The history of Calcio Foggia 1920 spans from the inception as a multi-sport club in 1920 to the present day. The club has gone through many mergers and reformations, most recently in 2019. The team most recently participated in the top level Serie A in 1995 while it played the 2025 season in Serie C.
The origins Before the First World War Daunia Historically, the first known team in the Province of Foggia was Daunia, founded in 1909; the official kit had black-and-white stripes, and the second kit was pink.. The playing field was a small pitch on the outskirts of town, in the area that today corresponds to the Shooting Range..
The Sardegna and Calciatori multi-sport clubs In 1911, U.S. Sardegna and Unione Sportiva Calciatori were founded in Foggia.
U.S. Sardegna took its name from Marinucci, a Sardinian who was the son of the principal of the Normal School..
The Unione Sportiva Calciatori, which wore a white shirt with horizontal black stripes, won the "Coppa Città di Foggia" on 26 May 1912, beating Bari 1-0. Giuseppe Comei, a native of Foggia who came from Florence,. was signed by Unione Sportiva Calciatori along with the Tiberini brothers, who came from Milan; the younger of the two would return to Lombardy.
Atleta The latter, while in Milan, conceived the idea of merging the two teams: the multi-sports club U.S. Atleta was established in 1912 as a result of this union. Gustavo Nannarone served as the club's president and the team wore a white uniform.
Its debut was a derby played at the home ground of Pila e Croce against , ending in a 2-2 draw.. Subsequently, Atleta won a tournament in Bisceglie against some Apulian teams. In those years, the problem was finding a clubhouse; initially, the club met in a square facing the Convitto Liceale, which would later become the Courthouse. Many athletes and managers tried to convince the podestà Mandara to provide them with premises on Via Galliani, but he refused. Some officials illegally occupied the premises and found a large quantity of tiles intended for paving the sidewalks. Subsequently, Mandara changed his mind, and Atleta got its clubhouse.
With the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, the First World War began.
After the Great War The war killed many footballers, including those from Foggia, and during that period, it was very difficult to continue playing football. Gustavo Nannarone made a notable contribution to the sport during this time.. The Aviatori Foggia, a team of Foggian Navy and Aviation soldiers, contributed to the rebirth of football in Italy when they faced F.B.C. Liberty from Bari, drawing 2-2..
U.S. Atleta, which was by then establishing itself among the top teams, was invited to participate in numerous competitions, such as the "Torneo Pasquale" in Bari in April 1919, the first post-war Apulian tournament, or the "Six-a-side Football Tournament of Molfetta" on 3 October 1919, where U.S. Atleta finished in fourth place, losing the third-place final 2-0 by forfeit to Fulgor Molfetta. On 1 November, Atleta won 4-0 at the Campo Madonna della Spiga in Lucera against Sporting Club Luceria.. Meanwhile, in Foggia, a new team called Vis et Vir was created, wearing a yellow kit, where Renato Sarti played, on loan from Atleta. Some members of U.S. Atleta, meanwhile, left the club to form a new one, Maciste. Sometime later, Alfredo Cicolella founded U.S. Pro Foggia. However, these three teams did not remain active for long. On May 12, 1920, they announced their merger into a single club, with Colonel Carlo Gigliotti as president.Sometimes referred to as Carlo Giglietto.
The beginnings
From the foundation to the "Foggia of the three Ms" The club was officially established as Sporting Club Foggia on 5 July 1920 as a multi-sport club, meaning that not only soccer players were members, but also boxers, athletes, and cyclists..
After a period of inactivity, Sporting Club Foggia began its football activity on 18 March 1922, when it was beaten 2-0 by the 225th Fanteria; however in the rematch three days later, on 21 March 1922, Sporting Club Foggia won 3-0, with a hat-trick by Peppino Comei.. Another match against the same team, was won by S.C. Foggia 5-0. These were the team's first matches, albeit unofficial, that they played and won.
The colours red and black were chosen as the club colours, selected by the Tiberini brothers, who were AC Milan fans.
Sporting Club Foggia became affiliated with the FIGC on 31 May 1922, and was able to participate in the Apulian Championship, but first it played some friendlies at its home ground, the Parco Comunale, such as the one on 18 June 1922, where it lost 2-0 to U.S. Biscegliese, or the one on 22 October against Andrea Doria Foggia which it won 4-1, and the rematch of the latter on 13 December, also won by S.C. Foggia 2-1.. It automatically entered the final Apulian group of the 1922–23 Seconda Divisione where it finished first, under coach Roberto Fini.
The Sporting Club organized some friendlies for preparation, such as the away trip to Molfetta against Fulgor, which ended 1-1 and was started 15 minutes early due to the poor condition of the pitch (this was the red-and-blacks' first away match), and the away trip to the San Lorenzo in Bari against U.S. Ferrovieri, lost 2-0.After the second goal, which was clearly a foul, Foggia decided to withdraw.. Furthermore, the club organized a tournament, where it drew 0-0 with ,This could be considered the first Derby of Apulia and won in Torremaggiore against a mixed team..
The team was strengthened by its first signings, such as goalkeeper Raffaele Ferraretti (the first signing in Foggia's history), winger Luigi D'Onofrio, and centre-forward Mario Casale from Andrea Doria-Foggia, centre-half Romano from Savoia, and full-back Michele Camero from .. The teams from which Foggia recruited new players were all from Apulia, and especially Andrea Doria and Savoia, which were both Foggian teams.
The final group stage arrived and Sporting Club made its debut on 9 September 1923 at home against Garibaldino Taranto, winning 1-0, in what would be the first official match played by Foggia.. Foggia won all its matches, except for the away game at Taranto against Enotria, where it drew, and was promoted to the First Division.. To celebrate, the team organized a friendly match against Savoia, the national championship final runner-up, which they won 3-0 in Foggia.. On 28 October, the Apulian Regional Committee awarded a walkover victory to Enotria for the last match, due to a pitch invasion that had led to a 5-minute extension of the match, but on November 2, the Southern League overturned the Apulian Regional Committee's verdict, officially promoting Foggia..
Promoted to the 1923–24 Prima Divisione championship, Sporting Club Foggia changed its president to Carlo Irace and inaugurated the new Pila e Croce field on November 18 in a match against Ideale Bari. The visitors won 2-0; however, the result was later invalidated due to a refereeing error. The referee suspended the match for 23 minutes in the 13th minute because the ball burst. Instead of resuming the match, he restarted it from the beginning, resulting in a total playing time of 103 minutes. Sporting Club requested that the match be annulled and succeeded.. At the end of the group, however, it finished in sixth and last place with two points. Nevertheless, Foggia had a slim hope of remaining in the First Division, as the Apulian Regional Committee granted a promotion/relegation play-off between the bottom team of the First Division and the top team of the Second Division, namely Sporting Club Foggia and F.C. Bari.. Foggia won the playoff 2-1, but Bari appealed, arguing that, since they had earned their promotion on the field, they should be promoted outright. Ultimately, Bari prevailed..
In the 1924-1925 season, the president was Vincenzo Gaito and the championship was not supposed to be played, as the only registered team, S.C. Foggia, was directly admitted to the promotion/relegation play-off with U.S. Ideale of Bari, a play-off which was not held due to Foggia's withdrawal. The same situation as the previous year had occurred and Foggia seemed on the verge of being promoted; however, when the 1925-26 league schedules were drawn up, it was not directly admitted to play in the Prima Divisione Apulian group, because the Apulian Regional Committee had registered F.B.C. Lecce towards the end of June.. Foggia won the home leg 4-0 but Lecce won the return leg 2-1. On the neutral ground of San Lorenzo in Bari, Foggia defeated Lecce in the promotion play-off, thanks to a brace from Peppino Comei, promoting the red-and-black team back to the First Division.
In the subsequent Prima Divisione championship, the 1925-1926 season, Foggia, under the leadership of the new president, Pietro De Vita, and the newly appointed secretary, Medardo D'Angiò (a role he would only leave in 1961, upon his death), despite having made signings such as that of Edmondo Della Valle, finished last with 2 points, thus being relegated again to what had now become Prima Divisione (the second level of Italian football). This happened because Foggia had irregularly registered a player, Oscar Varola, so the last three league matches were declared lost by forfeit.. In its debut on 22 November 1925, drawing 0-0 against Ideale, Foggia inaugurated the new field on Via Ascoli (not yet fully completed).. Meanwhile, the Foggia B team was created, i.e., the reserves, who played in different leagues from the first team..
In the 1926-1927 season, it played in Group D of the Southern Prima Divisione, and with the issuance of the Viareggio Charter, Foggia was able to sign two foreign players, but could only field one per match, thus purchasing the Hungarian Babaj, a centre-half, who corresponds to the first foreigner in Foggia's history; additionally, the acquisitions of Giuseppè Poli and Giovanni Visentini were made from Fulgor of Molfetta.. These players would prove to be the most important of the season, especially Poli. He was the Italian pentathlon champion in 1928, the decathlon runner-up, and a professional swimmer.. Additionally, winger Raffaele Costantino, who would later wear the Azzurri shirt, was rejected by Foggia after playing only two friendlies, the first won against Bagnolese, and the second drawn 1-1 with a goal by Babaj from a free kick, in the first-ever match against Napoli.
The team started the championship well, but the sale of players such as Babaj weakened them.. For example, the away match against Liberty Bari was suspended due to darkness at a score of 1-1. The match started 42 minutes late and was played by Foggia with only 10 players due to the absence of Visentini and Alessandro Sarti, who were involved in a car accident. The match was played with eight starting players, one substitute, and Migotti, who played for only 20 minutes. Meanwhile, the figure of goalkeeper Renato Sarti, known as "Il divo", became increasingly important at Foggia, coming close to a national team call-up..
Foggia finished seventh at the end of the championship. However, following the exclusion of Ilva Bagnolese, Casertana, and Pro Italia Taranto from the championship, Foggia effectively finished fourth.