Extreme Football Tourism: ITALY: AC Brescia (1959-1976) / Brescia Calcio (1976-)

Stadio Mario Rigamonti "Mompiano", Brescia (Brescia Calcio, formerly AC Brescia)

Italy, region: Lombardy

1 V 2023 / Brescia Calcio - Cosenza Calcio 2-1 / Serie B (= ITA level 2)

Timeline

1907 / Foundation of a first football club in Brescia, which is given the name Club Forti e Liberi. This club joins Italy's fledgling football federation (FIGC).
1908 / Foundation of a second club in Brescia, Club Sportivo (CS) Brixia.
± 1909 / In 1909 or 1910, a merger is concluded between Club Forti e Liberi and CS Brixia, resulting in the foundation of Società Ginnastica (SG) La Victoria Brescia. By this time, various other teams have seen the daylight in the town, including Unione Sportiva (US) Bresciana and Società Sportiva (SS) Gimnasium - the latter being the club of a local congregation, the Padri della Pace. At the time, there are two pitches hosting football games, the first being the so-called Campo Marte (near Porta Trento) and the other being the sports field of the Mitraglieri Fiat at Via Mantova.
1911 / In an effort to create a large football club in Brescia, a merger is concluded between SG La Victoria Brescia, US Bresciana, and SS Gimnasium, resulting in the foundation of Foot Ball Club (FC) Brescia. In order to allow larger amounts of spectators to attend matches, a start is made on the construction of a small stadium between the Ponte di San Giacomo and the Cimetero Vantiniano, a cemetery (at modern-day Via Francesco Nullo). The merger club joins the Terza Categoria Lombarda, in which it manages first place in the 1911-12 season.
1912 / Completion of the works on the new stadium near Ponte di San Giacomo, which is given the name Campo Fiera. On May 19th, 1912, the ground, adorned with a covered stand, is inaugurated with the match FC Brescia - AC Savoia Milano (1-1). Upon winning the Terza Categoria Lombarda, FC Brescia switches to the newly formed Promozione Lombarda.
1913 / Having managed 7th place in the Promozione Lombarda, FC Brescia is admitted to the newly formed Prima Categoria - the top tier of Italian football at the time, subdivided into several local divisions, 'gironi'.
1915 / Having played one season in Prima Categoria's Girone Veneto and another in Girone Lombarda, FC Brescia suspends its activities for four years due to Italy declaring war on the Central Powers in World War I.
1919 / Recommencing its activities, FC Brescia abandons the Campo Fiera, moving to the newly created Stadio Comunale, better known locally as the Campo Sociale, situated at Via Lombroso (modern-day Via Cadorna). This ground disposes of a large covered grandstand.
1920 / Having finished runners-up in Prima Categoria Sezione Lombarda Girone A behind FC Internazionale, FC Brescia qualifies for the so-called national semi-finals, in which it is eliminated following a 5th place (of 6 teams) in Girone B.
1921 / SS Gimnasium, one of the merger partners of FC Brescia, which was refounded following World War I, moves into a newly built ground, the so-called 'Stadium' at Viale Piave (near Porta Venezia). Works on the ground, which was designed by Cavalier Giuseppe Freschi, get underway in 1920, with the inauguration taking place on June 19th, 1921. The stadium disposes of a running track and a covered wooden grandstand holding 600 spectators.
1924 / Abandoning the Campo Sociale after just five years, FC Brescia moves into the 'Stadium' at Viale Piave, paying a rent to the Padri della Pace for the use of the ground.
1928 / Changing its outfit, FC Brescia adopts the 'V', symbol of Voluntas Pace (and the Padri della Pace), as part of its kit. Expediency seems to have played a part in this decision, given that the Padri della Pace allow the club the use of the Stadium without any payment from now on.
1929 / Finishing in joint-second place with FC Juventus in Girone B of Divisione Nazionale (as Prima Categoria had been renamed in 1926), FC Brescia qualifies for the newly founded Serie A. In the first two seasons of this new, pan-Italian football league, the club holds its own, managing a respectable 9th place in 1929-30 as well as 1930-31.
1932 / Finishing in joint-16th place (with 18 teams competing) with US Bari in Serie A, FC Brescia plays a tie-break match against the team from Apulia at Bologna's Stadio Littorale. Losing the match 2-1, FC Brescia is relegated to Serie B along with bottom side Modena FC.
1933 / Finishing second in Serie B, FC Brescia returns to the top tier of Italy's football pyramid along with title winners US Livorno.
1935 / The wooden grandstand of Brescia's stadium at Viale Piave is consumed in a fire. To replace it, a tubular steel structure, holding 1,200 spectators, is erected.
1936 / Finishing 16th and last in Serie A, FC Brescia drops back into Serie B after three years, along with AC Palermo. Also in 1936, at the behest of fascist authorities, the club changes the English prefix of its name (FC, Football Club) to the Italian 'Associazione Calcio' (AC).
1938 / Although the club has a decent cup run, reaching the quarter finals of Coppa Italia, its results in Serie B are less impressive; finishing 14th, the club is relegated to Serie C, the third level of Italy's football pyramid, for the first time, accompanied by US Cremonese, AS Taranto, and AC Messina.
1939 / Clinching the title in Girone Nord of the Serie C finals without a single defeat, AC Brescia wins promotion back into Serie B along with AC Udinese. In the following three years, the club establishes itself as one of the stronger teams in this division, missing out on promotion by just 2 points in 1941.
1943 / Finishing runners-up in Serie B behind Modena Calcio, but with a two-point advantage over AC Napoli, AC Brescia returns to Serie A after seven years. In the following three years, with the latter stages of World War II impacting heavily on daily life in Italy, no regular league football is played.
1946 / Serie A is resumed, with AC Brescia taking its place in this division by virtue of its promotion in 1943. In the 1946-47 season, the club suffers relegation, finishing 18th, one point short of AC Fiorentina which narrowly saves its skin.
1948 / With Serie B being subdivided in four 'gironi' rather than one nationwide division, AC Brescia finishes second in Girone A behind AC Novara, thus missing out on promotion.
1949 / In the so-called Superga Air Disaster, the entire squad of AC Torino, which returned to Turin following a gala match in Lisbon against SL Benfica, is killed - one of the players being defender Mario Rigamonti, born in Brescia in 1922, who was taken over by Torino in 1941, but returned to his childhood club for a loan spell in 1944 before returning to Turin and becoming one of the key players in Torino's 4 consecutive league titles (1946-49). Following the calamity, the Stadium at Viale Piave in Brescia is renamed Stadio Mario Rigamonti.
1952 / AC Brescia finishes in 2nd place in Serie B, 1 point behind champions AS Roma. In the promotion-relegation play-off against US Triestina (no. 18 in Serie A), played in Valdagno, Brescia loses 1-0, thus missing out on promotion.
1956 / Works get underway to build AC Brescia a new municipal stadium in the Mompiano neighbourhood - more precisely at Via Benedetto Castelli, on the site of a small football pitch which had been laid out in 1928.
1957 / Finishing in joint-second place in Serie B (just one point behind champions AC Verona), AC Brescia and Alessandria US play a tie-break match at Milan's San Siro Stadium. With Alessandria US winning the match 2-1 (A.E.T.), AC Brescia misses out on a return to Serie A yet again.
1959 / On September 19th, 1959, the newly finished Stadio Mario Rigamonti - also often referred to locally simply as 'Mompiano' - is inaugurated in the presence of Brescia's mayor Bruno Boni. Total capacity of the stadium is 28,270 - with the only covered places being found on the main stand, which holds 3,250. The old Stadio Mario Rigamonti at Viale Piave is knocked down in subsequent years, with a school being erected on the site some time later, in 1967.
1961 / AC Brescia is one of the teams representing Italy in the annual Coppa delle Alpi, in which clubs from Italy and Switzerland meet each other head-to-head. Brescia is drawn against FC Lugano, which it defeats twice (5-3 aggregate) - thus doing its bit in bringing the cup to Italy.
1963 / Finishing 4th in Serie B, 3 points short of SS Lazio and a promotion place, AC Brescia misses out on qualfication for Serie A for the umpteenth time.
1965 / Clinching the title in Serie B, AC Brescia wins promotion to Serie A along with SSC Napoli and SPAL. In its first season in the Italian top flight since the relegation in 1947, Brescia admirably holds its own, finishing in 9th place.
1967 / AC Brescia wins the so-called Coppa dell'Amicizia Italo-Svizzera, a tournament held annually between 1959 and 1968. The other participants in the 1967 edition were AC Mantova, SPAL, FC Luzern, FC Aarau, and FC Winterthur.
1968 / Finishing 14th (third-last) in Serie A, AC Brescia drops back into Serie B along with SPAL and AC Mantova, having had a 3-year spell in the top flight.
1969 / AC Brescia finishes in 2nd place in Serie B, thus managing an immediate return to Serie A, taking with it SS Lazio and AS Bari.
1970 / After just one year in Serie A, in which it finishes 14th, AC Brescia drops back into Serie B along with SSC Palermo and AS Bari. The club spends the following decade anonymously in the antechamber of Italian football.
1976 / AC Brescia changes its name to become Brescia Calcio.
1977 / Brescia's 21-year-old attacker Alessandro Altobelli, who had joined the club in 1974 from ASK Latina, earns himself a transfer to FC Internazionale. Having an excellent club career at Inter (1977-88) and Juventus FC (1988-89) prior to returning to Brescia for one last season before hanging up his boots in 1990, he also wins 61 caps for Italy between 1980 and 1988, scoring 25 goals in the process. Altobelli is part of the Italian squads for the 1980 and 1988 European Championships as well as the 1982 and 1986 World Cups; coming on as a sub in the 1982 World Cup final, won by Italy, Altobelli scores the 3-0 against West Germany in Madrid. Confirming his ease as a goalscorer, Altobelli also gets his name on the score sheets in the 1986 and 1988 title tournaments.
1980 / Finishing 3rd in Serie B, Brescia Calcio wins promotion to Serie A along with Como Calcio and US Pistoiese.
1981 / Brescia Calcio finishes in joint-10th place in Serie A on 25 points along with US Avellino, Ascoli Calcio 1898, Udinese Calcio, and Como Calcio, with results in matches between those five teams ultimately deciding who finishes 14th - and, using those criteria, Brescia Calcio turns out to have had the worst results, thus dropping back into Serie B along with AC Perugia and US Pistoiese.
1982 / Suffering its second relegation in a row, Brescia Calcio finishes 18th in Serie B, thus finding itself in Serie C1. It is the first time in over 40 years that Brescia is not represented in one of the two highest divisions of Italian football. In the following season, the club narrowly avoids a third successive relegation, finishing with an equal number of points as Piacenza FC, which descends into Serie C2.
1985 / Winning first place in Serie C Girone Nord, Brescia Calcio returns to Serie B along with SS Lanerossi Vicenza.
1986 / Going from strength to strength, Brescia Calcio finishes as runners-up in Serie B, thus managing a return to Serie A, with the other teams making the leap to the top flight being Ascoli Calcio 1898 and Empoli FC.
1987 / With a 14th place in Serie A - and just one point short of Empoli FC and safety -, Brescia Calcio confirms its reputation as a yo-yo club, descending into Serie B yet again. The other club unable to avoid the drop are Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio and Udinese Calcio.
1988 / In the preparatory stage leading up to the 1988 European Football Championships, Italy plays a friendly against Wales at Brescia's Stadio Mario Rigamonti attended by 18,931 spectators, losing the match 1-0 - with the only goal scored by Juventus' Ian Rush.
1989 / Finishing 16th in Serie B with an equal number of points as Empoli FC, the two clubs face each other head-to-head to determine who stays up in Serie B. In the tie-break match, played at Cesena's Stadio Dino Manuzzi, the tie ends goalless after 120 minutes, with Brescia winning the subsequent penalty shoot-out, thus saving its skin in Serie B.
1992 / Winning the title in Serie B, Brescia Calcio, coached by Mircea Lucescu, accedes to Serie A after a 5-year absence, taking with it Pescara Calcio, Ancona Calcio, and Udinese Calcio. To strengthen its squad, the club signs Romanian midfielder Gheorghe Hagi from Real Madrid CF.
1993 / In spite of the presence of a star ensemble of Romanian international players (apart from Hagi, there are Ioan Sabău, Dorin Mateut, and Florin Răducioiu), Brescia Calcio has a disappointing season in Serie A. Finishing in joint-14th place with Udinese Calcio, the two teams have to play a tie-break match to determine who will go down along with AC Fiorentina, Ancona Calcio, and Pescara Calcio. In Bologna's Stadio Renato dall'Ara, Brescia is defeated 3-1, the result meaning that the club returns to Serie B.
1994 / In spite of the relegation, Romanian midfielders Hagi and Sabău stay with the club. Finishing 3rd in Serie B, Brescia wins promotion to Serie A along with AC Fiorentina, AS Bari, and Calcio Padova. Moreover, Mircea Lucescu's men win the Anglo-Italian Cup, a tournament between Division 2 teams from England and Italy. Having surviving the group stage in which it is drawn against Charlton Athletic FC, Bolton Wanderers FC, Notts County FC, and Middlesbrough FC, Brescia wins the semi-final against Pescara Calcio on away goals (3-3 aggregate score) - subsequently defeating Notts County FC in the final (1-0 with the only goal being scored by Gabriele Ambrosetti) played at Wembley Stadium in front of a meagre crowd of 17,185. After the 1994 World Cup, with Gheorghe Hagi being one of the tournament's best players, Brescia loses the Romanian star midfielder to FC Barcelona.
1995 / Without its star player Gheorghe Hagi, Brescia Calcio finishes rock bottom in the 1994-95 edition of Serie A with just 12 points from 34 matches. The club drops into Serie B, taking with it Genoa 1894, Foggia Calcio, and AC Reggiana. In the following season, the club narrowly avoids a second successive relegation.
1997 / Winning the title, Brescia Calcio returns to Serie A once more. The other teams qualifying for the top flight are Empoli FC, US Lecce, and AS Bari.
1998 / Yet again failing to hold its own in Serie A for longer than one season, Brescia Calcio finishes in 15th place, one point short of Vicenza Calcio and safety. The club suffers relegation to Serie B, as do Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, US Lecce, and SSC Napoli. Meanwhile, Brescia's youthful talent Andrea Pirlo, who had made his debut in Brescia's first team in 1995, earns himself a transfer to FC Internazionale; returning to Brescia for a short loan spell in 2001, Pirlo goes on to have a brilliant career at AC Milan, Juventus FC, and New York City, playing 116 caps for Italy and being a key player in Italy's winning 2006 World Cup squad. Also in 1998, Pope John Paul II celebrates a mass in Brescia's Stadio Mario Rigamonti on the occasion of the beatification of Giuseppe Tovini, a banker and lawyer from Brescia (1841-97).
2000 / With a 4th place in Serie B behind Vicenza Calcio, SSC Napoli, and Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, Brescia manages a return to Serie A. In an attempt to bring its squad up to the required level, the club signs 33-year old star midfielder Roberto Baggio from FC Internazionale. In four seasons with Brescia, Baggio plays 95 matches for the club, scoring no fewer than 45 goals, before ending his career in 2004. Not coincidentally, Baggio's spell at Brescia coincides with the most successful seasons in club history.
2001 / Brescia Calcio finishes in 8th place in Serie A, the best result the club ever managed since the creation of Serie A in 1929. Qualifying for the Intertoto Cup, the club defeats FC Tatabánya (3-2 aggr.) and FK Chmel Blšany (4-3 aggr.) before losing in the final to Paris Saint-Germain on away goals (1-1 aggr.). In the summer of 2001, FC Barcelona's Josep 'Pep' Guardiola joins the club. The Catalan midfielder has a good season at Brescia, earning himself a transfer to AS Roma - only to return to the Lombard club in January 2003 before joining Qatar's Al-Ahli in the summer of that same year. Also in 2001, Luca Toni signs a contract with Brescia, playing with the club for two seasons before moving on to USC Palermo. Like Andrea Pirlo, Toni is part of the Italian national team which wins the 2006 World Cup.
2002 / After decades of early eliminations in the Coppa Italia, Brescia Calcio finally has a decent cup run, defeating Como Calcio in the round of last 16 (after a penalty shoot-out) and AS Roma in the quarter final (4-0 aggr.). Eventually, in the semis, the club bows out against Parma AC (3-2 aggr.).
2003 / Finishing 9th in Serie A, Brescia Calcio qualifies for the Intertoto Cup once more, eliminating Gloria Bistriţa (3-2 aggr.) before being eliminated by Villareal CF (3-1 aggr.).
2005 / In its first season without Roberto Baggio, who bowed out of professional league football in 2004, Brescia Calcio finishes second-last in Serie A, thus dropping back into Serie B after a five-year spell at the top level - with Bologna FC 1909 and Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio being the other clubs suffering relegation that season.
2008 / Managing a 5th place in the final table of Serie B, Brescia qualifies for the promotion play-offs, being eliminated in the semi-final by UC AlbinoLeffe.
2009 / Yet again qualifying for the promotion play-offs after a 4th place in Serie B, Brescia Calcio defeats Empoli FC in the semi-final (4-1 aggr.) only to lose the final (5-2 aggr.) against AS Livorno Calcio.
2010 / Finishing in 3rd place in Serie B behind US Lecce and AC Cesena, who both qualify directly for Serie A, Brescia has to go through a series of promotion play-offs for the third time running. Eliminating AS Cittadella in the semi-final, the club earns the third Serie A ticket by defeating Torino Calcio in the final (2-1 aggr.). Meanwhile, rules have been drawn up stating that any stadium hosting Serie A football should have a minimum capacity of 20,000. Due to several stands of Stadio Mario Rigamonti meanwhile being closed down due to dilapidation, bringing total capacity down to 16,308, various tubular steel stands are added on the side of the ground facing the main stand. In doing so, the club raises the ground's capacity to 22,944. In later years, several of those temporary stands are removed.
2011 / Finishing second-last in Serie A, Brescia Calcio drops back into Serie B after just one year, accompanied by UC Sampdoria and AS Bari.
2012 / The open terrace on the northern end of the ground, traditionally the part of the stadium taken by Brescia's most ardent supporters, is replaced by a tubular steel construction built over the old terracing. This new Curva Nord (in fact no longer a curve) is inaugurated on October 27th, 2012, with the match between Brescia and FC Pro Vercelli 1892. Maximum capacity of this new stand originally is 3,702, but additional seats are added later on to allow more spectators to follow the course of play from this part of the ground.
2013 / With a 6th place in Serie B's final ranking, Brescia Calcio qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it is defeated by Livorno Calcio in the semi-final. The Curva Nord, inaugurated the previous year, is given the name of a young supporter who had passed away, Andrea Toninelli.
2015 / In a particularly bad season, Brescia finishes in 20th place in Serie B (with 22 teams competing), the result being a relegation to Lega Pro, the third tier of Italy's football pyramid. It would have been the first time in 30 years without Brescia being in either Serie A or Serie B, but following the bankruptcy of Parma AC in Serie A, an extra place in Serie B is available, with Brescia - as the highest finisher of the three club relegated to Lega Pro - having the luck of being invited to take that place.
2019 / After a very mediocre 2017-18 campaign, ending 15th in Serie B, Brescia Calcio now clinches the Serie B title, thus acceding to Serie A along with US Lecce and play-off winner Hellas Verona FC. The open terrace at the southern end of the ground, Curva Sud, is replaced by a tubular steel construction very similar to the one erected on the opposite side in 2012. Total ground capacity is now down to 19,550.
2020 / As so often before, Brescia Calcio suffers relegation from Serie A after just one season, dropping back into Serie B with US Lecce and SPAL.
2021 / Finishing 7th in Serie B, Brescia qualifies for the promotion play-off preliminary round, in which it is eliminated by AS Cittadella.
2022 / Doing slightly better than the previous season, Brescia now finishes in 5th place in Serie B, but the season ends in disappointment yet again, as the club loses the promotion play-off's semi-final against AC Monza after defeating AC Perugia Calcio in the preliminary round.
2023 / In a reversal of fortune, Brescia Calcio now finishes in 16th place in Serie B, having to assure itself of its place in that division in a relegation play-off against no. 17, Cosenza Calcio. Losing the tie 2-1 on aggregate, the club finds itself in Serie C for the first time in 38 years.