the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo are taken down, with total capacity being reduced to 9,950 as a result.
  • 2006 / Champions in Serie C2 Group A, 5 points ahead of closest rivals Cuneo Sportiva, SSC Venezia wins promotion to Serie C1 alongside play-off winners US Ivrea. The successful coach is Nello Di Costanzo, who replaced Andrea Manzo in the course of the season.
  • 2007 / Finishing in fourth place in Serie C1 – renamed Lega Pro Prima Divisione in the new season – SSC Venezia qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is knocked out in the semis by Pisa Calcio (4-2 aggr.). In the summer of 2007, maximum capacity of the Stadio Penzo is further reduced to 7,450 due to more stringent safety regulations being put in place; the upper levels of the temporary stands in the Distinti part of the stadium as well as both behind-goal areas are removed.
  • 2009 / Finishing in seventeenth place in Lega Pro Prima Divisione Group A, SSC Venezia staves off relegation thanks to winning a relegation play-off against AC Pro Sesto (4-2 aggr.). However, due to new financial problems, SSC Venezia is excluded from taking part in the new season, resulting in the club being re-established as Foot-Ball Club (FBC) Unione Venezia, which is allowed to start its existence in the Serie D, the fifth level of the Italian football pyramid at the time.
  • 2010 / Finishing in third place in Serie D Group C, FBC Unione Venezia qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out US Città di Jesolo in the semis (1-0), only to be pegged back in the final by ASD Union Quinto (0-2).
  • 2011 / Runner-up in Serie D Group C, 4 points behind champions ASD Treviso 2009, FBC Unione Venezia qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club edges past San Paolo PD in the semis (1-0), but fails to win the final for the second year running, suffering defeat at the hands of San Donà Jesolo Calcio (2-3).
  • 2012 / Champions in Serie D Group C, 6 points ahead of closest followers USD Calcio Delta Porto Tolle, FBC Unione Venezia wins promotion to the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione, the fourth division of Italian football – furthermore going on to clinch the nationwide Serie D title, the so-called Scudetto Serie D, having the better of SSD Terano Calcio in the final, played at Gubbio’s Stadio Pietro Barbetti (3-2). The successful coach is Giancarlo Favarin, who had replaced David Sassarani in the course of the season. In July 2012, 42 years after the first one, another tornado struck the Isola di Sant'Elena, causing the walls behind the south curve to collapse and damaging the stands. Following this, the seats were partially replaced, allowing the stadium to once again qualify for the Lega Pro standards (though Venezia was forced to play its first home game of the season, in the Coppa Italia, at the Stadio Rino Mercante in Bassano del Grappa).
  • 2013 / Finishing in third place in the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Group A, FBC Unione Venezia qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out AC Renate in the semis (1-0) before having the better of AC Monza Brianza in the final (3-2). Both matches were played at the Stadio Piergiovanni Mecchia in Portegruaro rather than in the Stadio Penzo due to floodlight failure, forcing Venezia out of its home ground in the latter stages of the 2012-13 season. Be that as it may, having won the promotion play-offs, the club acceded to the Lega Pro Prima Divisione (to be renamed Lega Pro one year later) along with champions Aurora Pro Patria 1919 and runner-up Savona FBC. The successful coach was Stefano Sottili, who had replaced Diego Zanin in the course of the season.
  • 2015 / FBC Unione Venezia goes bankrupt, ceasing all activities. A successor club is founded straightaway in the shape of Venezia Football Club (FC) Società Sportiva Dilettantistica (SSD), which is placed in Serie D – meanwhile back to being the fourth rather than the fifth level of the Italian football pyramid. In the following season, the club’s new presidency financed a renovation of the stadium, involving, among other things, laying out a new playing field and restoring the stands and replacing damaged seats.
  • 2016 / Runaway champions in Serie D Group C, 11 points ahead of closest followers ASD Campodarsego, Venezia FC SSD wins promotion to Lega Pro under the leadership of coach Giancarlo Favarin, who replaced Paolo Favaretto in the course of the season. Thus acceding to the third level of the football pyramid, the club drops its amateur status to become pro, adapting its name to simply being Venezia FC. That same summer, coach Giancarlo Favarin has to cede his place to Filippo Inzaghi; the former Italian international striker (57 caps) had had a professional league career behind him with spells at SC Leffe, Verona FC, Piacenza FBC, Parma AC, Atalanta BC, Juventus FC, Milan AC, and AC Milan. 
  • 2017 / Under the aegis of coach Filippo Inzaghi, Venezia FC becomes the runaway champion in Lega Pro Group B, 10 points ahead of closest followers Parma Calcio 1913. As such, the club wins promotion to Serie B. Other than that, Venezia FC also conquers the Coppa Italia Lega Pro, defeating SS Matera Calcio in the final (3-2 aggr.). The club’s promotion to Serie B required further infrastructural upgrades; among other things, the access gates were equipped with turnstiles and the press stand was enlarged and modernised.
  • 2018 / Finishing in fifth place in its first season in Serie B, Venezia FC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club eases past AC Perugia Calcio in the quarterfinal (3-0), only to be knocked out in the semis by USC Palermo (2-1 aggr.). Following the season, after two years, coach Filippo Inzaghi leaves the club to sign for Bologna FC 1909. His successor in Venice, Stefano Vecchi, only holds out until the fall of 2018, with Walter Zenga being chosen to replace him; Zenga, the former goalkeeper of FC Internazionale, had won 58 caps for Italy, being part of his country’s squads for the 1986 and 1990 World Cups as well as the 1988 European Championships. Meanwhile, also in 2018, the project of building a new football stadium in Tessera, mainland Venice, conceived in the early 1990s but later shelved, is revived.
  • 2019 / Coached by Serse Cosmi, the third trainer to take Venezia FC under his wing following the replacement of Stefano Vecchi and later Walter Zenga, Venezia FC finishes in fifteenth place in Serie B, going on to suffer defeat in a relegation play-off against US Salernitana 1919 (2-2 aggr. & penalty shoot-out). As a result, the club suffers relegation into Serie C along with Foggia Calcio, Calcio Padova, and bottom club Carpi FC 1909 – only to be spared its fate several weeks later due to the bankruptcy of USC Palermo.
  • 2021 / Two years after its near-relegation, Venezia FC crowns its 2020-21 season with success; finishing in fifth place in Serie B, the club qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it successively sees off AC Chievo Verona (3-2 A.E.T.), US Lecce (2-1 aggr.), and AS Cittadella (2-1 aggr.). As such, the club wins promotion to Serie A alongside champions Empoli FC and runner-up US Salernitana 1919, heralding the return of top flight football to Venice after nineteen years. The successful coach is Paolo Zanetti. In the summer and early fall of 2021, works are undertaken to increase the capacity of the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo to just over 11,000. To bolster its Serie A credentials, Venezia FC signs former Portuguese international striker Nani of Orlando City FC.
  • 2022 / Finishing bottom of the table in Serie A with coach Andrea Soncin, who took over from Paolo Zanetti in the course of the season, Venezia FC descends into Serie B after just one season, alongside Cagliari Calcio and Genoa CFC. Nani leaves the club after just one year, signing a deal with Melbourne Victory FC.
  • 2023 / Finishing in eighth place in Serie B, Venezia FC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is eliminated in the quarterfinals by Cagliari Calcio (2-1).
  • 2024 / Finishing in third place in Serie B, Venezia FC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club edges past Palermo FC in the semis (3-2 aggr.), going on to have the better of US Cremonese in the final (1-0 aggr.). As a result, the club wins promotion to Serie A. The successful coach is Paolo Vanoli. In the mid-season, the capacity of the makeshift stands at both ends of the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo is increased to bring up total capacity of the ground to 12,048 – just over the new minimum requirement for top flight football of 12,000 (main stand: 1,981 / Distinti: 3,940 / Curva Sud: 3,544 / Curva Nord: 2,583 (1,000 away)).
  • 2025 / Coached by Eusebio Di Francesco, Venezia FC finishes in second-last place in Serie A, resulting in the club being retrograded to Serie B along with Empoli FC and bottom side AC Monza. Following the relegation, Di Francesco is replaced by Giovanni Stroppa, who joins the club from US Cremonese. The fourfold Italian international midfielder had had a colourful twenty-year long career as a player with spells at AC Monza, Milan AC, SS Lazio, Foggia Calcio, Udinese Calcio, Piacenza FBC, Brescia Calcio, Genoa CFC, Alzano 1909 Virescit FC, US Avellino, US Foggia, and US Clarense. Meanwhile, after years of toing and froing, finally the works get underway on a new stadium for the club in Tessera, mainland Venice, following a design by Populous, the architectural firm which had undertaken, among other projects, the complete rebuilding of White Hart Lane, the stadium of Tottenham Hotspur FC.
  • 2026 / Champions in Serie B, 1 point ahead of closest rivals Frosinone Calcio, Venezia FC wins promotion to Serie A, with the decisive points for the title being clinched in a 2-0 home win over Palermo FC. The successful coach is Giovanni Stroppa.
  • 2027 (projected) / After having been more or less continuously in use for 114 years – making it the oldest ground in Italy after the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa – the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo at Isola di Sant’Elena is abandoned, with Venezia FC settling at its newly-built stadium in Tessera, which has a capacity of 18,500.




































All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author
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Sunday, 19 April 2026

BELGIUM: Standario FC Onoz (1973-2026) / FC Onoz (2026-)

Terrain de la rue de Fleurus, Onoz (FC Onoz, formerly Standario FC Onoz)

Belgium, province: Namur = Namen

19 IV 2026 / SFC Onoz - RFC Rhisnois B 1-1 / Namur, Provincial League 4B (= BE level 9)

Timeline
  • 1973 / Foundation of a football club in Onoz, a tiny village situated between Jemeppe-sur-Sembre and Gembloux, in the northwestern part of the Province of Namur. With Pol Baland taking on the role of chairman, the new club takes on the rather unusual name Standario Football Club (SFC) Onoz – with Standario being a reference to all six founding members being supporters of R Standard de Liège (hence red and white were chosen as club colours); as one of the six, Giorgio Chelli, was of Italian heritage, he convinced the others not to use the straightforward Standard as a prefix, but the Italianised Standario. As SFC Onoz is admitted to the Belgian Football Association (URBSFA / KBVB), the club receives registration number 7999. With the club starting its existence in Namur’s Provincial League 4, SFC Onoz settles on a pitch laid out at Rue de Fleurus, i.e. the location in use until today; in the early days, the facilities were basic, with a shed serving as a dressing room and cows being allowed onto the pitch during weekdays. It was not until several years later that a clubhouse was added to the set-up.
  • 2002 / Clinching the title in Namur’s Provincial League 3A – incidentally the first title in club history – SFC Onoz wins promotion to Provincial League 2. The decisive points are clinched in an emphatic 6-1 away win at REH Bierwart. The successful coach is Eric Crombez. Due to renovation works at the clubhouse at Rue de Fleurus, SFC Onoz plays the first half of the 2002-03 season as groundsharers with RCS Bossièrois at Rue de la Croix Rouge.
  • 2009 / Finishing in twelfth place in Namur’s Provincial League 2A, SFC Onoz goes on to suffer defeat in a relegation play-off against FC Achêne, resulting in the club descending into Provincial League 3, alongside EC Velainois (which ceases its activities), R Entente Wartet FC, and bottom club ES Boninne.
  • 2011 / Finishing in thirteenth place in Namur’s Provincial League 3B, SFC Onoz descends into Provincial League 4, along with AC Lustin B, FC Clermont, and bottom club JS Falisolle-Aisemont.
  • 2013 / Finishing in third place in Namur’s Provincial League 4B, SFC Onoz qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is drawn into a group with Racing FC Fosses B and RUS Méan; with Onoz managing wins against both of these teams (3-2 and 0-4 respectively), the club manages a return to Provincial League 3 after two years.
  • 2016 / Runner-up in Namur’s Provincial League 3B, 9 points behind champions RFC Surice, SFC Onoz qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is drawn into a group with US Thy-le-Château and Jeunesse Taviétoise; with Onoz managing a goalless draw against the former and a 4-2 away win against the latter, the club wins the group on goal difference, thus gaining promotion to Provincial League 2 – with Thy-le-Château also making the leap to this level thanks to extra promotion places turning out to be available.
  • 2017 / Withdrawing its team from Provincial League 2A in December 2016, SFC Onoz descends into Provincial League 3 along with RAEC Sclayn. However, the club’s board decides not to field a regular first team in the 2017-18 season.
  • 2018 / SFC Onoz re-establishes a first team, which starts its existence in Namur’s Provincial League 4.
  • 2019 / Joint runners-up in Namur’s Provincial League 4B with RCS Bossièrois, 6 points behind champions RU Sambrevilloise B, SFC Onoz fails to win promotion to Provincial League 3 in the subsequent round of promotion play-offs.
  • 2023 / Finishing in fifth place in Namur’s Provincial League 4B, SFC Onoz qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is knocked out in R1 by FC Malonne 2000 B (3-1).
  • 2026 / One year after a new committee took over the club, Standario FC Onoz changes its name to become simply FC Onoz.























All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author
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