Mazara Calcio A.S.D.

Mazara
Full name Mazara Calcio Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica
Nickname(s) I Gialloblù (The Yellow-and-Blues)
I Canarini (The Canaries)
Founded 1946 (U.S. Mazara)
1996 (merger)
Ground Stadio Nino Vaccara,
Mazara del Vallo, Italy
Ground Capacity 3,266
Chairman Elio Abbagnato
Head coach Giacomo Modica
League Eccellenza Sicily
2015–16 Eccellenza Sicily, 7th

Mazara Calcio A.S.D., formerly Gruppo Sportivo Mazara 1946, is an Italian football team from Mazara del Vallo, Sicily. They currently play in Eccellenza Sicily.

History

Foundation and early years

First traces about football in Mazara are dated 1946. However, a team to represent the city of Mazara del Vallo, Unione Sportiva Mazara, was founded only in 1957–1958, and took initially part in the Promozione league. Mazara played Serie D in 1960–1961, but were relegated three years later. Successively, Mazara played a one-year Serie D stint in 1971–1972 before finally returning to play in the then-fourth highest national division in 1976–1977, after winning 1–0 a promotion playoff to Canicattì. The single playoff match, played at Stadio Renzo Barbera, Palermo, featured an attendance of 12,000, the majority being Mazara supporters. Following this promotion, the club played Serie D for 19 consecutive seasons.

Promotion attempts

During the 1980s and the early 1990s, Mazara often shown itself as serious candidate to win the Serie D league, but always missing their goal. In 1985 Mazara, under coach Ignazio Arcoleo, won Serie D gaining a potentially historical first Serie C2 promotion; however, this was then cancelled by the Football Federation because of alleged matchfixing, with bitter rivals Trapani being promoted at canarini's place. Successively, Mazara narrowly missed promotion on several occasions: the club placed second in 1988–1989, just one point behind winners Acireale; in 1990–1991, third behind Gangi (who then lost playoff to Matera); in 1993–1994, seventh-placed after having led the table for almost the whole first half of the season.

Relegation, decline and merger

First logo of the club after the 1996 fusion
Mazara 1946 during a home match in 2009

After nineteen Serie D seasons, in 1994–1995 Mazara, under serious financial troubles, were relegated to Eccellenza, where another local team, S.C. Mazara 2000, was already playing. Mazara 2000 was a minor, young team who quickly climbed the football pyramid up to Eccellenza, whereas US Mazara appeared to be an old team under decline. Both teams played Eccellenza in 1995–1996, challenging each other in a new, yet somewhat strange, local derby. US Mazara classified fourth in the end, whereas Mazara 2000 obtained a good seventh place. US Mazara, who was under growing economic difficulties, agreed for a merge with Mazara 2000, and Gruppo Sportivo Mazara 1946 (Mazara 1946 Sports Group) were founded.

The newly founded football team included almost all the best players from the two former local clubs; this brought the first appearance for Mazara 1946, in 1996–1997, to be very successful, as the team managed to win hands down the Eccellenza league and return to Serie D. The first season for the new club in the Italian fifth-ranked division ended in a hard saving, just one point above the relegation places. The 1998–1999 campaign showed itself to be even harder, with Mazara ending the season with the same points as Sancataldese, therefore being forced to play a single-legged relegation playoff. The match, played in Termini Imerese, ended in a 1–0 win for the canarini, that so escaped relegation once again.

Affected by heavy financial struggles, Mazara however played their 1999–2000 Serie D season with a team mostly composed of young and unexperienced players, and were humiliatingly relegated to Eccellenza with just 8 points in 34 matches, obviously last-placed in the table.

Since then, Mazara experienced a declining time, even relegating to Promozione (7th-ranked division) in 2003–2004 after losing relegation playoffs to Licata. The club, with a new property, successfully returned to Eccellenza in 2005–2006 under coach Filippo Cavataio, a native of Mazara and a former centre back of several Serie C teams, most notably Trapani. In 2006–2007 the club, again coached by Cavataio, ended the regular season phase in an impressive third place, behind Alcamo and Carini, and were therefore admitted to the promotion playoff semifinal, where they eliminated Kamarat (from Cammarata) in a one-legged semifinal after a 0–0 tie, with Mazara moving to the next round because of their best placement in the regular season; another tie with second-placed Carini in the final however caused elimination for the canarini, who failed to achieve promotion also in the following season, finishing in fifth place after a long battle with Nissa and bitter rivals Trapani, who then defeated and eliminated Mazara in the following promotion play-off tournament, with all three matches (two in the regular season, plus a one-legged play-off match) being played behind closed doors.

In 2008–09 Mazara returned with high expectations of winning the league, and established themselves in the top positions of the league. However, on January 2009 the club unwillingly gained national news due to events in what was supposed to be a key home game against first-placed Villabate: Mazara striker Francesco Erbini scored a goal in the first minutes of the match, but the referee disallowed it and restarted the game as the Mazara footballers were celebrating, thus allowing Villabate to score a goal with no significant opposition on the pitch. The referee successively sent off three Mazara footballers due to heavy protests and then abandoned the pitch minutes later.[1][2] The Sicilian Football Federation then announced the match had to be replayed on 10 March; Mazara won the game 2–0 and established themselves in first place.[3] On 22 March, after a 4–0 home win against Marsala in a local derby, Mazara mathematically ensured first place in the league table, with a six points advantage to Villabate and only one remaining match to be played, thus marking their return to the Serie D after nine years.[4]

Back into Serie D and new fusion

The club's comeback season to Serie D was hailed by financial problems mostly caused by the move from a regional league to a national one, with former player Giovanni Iacono being appointed head coach in an unusual part-time basis. Throughout the season, Mazara found themselves in the bottom side of the league, despite managing to achieve a number of prominent results, such as home wins to fallen giants Messina and arch-rivals, and league leaders, Trapani. The club also experienced the loss of team captain, and former Palermo striker, Francesco Erbini, who was banned for ten months on February 2010 due to having greeted two club staff members inquiried with mafia charges as a goal celebration in a football league game on March 2009.[5] Despite such issues, the club ended the season out of the relegation playoff zone, thus ensuring itself a new Serie D season. On July 2010 it was announced a fusion between the main Mazara club and the historical local youth system club Aurora Mazara: such club took the new denomination of Mazara Calcio A.S.D. and will take part to the 2010–11 Serie D season.[6]

Mazara then successfully returned in Serie D in 2010 as Eccellenza Sicily champions and played two season before being relegated in 2011 as second-last placed in the Round I of the top amateur league of Italy. In their first season back to Eccellenza, Mazara clearly stated their intentions to go back immediately to Serie D by acquiring several top players, including former Torino striker Akeem Omolade. However, despite several attempts, the club suffered difficult times, that were underlined by the disastrous 2013–14 season, in which Mazara escaped relegation through play-offs only after a last-minute extra time draw against minnows Rocca di Caprileone.

For the 2014–15 season, Mazara appointed Nicola Terranova, former assistant coach and older brother of Serie A defender Emanuele Terranova, as new head coach. The club ended season in second place behind winners Marsala, then qualifying to the national playoff phase where they were eliminated in the finals by Apulia-based club Nardò.

The 2015–16 season, started with Terranova again at the helm of the team, saw a club takeover by a Palermo-based consortium led by Elio Abbagnato (former club chairman from 1989 to 1991, and father-in-law of former Italy international Federico Balzaretti), who successively appointed former Serie A player Tommaso Napoli as new manager. The Eccellenza campaign ended in a unremarkable seventh place, whereas the club had a very successful campaign in the Coppa Italia Dilettanti, winning the regional cup for the first time ever and ending the national phase (which also offered an additional Serie D spot to the competition winners) as runners-up, losing to Unione Sanremo in the final.

The new season saw Mazara with new head coach Andrea Pensabene, then replaced by Mazara-born Giacomo Modica in September.

Colours and badge

The official team colours for GS Mazara 1946, as well as all the other major sports teams in Mazara, are canary yellow and blue, which are also the official colours of the city of Mazara del Vallo.

The original team badge was instead reminiscent of the 1996 merge between the two local and rival clubs U.S. Mazara and S.C. Mazara 2000: both two characteristic elements of the respective original crests, respectively the canary bird and the seahorse, are present on it, along with the words "GS MAZARA 1946". Such logo was dropped out in 2010 in favour of a new version that only depicted the canary bird instead.

Stadium

Entrance of Stadio Nino Vaccara, Mazara del Vallo

Mazara plays its home matches at Stadio Nino Vaccara, a small stadium located right along the local Mazaro river. Originally a dirt floor stadium without seats, Stadio Nino Vaccara undertook a massive restructuring in the early 2000s, with the implementation of a synthetic field and a numbered seats-only grandstand with a roof.

The stadium is divided into three sectors: the numbered grandstand, or tribuna centrale, with a capacity of 1,086; the curva (not really a curved sector, by the way), where the organized supporters sit down, with a capacity of 800; and the gradinata, in front of the grandstand, with a capacity of 1,380, usually opened only in exceptional cases.[7]

Outside the stadium, right aside the main entrance, a number of murals are pictured depicting fishermen and fishing boats characteristic of Mazara del Vallo are also pictured.

List of seasons

SeasonLeaguePlacementOther
1956–57Prima Divisione5th
1957–58Prima Divisione1stpromoted
1958–59Prima Categoria7th
1959–60Prima Categoria1stpromoted after playoff against Milazzo
1960–61Serie D10th
1961–62Serie D7th
1962–63Serie D8th
1963–64Serie D17threlegated
1964–65Prima Categoria7th
1965–66Prima Categoria11th
1966–67Prima Categoria15th
1967–68Prima Categoria7th
1968–69Prima Categoria2nd
1969–70Prima Categoria1st6 points later deducted because of match fixing, AMAT Palermo promoted at its place
1970–71Promozione1stpromoted
1971–72Serie D17threlegated
1972–73Promozione2nd
1973–74Promozione3rd
1974–75Promozione3rd
1975–76Promozione1stpromoted after playoff against Canicattì
1976–77Serie D7th
1977–78Serie D10th
1978–79Serie D12th
1979–80Serie D8th
1980–81Serie D18th2 points deducted; no relegations in that season
1981–82Serie D14th
1982–83Interregionale12th
1983–84Interregionale8th
1984–85Interregionale1st5 points later deducted because of match fixing, Trapani promoted at its place
1985–86Interregionale11th
1986–87Interregionale7th
1987–88Interregionale12th
1988–89Interregionale2nd
1989–90Interregionale6th
1990–91Interregionale3rd
1991–92Interregionale4th
1992–93Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti14th
1993–94Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti7th
1994–95Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti17threlegated
1995–96Eccellenza4thmerged with Mazara 2000 at the end of the season
1996–97Eccellenza1stpromoted
1997–98Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti14th
1998–99Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti14thsaved from relegation after playoff against Sancataldese
1999–00Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti18threlegated
2000–01Eccellenza6th
2001–02Eccellenza7th
2002–03Eccellenza3rd
2003–04Eccellenza13threlegated after playoff against Licata
2004–05Promozione5th
2005–06Promozione1stpromoted
2006–07Eccellenza3rd
2007–08Eccellenza5th
2008–09Eccellenza1stpromoted
2009–10Serie D12th
2010–11Serie D18th relegated
2011–12Eccellenza9th
2012–13Eccellenza10th
2013–14Eccellenza13th
2014–15Eccellenza-

Notable managers

Achievements

References

  1. ↑ "Italian Insanity: As one team celebrates, the other team scores". 101 Great Goals. 27 January 2009. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2009.
  2. ↑ "Esultano, gli altri segnano – Guarda il video" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 25 January 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2009.
  3. ↑ "Mazara-Villabate finì in rissa: si rigioca" (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport – Stadio. 10 March 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
  4. ↑ "Casertana, Milazzo e Mazara promosse in D" (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport – Stadio. 22 March 2009. Retrieved 23 March 2009.
  5. ↑ "Inneggia a indagati mafia Giocatore sospeso 10 mesi" (in Italian). La Repubblica. 17 February 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
  6. ↑ "COMUNICATO STAMPA N° 10 Del 8 luglio 2010" (in Italian). Mazara Calcio ASD. 7 July 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
  7. ↑ "Disposte le misure di sicurezza per lo stadio "Nino Vaccara"" (in Italian). MazaraOnline. 5 April 2006. Archived from the original on 11 July 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2007.
  8. ↑ Including 5-points deduction because of alleged matchfixing
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