The 1971–72 Unione Sportiva Catanzaro season was the club's 38th season since its establishment and the club's first ever season in Serie A. In addition to its domestic league participation, Catanzaro competed in the Coppa Italia and the international competition, the Anglo-Italian Cup.
Summary Following on from his efforts to gain promotion (via the playoffs) from Serie B the previous year, Gianni Seghedoni was given the helm for the Catanzaro's inaugural season in Serie A.
The season began with 1971–72 Coppa Italia, where Catanzaro was placed in Group C with Napoli, Hellas Verona, Sorrento and Palermo. With two wins, one draw and one loss, Catanzaro finished second in the group behind Napoli and did not progress any further in the competition.
Catanzaro's first match in the Serie A was away to heavyweights, Juventus in Turin. After trailing 3–0, Alberto Spelta became the club's first Serie A goalscorer, scoring in the 75th minute. Another late consolation was scored by Maurizio Gori to end the match 4–2 to Juventus in front of 47,269 spectators. The clubs second match was against another football giant, Inter Milan this time at home at the Stadio Comunale. After going into half-time at 0–0, Inter scored two goals in the second half to give Catanzaro its second defeat of the season.
Catanzaro then earned its first point in the Serie A with an away draw at Stadio Sant'Elia to Cagliari. They then drew the next four matches before going a three-game losing streak.
Catanzaro's first win would finally come in the round 16 fixture against Juventus. Playing in Catanzaro, Angelo Mammì's 84th-minute goal would break the deadlock sealing the momentous victory 1–0. Catanzaro would only record two more victories throughout the rest of the season, with wins against Sampdoria (1–0) and Bologna (also 1–0). The club's final season match ended in a 1–0 away loss to AC Milan.
Catanzaro finished fifteenth on league ladder after the regular season and were subsequently relegated back to Serie B for the following season.
Catanzaro was selected to compete at the end of year Anglo-Italian Cup. This would be the club's first participation in international competition since the 1960 Cup of the Alps. For this tournament, teams were placed into groups with two teams from England and two from Italy. Matches would only be played against teams from the opposing country and then all teams were ranked by country. Catanzaro was grouped with English sides Stoke City and Carlisle United. Unfortunately, Catanzaro lost all four of its fixtures, and was ranked last among the Italian sides. The other Italian side in their group, Roma, finished first and went on to win the final against Blackpool.
Squad
Competitions Overall record
Serie A
League table
Results summary
Note: Wins were only worth 2 points this season
Results by round
Matches
Coppa Italia
First Round (Group C) table
Matches
Anglo-Italian Cup
Group 1
Statistics Appearances and goals
! colspan=10 style="background:#E00000; color:yellow; text-align:center"| Goalkeepers
! colspan=10 style="background:#E00000; color:yellow; text-align:center"| Defenders
! colspan=10 style="background:#E00000; color:yellow; text-align:center"| Midfielders
! colspan=10 style="background:#E00000; color:yellow; text-align:center"| Forwards
References