Extreme Football Tourism: ITALY: US Bari (1934-1943) / AS Bari (1945-1990)

Stadio della Vittoria, Bari (formerly US Bari & AS Bari)

Italy, region: Apulia

April 2025 / no match visited

Timeline

1901 / Foundation of the first football club in Bari – and the whole of Apulia, for that matter – which is given the name Club Foot-Ball Challenge. This students’ club has no more than an ephemeral existence.
1908 / Foundation a new football club in Bari at the initiative of a group of enthusiasts led by the Austrian Floriano Ludwig. The new club is given the name Bari Foot-Ball Club (FBC). A pitch is laid out on the military parade ground in the San Pasquale neighbourhood, with matches being organised against English sailors on this so-called Campo San Lorenzo. Still in 1908, a breakaway club is formed, Unione Sportiva (US) Ideale.
1909 / Taking part in an official competition for the first time, Bari FBC is placed in the Southern Group of the Seconda Categoria, the second tier of the fledgling Italian football pyramid, in which clubs from Southern Italy are heavily underrepresented at the time. Also in 1909, following the breakaway of US Ideale, another group of Bari FBC members decides to form their own club, Foot-Ball Club (FBC) Liberty – with founding father Floriano Ludwig being one of the men making the step to Liberty. Whereas Ideale has a working-class image, Liberty becomes the club of the local Bari aristocracy. All Bari clubs play their football at the Campo San Lorenzo – mostly friendlies among one another.
1911 / The only Bari club to take part in official league championships, Bari FBC, withdraws from the league pyramid, sticking to playing just friendly matches in the following years.
1915 / Bari FBC folds, ceasing all activities. FBC Liberty and US Ideale succeed in surviving the difficult World War I years, in which many players are called up for army service.
1921 / FBC Liberty wins promotion to the Apulia Group of the Prima Divisione, the first tier of Italian football.
1922 / One year after their city-rivals, US Ideale also accedes to the Apulia Group of the Prima Divisione.
1923 / US Ideale finishes as runners-up in the Apulia Group of the Prima Divisione, only 1 point behind champions SS Pro Italia. Subsequently, the club takes part in the nationwide title play-offs, being knocked out in the group stage, in which it finishes in second place behind SS Lazio.
1924 / Runners-up in the Apulia Group of the Prima Divisione, 1 point behind champions Audace FC, US Ideale takes part in the nationwide title play-offs for the second year running, yet again suffering elimination in the group stage. Also in 1924, Bari FBC is reconstituted as Foot-Ball Club (FBC) Bari, going on to win the Apulia Group of the Seconda Divisione by winning 2-0 against its only adversary, US Ferrovieri, also from Bari. As such, the club joins US Ideale and FBC Liberty in the Prima Divisione.
1925 / FBC Liberty finishes as runners-up in the Apulia Group of the Prima Divisione, with an equal number of points as winners SS Pro Italia. Subsequently, the club is eliminated in the semifinals of the title play-offs. Meanwhile, FBC Bari finishes in last place, dropping back into the Seconda Divisione, but the club ceases its activities for the 1925-26 season. Also in 1925, the Campo San Lorenzo, venue of all footballing activities in Bari since 1908, is abandoned in favour of the newly laid-out Campo degli Sports, situated between the Via Carbonara (modern-day Corso Benedetto Croce) and Via Vaccarella (nowadays Via Giulio Petroni) in the Carrassi neighbourhood. The area has been purchased by Liberty’s chairman, Pietro Giorgio, who, being a professional engineer, also designs the new ground – the only facility for spectators around the perimeter being a grandstand with some 700 covered seats on the northern touchline. The new stadium, which is also used by US Ideale, is inaugurated on December 25th, 1925, with a match between FBC Liberty and US Anconitana (1-0).
1926 / After one year, FBC Bari resumes its activities, being placed in the fourth division of the football pyramid, the Terza Divisione – more specifically in the Apulian Group A of this division.
1927 / Finishing in last place in the Terza Divisione, FBC Bari folds, ceasing all activities permanently. That same year, FBC Liberty changes its name to become Bari Football Club (FC).
1928 / Champions in Group D of the Prima Divisione – meanwhile the second level of the Italian football pyramid – 4 points ahead of runners-up AC Fiorentina, Bari FC wins promotion to the Divisione Nazionale. After the 1927-28 season, Bari FC concludes a merger with US Ideale, resulting in the foundation of Unione Sportiva (US) Bari. As the Campo degli Sports seems on the small side for the top tier of Italian football, a modest terrace is added on the south side of the ground, opposite the main stand, allowing 2,000 more spectators to attend home matches. Given the growing interest in football in Bari, plans are presented by Bari’s mayor, Araldo di Crollalanza, to construct a new, much larger municipal stadium in the Marisabella neighbourhood. Crollalanza proposes to call the stadium the Stadio della Vittoria in honour of the fallen Italian soldiers on the Isonzo Front in World War I. However, in the following years, the mayor’s plans are effectively stalled.
1929 / Under the aegis of Hungarian coach Ernő Erbstein, US Bari finishes in thirteenth place (of sixteen) in Group A of the Divisione Nazionale, not enough to save the club from relegation – given that the two groups of this top tier are replaced by a single new top division, the so-called Serie A. As such, US Bari finds itself in Serie B for the 1929-30 season. In the fall of 1929, Bari striker Raffaele Costantino is the club’s first player – as well as the first player from the second tier of Italian football – to be called up for the Italian national team. Costantino, who had already worn the colours of Liberty from 1922 onwards, moves from Bari to AS Roma in 1930, eventually returning to his home club five years later. In the course of his career, Costantino also won 23 caps for Italy (8 goals).
1931 / Runners-up in Serie B, with an equal number of points as champions AC Fiorentina, but with a slightly inferior goal difference (3 goals), US Bari wins promotion to Serie A. The successful coach is János Hajdu, another Hungarian. Also in 1931, the Campo degli Sports is given a thorough renovation, with the pitch being moved 40 metres in the direction of the Via Vaccarella and the old main stand being incorporated into a much larger grandstand on the northern touchline, able to hold 4,400 spectators. With terraces at the western and eastern ends being added, total capacity is now up to some 10,000.
1932 / In spite of the works carried out the previous year, the Campo degli Sports proves too small for Serie A football. Therefore, a tender is issued to bring to fruition the stalled stadium plan of Araldo di Crollalanza from 1928, with the competition being won by construction company Romolo Vaselli from Rome in January 1933.
1933 / Coached by Lászlo Barr, who replaced Ernő Erbstein in the course of the season, US Bari finishes in second-last place in Serie A, thus dropping back into Serie B along with bottom club USB Pro Patria et Libertate. Despite this adversity, construction works on the projected Stadio della Vittoria get underway in the summer of 1933 – a single-ring structure able to hold some 30,000 spectators.
1934 / Finishing in third place in Serie B Group B, only 3 points behind champions AC Perugia, US Bari qualifies for the promotion play-offs with five other clubs, with Bari finishing in joint first place with AC Sampierdarenese. As only one promotion place is at stake, the two clubs meet for a tie-break match at Bologna’s Stadio Littoriale, which the club from Genoa manages to win with the smallest difference (1-0). As such, US Bari ultimately misses out on an immediate return to Serie A. Later that year, on September 6th, 1934, the Stadio della Vittoria is inaugurated in the presence of Italy’s strongman Benito Mussolini – this in spite of the fact that the monumental 42-metre-high entrance tower, the so-called Torre di Maratona, is not finished yet. On November 25th, US Bari plays its last-ever home match at the Campo degli Sports, a 2-0 win over AFC Venezia, with the club also managing a win in its first competitive match at the Stadio della Vittoria, against AC Comense (3-1). In the following decades, the old Campo degli Sports remains in use for US Bari’s training sessions as well as lower team football and non-league football by other clubs.
1935 / Champions in Serie B Group B, 1 point ahead of closest rivals Modena FC, US Bari manages a return to Serie A after an absence of two seasons, along with Group A winner, Genova 1893, which defeats US Bari in the honorary nationwide Serie B title play-offs (4-1 aggr.). Bari’s successful coach is András Kuttik, who replaced Engelbert König in the course of the season.
1939 / Bari striker Cesarino Grossi, who had been called up for a military team invited to play a gala match in Tirana on the occasion of King Zog’s marriage, is killed, with the official version of the story being that he was hit by a lightning strike – but there was also talk of an ambush by Albanian opposition groups or rebels. Grossi, a short, agile player nicknamed the centravanti tascabile or ‘pocket striker’, was only 22 years old.
1940 / US Bari reaches the semifinals of the Coppa Italia, in which the club is knocked out by Genova 1893 (2-0). In the spring of 1940, as Mussolini prepares his ill-fated invasion of Greece, a large number of mules, intended to be used in the army bunch, are temporarily housed in the Stadio della Vittoria, due to be shipped to Albania. However, during their stay at the ground, the straw which is fed to the animals catches fire, with considerable damage at the stadium as a result.
1941 / After six consecutive seasons in the top flight of Italian football, with three eleventh places being the best result, US Bari now finishes bottom of the table in Serie A with coach Luigi Ferrero, resulting in the club being retrograded to Serie B along with the club in second-last place, AC Novara. Until the present day, Bari has never managed six or more consecutive Serie A seasons.
1942 / Champions in Serie B, 2 points ahead of AFC Vicenza, US Bari manages an immediate return to Serie A. The successful coach is Stanislao Klein, who replaced András Kuttik in the course of the season.
1943 / Finishing in second-last place in Serie A along with two other clubs, US Triestina and AFC Venezia, US Bari has to play a three-way play-off to determine which of the three has to accompany bottom club AC Liguria to Serie B. With a 3-0 defeat at the hands of AFC Venezia in Bologna’s Stadio Littoriale being the final nail in the coffin, US Bari finishes in last place in this play-off, thus suffering the drop. However, due to regular league football being suspended for the following season due to Italy being split in two zones following the Allied invasion of Sicily and Southern Italy, the relegation is never put into effect. On December 2nd, 1943, a heavy bombardment by Allied air forces on Bari results in the Stadio della Vittoria being hit by two bombs – one of those piercing the canopy of the grandstand. Once the city is occupied by the Allies, the stadium is requisitioned by the liberating troops.
1944 / Re-establishment of FBC Liberty as Polisportiva Liberty, but the club only holds out for two years, folding in 1946. Towards the end of the year, in December 1944, US Bari, having been inactive for over a year, is reconstituted and taken over by a new board.
1945 / The new board of US Bari carries out a name change to mark the new start, renaming the club Associazione Sportiva (AS) Bari, with the change officially coming into effect on January 1st, 1945. Meanwhile, in the early months of 1945, with the war having moved to the north of Italy, a competition tournament is held in Apulia, the so-called Torneo Misto Pugliese, with US Bari finishing in first place, 3 points ahead of closest rivals US Arsenale. As the Stadio della Vittoria has not yet been returned to the club, AS Bari plays its first home matches in this tournament at another venue, the Campo Antonio Lella, an improvised pitch at Via Crispi laid out by the newly reformed Polisportiva Liberty. Finally, on March 4th, 1945, the go-ahead signal having been given to the club by the Allied forces, AS Bari plays its first post-war home match at the Stadio della Vittoria, a 3-1 win over US Presidio Lecce.
1946 / For the 1945-46 season, two combined leagues are put together, one in Northern Italy and one in the centre and south of the country, with Serie A and Serie B clubs to give all of them an opportunity to qualify for the new 1946-47 Serie A. In the central and southern group, AS Bari manages a joint first place with AP Napoli, with the club thus easing to Serie A qualification for the new season. Meanwhile, also in 1946, the canopy of the Stadio della Vittoria, destroyed in the December 1943 bomb attack, is reconstructed, with all costs being paid personally by Bari’s new strongman Tommaso Annoscia.
1947 / Coached by András Kuttik, AS Bari finishes in seventh place in Serie A – still the best result in club history to date, earning the popular 1946-47 team the nickname Stella del Sud or ‘Star of the South’. Also in 1947, for the first time, the Italian national team plays an international match in Bari, with 30,000 spectators attending the 3-1 win over Czechoslovakia at the Stadio della Vittoria.
1950 / Coached by the club’s umpteenth Hungarian trainer, György Sárosi, AS Bari finishes in second-last place in Serie A, thus dropping back into Serie B along with bottom club AC Venezia.
1951 / Finishing in eighteenth place (of 21 clubs) in Serie B, AS Bari suffers its second relegation in a row, descending into Serie C for the first time, along with AC Spezia, Seregno FBC, US Cremonese, and bottom club US Anconitana. In the course of the season, Bari had no fewer than seven successive coaches, the last one being club icon Raffaele Costantino, who ultimately proves unable to stop the rot. With the club’s presidency leaving, the reins of the club are temporarily taken over by a municipal regency commission.
1952 / In spite of finishing in sixth place in Serie C Group D, AS Bari suffers its third (!) relegation in a row due to a reorganisation of the league pyramid, which sees the number of Serie C groups being brought back. For the 1952-53 season, the club finds itself in the so-called IV Serie or fourth tier of the Italian league system. Also in 1952, US Ideale and FBC Liberty (renamed FC Liberty) are both re-established, with these clubs settling at the old Campo degli Sports. Liberty would go on to have a seven-year spell in Serie D, eventually folding in 1968.
1954 / Champions in IV Serie Group H, 8 points ahead of runners-up AS Enna, AS Bari wins promotion to Serie C. The successful coach is Francesco Capocasale.
1955 / Finishing top of the table in Serie C, with an equal number of points as US Livorno, but with a slightly better goal difference, AS Bari manages a return to Serie B after four seasons. The successful coach is Francesco Capocasale. Meanwhile, the Stadio della Vittoria plays host to an Italy international friendly for the second time, as the Azzurri defeat Belgium (1-0) in an encounter attended by some 42,000 spectators.
1958 / Runners-up in Serie B, 2 points behind champions US Triestina, AS Bari qualifies for a promotion-relegation play-off against Serie A bottom club AC Verona, going on to win the encounter 2-1 on aggregate, with the two matches being played at Bologna’s Stadio Littoriale and Rome’s Stadio Olimpico. The successful coach is Federico Allasio, who earns himself a contract with AC Torino for the following season. After the promotion, AS Bari signs Atalanta BC’s Argentinian midfielder Raúl Conti, who would stay at the club for four seasons and is considered by many one of the best players ever to play for Bari.
1961 / Finishing in joint fourteenth place (with eighteen clubs taking part) in Serie A with AC Lecco and AC Udinese, AS Bari has to play a three-way play-off to determine which of the three clubs has to join bottom sides AC Napoli and SS Lazio to Serie B. Finishing in last place in these play-offs with coach Luis Carniglia, who had replaced Francesco Capocasale in the course of the season, AS Bari proves unable to avoid the drop.
1963 / Runners-up in Serie B, 2 points behind champions ACR Messina, AS Bari joins the club from Sicily as well as play-off winners SS Lazio in a return to the top flight of Italian football. Moreover, Bari also qualifies for the semis of the Coppa Italia, in which the club is knocked out by eventual winners Atalantia BC. Also in 1963, the Torre di Maratona, the monumental tower at the entrance gate of the Stadio della Vittoria, which had fallen into disrepair, is removed to avoid a collapse of the construction.
1964 / Coached by Paolo Tabanelli – the last of three trainers to guide the club in the 1963-64 season – AS Bari finishes bottom of the Serie A table, thus dropping back into Serie B after just one season, along with Modena FC and SPAL.
1965 / Finishing in third-last place in Serie B with coach Hugo Lammana, AS Bari suffers its second relegation in a row, descending into Serie C along with US Triestina and bottom club Parma AS.
1966 / Floodlight pylons are added to the set-up at the Stadio della Vittoria, enabling evening matches to be played at the stadium. The facilities are inaugurated in a gala match against SK Austria Klagenfurt.
1967 / Champions in Serie C Group C, 7 points ahead of runners-up US Avellino, AS Bari manages an immediate return to Serie B. The successful coach is Lauro Toneatto. That same year, the Campo degli Sports, Bari’s stadium between 1925 and 1934, is knocked down to make way for housing.
1969 / Finishing in third place in Serie B, AS Bari records its second promotion in a row, acceding to Serie A along with champions SS Lazio and runners-up AC Brescia. The successful coach is Lauro Toneatto.
1970 / Coached by Carlo Mateucci, who had replaced Oronzo Pugliese in the course of the season, AS Bari finishes bottom of the Serie A table, thus dropping back into Serie B after just one season, along with AC Brescia and SSC Palermo.
1971 / Finishing in joint second place in Serie B, only 1 point behind champions AC Mantova, AS Bari has to play a three-way play-off with Atalanta BC and US Catanzaro to determine which of the three earns the second and third promotion tickets. In the end, AS Bari draws the short straw, finishing in last place in the play-off and thus being the only club of the three not to accede to Serie A.
1974 / Finishing in second-last place in Serie B with coach Carlo Regalia, AS Bari drops back into Serie C along with AS Reggina and bottom club Calcio Catania.
1975 / Runners-up in Serie C Group C, 1 point behind champions Calcio Catania, AS Bari only just misses out on an immediate return to Serie B.
1977 / Champions in Serie C Group C, 6 points ahead of closest rivals US Paganese, AS Bari wins promotion to Serie B. The successful coach is Giacomo Losi.
1978 / Restoration works are carried out at the Stadio della Vittoria at the behest of the Mattarese family, who have taken over the club. The works involve new entrance doors being put in place as well as the grandstand being equipped with new seats.
1983 / Having come close to promotion to Serie A in the previous season, AS Bari, coached by Luigi Radice, now finishes in joint last place in Serie B, thus descending into Serie C1 along with AC Reggiana, Bologna FC, and US Foggia. Also in 1983, the Stadio della Vittoria hosts an international friendly between Italy and Greece (3-0) in front of a sell-out crowd (40,000).
1984 / Champions in Serie C1 Group B, AS Bari manages an immediate return to Serie B along with runners-up AS Taranto, which finished 3 points behind them. The successful coach is Bruno Balchi. Also in 1984, AS Bari reaches the semifinals of the Coppa Italia for the third time in its history, knocking out Juventus FC and AC Fiorentina on their way to the semis and ultimately suffering elimination at the hands of AC Hellas Verona (5-2 aggr.). Bari was the first team from the third tier of the Italian football pyramid to come this far in the tournament – an achievement eventually equalled by US Alessandria Calcio 1912 in 2016.
1985 / Finishing in third place in Serie B, AS Bari wins its second promotion in a row, thus managing a return to the top flight of Italian football after an absence of fifteen years, along with champions Pisa SC and runners-up US Lecce – in fact, Bari had only finished 1 point behind these two clubs.
1986 / Finishing in second-last place in Serie A with coach Bruno Balchi, AS Bari drops back into Serie B after just one season, along with Pisa SC and bottom club US Lecce. Also in 1986, the decision is taken by Bari’s municipal authorities to have a new stadium built in view of the approaching 1990 World Cup, due to be held in Italy. The Stadio della Vittoria is deemed unsuitable and beyond renovation.
1987 / In October 1987, following a design by architect Renzo Piano, works get underway on the new-to-be-built Stadio San Nicola, situated on the far outskirts of Bari, alongside the road to Bitritto.
1988 / For the fourth and last time, Italy’s national team plays a match at the Stadio della Vittoria, a 4-1 win against the Soviet Union in a preparatory match for the 1988 European Championships (att. 27,600).
1989 / Runners-up in Serie B, with an equal number of points as champions Genoa 1893, but with an inferior goal difference (five goals), AS Bari wins promotion to Serie A, with Udinese Calcio and US Cremonese also acceding to the top flight of Italian football. Following the promotion, Bari signs Brazilian international midfielder João Paulo of Guarani FC, who had been part of the Brazilian squad in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. João Paulo would stay with the club for the following five years.
1990 / Managing a respectable tenth place in the Serie A in the 1989-90 season, AS Bari also earned its only piece of international silverware by winning the Mitropa Cup, a revival of the important international cup tournament in the days prior to the European Cup – but which was now admittedly little more than a second-rank event. Finishing ahead of FK Radnički Niš and Pécsi MSC in the group stage, AS Bari went on to defeat Genoa 1893 in the final, played at Stadio della Vittoria in front of only 3,600 spectators; the only goal in the final was scored by Bari’s Carlo Perrone. For the 1990 World Cup, with the newly inaugurated Stadio San Nicola in Bari being one of the venues, Bari’s Argentine defender Néstor Lorenzo, who had been signed by the club from AA Argentinos Juniors the previous summer, is part of his country’s squad, which ultimately wins the silver medal. Lorenzo would leave Bari after just one season, signing a contract deal with Swindon Town FC. In fact, following the completion of the Stadio San Nicola, the Mitropa Cup final against Genoa proved the last-ever official match to be played at the stadium, with AS Bari moving into the newly inaugurated Stadio San Nicola for the 1990-91 season. In 56 years, Bari played a total of 945 league matches at the Stadio della Vittoria, which continues to be used for occasional non-league football matches and open-air concerts.
1991 / Over 20,000 Albanian refugees, who had crossed the Adriatic Sea on board of ship Vlora following the collapse of the communist regime in Tirana, are temporarily housed at the Stadio della Vittoria, causing such damage, that the ground is unfit for any purpose in the following years.
1996-97 / After several years of abandonment, the Stadio della Vittoria undergoes a thorough refurbishment in the fall of 1996 in view of the XIII. Mediterranean Games, due to be held in Bari in 1997, during which the athletics competition is held at the Stadio San Nicola, with the Stadio della Vittoria being used for some minor events.
2006 / The Stadio della Vittoria becomes the regular home base of rugby club Tigri Rugby Bari 1980 as well as American football club Navy Seals Bari (formerly called Patriots Bari).
2018 / The Stadio della Vittoria hosts a U21 Six Nations international match between Italy and Scotland.