Bologna FC 1909

Bologna

Full name	Bologna Football Club 1909 S.p.A.
Nickname(s)	I Rossoblù (The Red and Blues)[1] I Veltri (The Greyhounds)[2] I Felsinei (The Felsinians) I Petroniani (The Petronians)
Founded	3 October 1909; 115 years ago (1909-10-03) [3]
Ground	Stadio Renato Dall'Ara
Capacity	38,279
Owner	BFC 1909 Lux SPV S.A. (99.93%)
Chairman	Joey Saputo
Head coach	Vincenzo Italiano
League	Serie A
2023–24	Serie A, 5th of 20
Website	bolognafc.it
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Bologna Football Club 1909, commonly referred to as Bologna (Italian pronunciation: [boˈloɲɲa]), is an Italian professional football club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. The club have won seven top-flight titles, two Coppa Italia titles, and one UEFA Intertoto Cup.

Founded in 1909, Bologna were founding members of Serie A, and won many of their league championships during the late 1930s. The club ceded any league dominance by 1964, when they won their last league title to date. They won their two Coppa Italia titles in the 1970s, before battling relegation throughout the latter part of the 20th century. Bologna changed ownership multiple times during the early 2000s and 2010s, due to financial mismanagement, and later stabilized under the guise of a Canadian consortium led by Joey Saputo.

Bologna have participated in 75 Serie A seasons, which is the ninth-most in Italian football history. The club have played in the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara since 1927, which is the tenth-largest stadium by capacity in Serie A.

Bologna Football Club's formation was orchestrated by Emilio Arnstein, an Austrian who became interested in football at university in Vienna and Prague. He and his brother had previously founded another football club, Black Star, in Austria.

The club was founded on 3 October 1909, in the Northern Italian city of Bologna. Upon its formation, Carlo Sandoni was the club's sponsor and general manager, Swiss Louis Rauch became president, nobleman Guido Della Valle was the vice-president, Enrico Penaglia secretary, Sergio Lampronti cashier, while Emilio Arnstein and Leone Vincenzi were appointed councilmen.

On 20 March 1910, Bologna played their first ever game, against Virtus, who wore white shirts. Bologna outclassed their opponents, winning 9–1. The first football squad featured; Koch, Chiara, Pessarelli, Bragaglia, Guido Della Valle, Nanni, Donati, Rauch, Bernabeu, Mezzano, and Gradi.

Their formative season was spent in the regional league under Arrigo Gradi as captain, Bologna won their league gaining promotion to a league named Group Veneto-Emiliano. They spent four seasons in this league, never finishing lower than fifth. Bologna were entered into the Northern League before all football leagues were postponed for World War I.

After the first war, Bologna began to become more successful. First reaching the semi-finals of the Northern Italian competition in 1919–20, they went one better the following season by reaching the Northern League finals, going out 2–1 to Pro Vercelli. They would equal this again in 1923–24, coming runner up to eventual national champions Genoa.

Bologna became Northern and National League champions for the first time during 1924–25, beating Genoa CFC after five hard-fought final matches to take the championship. The finals against the Ligurian giants were marred by heavy crowd troubles. A few seasons later Bologna became champions of Italy for the second time in 1928–29 giving them a foothold in Italian football, building up a legacy, this was the last time the league was competed in the old system, Serie A was instated the following year.

Bologna won the Scudetto three more times before World War II, in 1935–36, 1936–37 and 1938–39, and once during the war (1940–41).

After World War II, the club was less successful. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the club generally floated between fourth, fifth and sixth position in the league, until they took the league title back in 1963–64. To date this remains their last Serie A championship, bringing the club's total to seven. This qualified Bologna to the 1964–65 European Cup (today UEFA Champions League), but they were eliminated in the preliminary round against Anderlecht.

It was not all doom and gloom for the club, however; in the 1970s, they won the Italian Cup twice, the second final of which was against Palermo. The game was tense and finished 1–1 before going to a penalty shootout, where Bologna won 4–3.

Beginning in the 1981–82 season, the club began to slide. First, they were relegated from Serie A after battling it out for survival with Cagliari and Genoa. They were relegated twice in succession and slid into Serie C1. They won their way out of C1 the next year, and returned to Serie A for the 1988–89 season after four years of fighting it out in Serie B.

They did not remain long, however, being relegated in 1991 and returning to Serie C1 in 1993. The club returned to Serie A for 1996. Two years later, Bologna tasted a slice of success on the European stage, winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup and playing in the UEFA Cup. The club remained in Serie A until the 2004–05 campaign, losing to Parma in the playoffs.

Despite losing some key players, Bologna expected to be challenging strongly for promotion from Serie B in the 2005–06 campaign. Despite its ambition, however, Bologna had a poor start to the season, causing the sacking of experienced coach Renzo Ulivieri, replaced by former Internazionale defender Andrea Mandorlini.

During this time, the team was sold by Giuseppe Gazzoni Frascara to Alfredo Cazzola, a local entrepreneur. Mandorlini, however, was not either able to bring Bologna up the Serie B table, and was fired on 5 March 2006; Ulivieri was then appointed back as team coach, after having been sacked a few months before. Bologna ended the 2005–06 Serie B campaign in eighth place. In the 2006–07 season, Bologna ended with the seventh place: there were several clashes between chairman Cazzola and head coach Ulivieri, who was ultimately fired on 14 April 2007 and replaced by caretaker and former assistant coach Luca Cecconi. For the 2007–08 season, Bologna was led by Daniele Arrigoni, who helped the rossoblù achieve automatic promotion back to the top flight after finishing second in Serie B.

During the summer of 2008, a club takeover was agreed between Cazzola and an American-based consortium; this was, however, cancelled in the end, following disagreements between the parties, and the club was successively sold to a local group led by new chairman Francesca Menarini, who thus became the second female chairman in the whole Serie A. Arrigoni was confirmed as head coach by the new group, and the start appeared to be particularly impressive, with a surprising 2–1 win at San Siro against Milan thanks to a winning goal scored by Francesco Valiani. The next weeks saw Bologna struggling in the league, however, with eight losses in nine matches. A disappointing 5–1 loss to Cagliari ultimately led the club management to sack Daniele Arrigoni on 3 November 2008 and appoint Siniša Mihajlović as new rossoblù boss.^[4]

On 14 April 2009, Giuseppe Papadopulo was appointed as the new manager, and successfully managed to raise the team spirit avoiding relegation to Serie B only in the last match of the season. In the 2009–10 season, Bologna played in Serie A for the 65th time, and escaped relegation again despite financial issues under new head coach Franco Colomba.

In June 2010, a club takeover was completed, with the club being sold by the Menarini family to Sardinian entrepreneur Sergio Porcedda. Franco Colomba was sacked right before the 2010–11 season opener on 29 August 2010, despite surviving relegation with the team in the 2009–10 season. The president of the club, Sergio Porcedda, said that the decision was made mostly "because he [Colomba] was skeptical of the team."^[5]

On 23 December 2010, the consortium Bologna 2010 led by banker Giovanni Consorte and coffee businessman Massimo Zanetti acquired the club from Sergio Porcedda, after the latter failed to pay wages for the club during his short-tenured ownership and put Bologna in threat of bankruptcy. The company also owed agent fee to Leonardo Corsi in the Andrea Raggi's transfer.^[6] Zanetti also became the new club chairman, with popular Italian musician and long-time Bologna supporter Gianni Morandi appointed as honorary president.^[7][8]

On 21 January 2011, chairman Massimo Zanetti and CEO Luca Baraldi, after only 28 days, resigned because of irreconcilable differences with the other personal and financial partners. Stefano Pedrelli became the new director general. For 76 days, the chairman was Marco Pavignani.

From 7 April 2011, after the resignation of Pavignani and having paid €2.5m of capital increase, the new chairman was Albano Guaraldi,^[9] the second largest shareholder of the consortium "Bologna 2010" with the 17% of the quotas, behind the outgoing Zanetti.

The 2013–14 season saw Bologna once again relegated to the Serie B, and also gave light to a number of financial problems involving the club and its ownership of Albino Guaraldi, who was considerably criticized by the team supporters also for a number of controversial decisions, including the sale of star player Alessandro Diamanti to Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande. A new head coach was then found in former Cagliari boss Diego López for the new season, whereas Guaraldi clearly stated his intention to hand over his Bologna stakes to a new owner. A North American group headed by Joe Tacopina and Joey Saputo (owner of CF Montréal, also the team of former Bologna hero Marco Di Vaio) then stated its interest in acquiring the club; this was followed by another offer coming from former chairman Massimo Zanetti. On 15 October 2014, the board of directors ratified the sale of the club to BFC 1909 Lux SPV, and Tacopina became the new club chairman.

Under the new ownership of which BFC 1909 Lux Spv S.A.^[10] of Luxemburg is an intermediate holding company, Bologna was promoted back to Serie A in 2015. Saputo also succeeded Tacopina as the new chairman of the board of directors of Bologna on 17 November 2014.

In their first season back in Serie A, Bologna finished 14th avoiding relegation. In the following two seasons, Bologna finished in 15th place on the table. In the 2018–19 Serie A season, Bologna finished in a creditable 10th position on the table.^[11] Over the next three seasons, Bologna continued to finish mid table in Serie A coming 12th two campaigns in a row followed by a 13th-placed finish in the 2021–22 season.^[12]

On 12 September 2022, Thiago Motta was named as head coach of Bologna.^[13] Subsequently, the club concluded in 9th place in the 2022–23 season, accruing 54 points, setting a new record for the team.^[14] Under Motta's full-season leadership in the following 2023–24 season, the club secured a UEFA Champions League berth for the first time since 1964–65, ensuring a top-five finish in Serie A,^[15] and eventually establishing a new record of 68 points.^[16]

The official stadium of Bologna is the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara. Dall'Ara is the biggest sports building of Bologna and its name is taken from an ex-chairman of the club, Renato Dall'Ara, who died three days before the final for Serie A's Scudetto. Its capacity is 38,500. The curva Bulgarelli (in English, Bulgarelli curve), the curve of Bologna's ultras, is dedicated to player Giacomo Bulgarelli, who died on 21 February 2009. The other curve, part of which is reserved for the away fans, is dedicated to Árpád Weisz, coach of Bologna's winning pre-war team, and killed by the Nazis in a concentration camp during WWII.

As of 30 August 2024^[17]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  POL Łukasz Skorupski 2 DF  SWE Emil Holm 3 DF  AUT Stefan Posch 5 DF  CRO Martin Erlić 6 MF  CRO Nikola Moro 7 FW  ITA Riccardo Orsolini (vice-captain) 8 MF  SUI Remo Freuler 9 FW  ARG Santiago Castro 10 FW  SWE Jesper Karlsson 11 FW  SUI Dan Ndoye 14 FW  ENG Samuel Iling-Junior (on loan from Aston Villa) 15 DF  ITA Nicolò Casale (on loan from Lazio) 16 DF  ITA Tommaso Corazza 17 MF  MAR Oussama El Azzouzi 18 MF  ITA Tommaso Pobega (on loan from Milan)

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 MF  SCO Lewis Ferguson (captain) 20 MF  SUI Michel Aebischer 21 FW  DEN Jens Odgaard 22 DF  GRE Charalampos Lykogiannis 23 GK  ITA Nicola Bagnolini 24 FW  NED Thijs Dallinga 26 DF  COL Jhon Lucumí 28 FW  ITA Nicolò Cambiaghi 29 DF  ITA Lorenzo De Silvestri 30 FW  ARG Benja Domínguez 31 DF  NED Sam Beukema 33 DF  ESP Juan Miranda 34 GK  ITA Federico Ravaglia 80 MF  ITA Giovanni Fabbian 82 MF  POL Kacper Urbański

As of 30 August 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  FIN Niklas Pyyhtiä

As of 30 August 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 25 GK  ITA Massimo Pessina 32 MF  MAR Naïm Byar

As of 13 September 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  ITA Kevin Bonifazi (at Lecce until 30 June 2025) — DF  SRB Mihajlo Ilić (at Partizan until 30 June 2025) — DF  ITA Mattia Motolese (at Carrarese until 30 June 2025) — DF  URU Joaquín Sosa (at CF Montréal until 31 December 2024) — DF  ITA Riccardo Stivanello (at Juventus Next Gen until 30 June 2025) — MF  ISL Andri Baldursson (at IF Elfsborg until 31 December 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ITA Manuel Rosetti (at Sestri Levante until 30 June 2025) — FW  ITA Gianmarco Cangiano (at Pescara until 30 June 2025) — FW  NGA Orji Okwonkwo (at Reggiana until 30 June 2025) — FW  ITA Antonio Raimondo (at Venezia until 30 June 2025) — FW  ITA Andrea Mazia (at Varesina until 30 June 2025)

Bologna have had numerous chairmen over the course of their history, some of which have been the owners of the club, others have been honorary chairmen. Here is a complete list of Bologna chairmen from 1909 until the present day.^[18]

Name	Years
Louis Rauch	1909–10
Pio Borghesani	1910
Emilio Arnstein	1910
Domenico Gori	1910–12
Rodolfo Minelli	1912–15
Arturo Gazzoni (Honorary chairman)	1916–18
Rodolfo Minelli	1918–19
Cesare Medica	1919–21
Angelo Sbarberi	1921–22
Antonio Turri	1922
Ruggero Murè (Honorary chairman)	1923
Enrico Masetti	1923–25
Paolo Graziani	1925–28
Gianni Bonaveri	1928–34
Renato Dall'Ara	1934–64
Luigi Goldoni	1964–68
Raimondo Venturi	1968–70

Name	Years
Filippo Montanari	1970–72
Luciano Conti	1972–79
Tommaso Fabbretti	1979–83
Giuseppe Brizzi	1983–85
Luigi "Gino" Corioni	1985–91
Piero Gnudi	1991–93
Giuseppe Gazzoni Frascara [it]	1993–2002 (Honorary chairman)[19]
Renato Cipollini	2002–05
Alfredo Cazzola	2005–08
Francesca Menarini	2008–10
Sergio Porcedda	2010
Massimo Zanetti	2010–11
Marco Pavignani	2011
Albano Guaraldi	2011–14
Joe Tacopina	2014–2015
Joey Saputo	2014–Present

Position	Name
Sporting director	Marco Di Vaio
Head coach	Vincenzo Italiano
Assistant Head Coach	Daniel Niccolini
Athletic Coach	Piero Campo Ivano Tito Mirko Balestracci Paolo Aiello Nicolo' Prandelli
Goalkeeping coach	Vincenzo Sicignano Antonio Rosati
Match analyst	Stefano Fricano Paolo Riela
Data analyst	Luca Benedetti
Team manager	Tommaso Fini
Head of Medical	Gianni Nanni
Team Doctor	Giovanbattista Sisca Luca Bini
Physiotherapist	Luca Ghelli Luca Govoni Gianluca Scolaro Simone Spelorzi Juan Manuel Parafita
Kit Manager	Matteo Campagna Nicola Capelli Davide Nicolini
Secretary	Maurizio Rizzi
Scout	Pasquale Ussia
Technical Director	Giovanni Sartori

Bologna have had many managers and trainers, some seasons they have had co-managers running the team. Here is a chronological list of them from 1920 onwards.^[20]

Name	Years
Hermann Felsner	1920–31
Gyula Lelovics	1931–32
József Nagy	1932
Achille Gama	1932–33
Technical Commission Pietro Genovesi Bernardo Perin Angelo Schiavio	1933–34
Lajos Kovács	1934
Árpád Weisz	1934–38
Hermann Felsner	1938–42
Mario Montesanto	1942–43
Alexander Popovic	1945–46
Technical Commission Pietro Genovesi Angelo Schiavio	1946
József Viola	1946–47
Gyula Lelovics	1947–48
Tony Cargnelli	1948–49
Edmund Crawford	1950–51
Raffaele Sansone	1951
Giuseppe Galluzzi	1951–52
Gyula Lelovics	1952
Giuseppe Viani	1952–56
Aldo Campatelli	1956–57
Ljubo Benčić	1957
György Sárosi	1957–58
Alfredo Foni	1958–59
Federico Allasio	1959–61
Fulvio Bernardini	1961–65

Name	Years
Manlio Scopigno	1965
Luis Carniglia	1965–68
Giuseppe Viani	1968
Cesarino Cervellati	1968–69
Oronzo Pugliese	1969
Edmondo Fabbri	1969–72
Oronzo Pugliese Cesarino Cervellati	1972
Bruno Pesaola	1972–76
Gustavo Giagnoni	1976–77
Cesarino Cervellati	1977
Bruno Pesaola	1977–79
Marino Perani	1979
Cesarino Cervellati	1979
Marino Perani	1979–80
Luigi Radice	1980–81
Tarcisio Burgnich	1981–82
Francesco Liguori	1982
Alfredo Magni	1982
Paolo Carosi	1982–83
Cesarino Cervellati	1983
Giancarlo Cadé	1983–84
Nello Santin	1984
Bruno Pace	1984–85
Carlo Mazzone	1985–86
Vincenzo Guerini	1 July 1986 – 4 May 1987
Giovan Battista Fabbri	1987
Luigi Maifredi	1 July 1987 – 30 June 1990
Francesco Scoglio	1990

Name	Years
Luigi Radice	1990–91
Luigi Maifredi	1991
Nedo Sonetti	1991–92
Eugenio Bersellini	1992–93
Aldo Cerantola	1993
Romano Fogli	1993
Alberto Zaccheroni	1993
Edoardo Reja	8 December 1993 – 30 June 1994
Renzo Ulivieri	1994–98
Carlo Mazzone	1 July 1998 – 30 June 1999
Sergio Buso	1999
Francesco Guidolin	1 July 1999 – 30 June 2003
Carlo Mazzone	1 July 2003 – 30 June 2005
Renzo Ulivieri	2005
Andrea Mandorlini	9 November 2005 – 5 March 2006
Renzo Ulivieri	2006–07
Luca Cecconi	2007 – 30 June 2007
Daniele Arrigoni	1 July 2007 – 3 November 2008
Siniša Mihajlović	3 November 2008 – 14 April 2009
Giuseppe Papadopulo	14 April 2009 – 20 October 2009
Franco Colomba	21 October 2009 – 29 August 2010
Paolo Magnani (interim)	29–31 Aug 2010
Alberto Malesani	1 September 2010 – 26 May 2011
Pierpaolo Bisoli	26 May 2011 – 4 October 2011
Stefano Pioli	4 October 2011 – 8 January 2014
Davide Ballardini	8 January 2014 – 30 June 2014
Diego López	1 July 2014 – 4 May 2015
Delio Rossi	4 May 2015 – 28 October 2015
Roberto Donadoni	28 October 2015 – 24 May 2018
Filippo Inzaghi	1 July 2018 – 28 January 2019
Siniša Mihajlović	28 January 2019 – 6 September 2022
Luca Vigiani (interim)	6–12 September 2022
Thiago Motta	12 September 2022 – 23 May 2024
Vincenzo Italiano	1 July 2024 –

• 1978–1979: Admiral
• 1980–1982: Tepa Sport
• 1982–1988: Ennerre
• 1988–1993: Uhlsport
• 1993–1996: Erreà
• 1996–2000: Diadora
• 2000–2001: Umbro
• 2001–present: Macron

• 1981–1982: Febal
• 1982–1983: Pasta Bertagni
• 1983–1984: Pasta Corticella
• 1984–1985: Ebano
• 1985–1986: Idrolitina
• 1986–1989: Segafredo
• 1989–1992: Mercatone Uno
• 1992–1993: Sinudyne
• 1993–1994: Buona Natura
• 1994–1997: Carisbo
• 1997–2001: Granarolo
• 2001–2004: Area Banca
• 2004–2005: Amica Chips
• 2005–2006: Europonteggi
• December 2006: Motor Show
• January–March 2007: Woolrich
• March–June 2007: Volvo
• December 2007 – March 2008: Joe Marmellata
• April–June 2008: Carisbo
• September 2008 – June 2009: Unipol
• August–September 2009: Cogei
• October–November 2009: Cerasarda
• November 2009 – June 2010: BIGPoker.it
• October 2010 – Cerasarda
• October 2009 – Ceramica Serenissima
• August 2014 – June 2015: +energia
• August 2011 – June 2015: NGM
• September 2015 – June 2018: FAAC – Illumia
• June 2018–June 2020: Liu·Jo
• September 2020–June 2022: Facile Ristrutturare – Selenella – Illumia
• June 2022–Present: Cazoo – Lavoropiù

• Serie A
  • Winners (7): 1924–25, 1928–29, 1935–36, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1940–41, 1963–64
• Serie B
  • Winners (2): 1987–88, 1995–96
• Serie C1
  • Winners : 1994–95

• Coppa Italia
  • Winners (2): 1969–70, 1973–74

• Mitropa Cup
  • Winners (3): 1932, 1934, 1961
• UEFA Intertoto Cup
  • Winners (1): 1998
• Anglo-Italian League Cup
  • Winners (1): 1970

• Nova Supersports Cup
  • Winners (1): 2001^[21]

Series	Years	Last	Promotions	Relegations
A	77	2023–24	—	4 (1982, 1991, 2005, 2014)
B	12	2014–15	4 (1988, 1996, 2008, 2015)	2 (1983, 1993)
C	3	1994–95	2 (1984, 1995)	never
92 years of professional football in Italy since 1929
Founding member of the Football League’s First Division in 1921

• Scudetto of the Pistols

• Official website (in Italian)