Venezia FC (Italy)

Venezia Football Club, more usually referred to as simply Venezia, is an Italian professional football club that has been through name changes, bankruptcies and new companies being formed to keep the name going.

The original club was founded as Venezia Foot-Ball Club on December 14th 1907, when two sporting clubs, Palestra Marziale and Costantino Reyer, joined forces, playing games in the city at their Campo San Bartolomeo home. The team began life as members of Terza Categoria Veneta, the third level of local football. 

It wasn't long before they won a couple of promotions to Prima Categoria Veneto-Emiliana, which was one of several top-level Italian divisions, from where the best sides played off to become national champions. After being crowned as Veneto-Emiliana champions in 1911-12, Venezia progressed to the national championship final, where they lost heavily on aggregate to Pro Vercelli.

Campo di Sant'Elena was opened in 1913, becoming the only ground in Italy that players, officials, and spectators reach by boat. In 1919, another local club, Aurora FC, joined forces with the club, which was retitled Associazione Calcio Venezia. Following discussions, the national league was formed in 1922. 

Venezia were placed in the new Seconda Divisione Nord, winning the title in 1925-26 to join the new second tier for the following season. Promotion was awarded in 1927-28 after a second place in group A of Prima Divisione Nord. The club became a founder member of Serie B in 1929-30 under coach Rudolf Stanzel.

The club changed their title to Società Sportiva Serenissima, with Giuseppe Girani coaching the side before it changed again, this time to Associazione Fascista Calcio Venezia in 1934. The team dropped down to the newly formed Serie C Girone A when Serie B became streamlined at the end of the 1934-35 campaign.

Venezia won the title at the first attempt to return to the second tier under József Bánás. At their renamed Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo, Luigi Barbesino and then Giuseppe Girani were in charge of the side that finished as Serie B runners-up in 1938-39 to win promotion to the top-flight Serie A, where Venezia consolidated their position.

In 1940-41, Venezia lifted the Coppa Italia when AS Roma were defeated 4-3 on aggregate, with the goals coming from Valentino Mazzola, Alfredo Diotallevi, Juán Alberti and Ezio Loik after Giovanni Battista Rebuffo had taken over as coach. The side went on to third place in Serie A in 1941-42. 

János Vanicsek then led the side to the runners-up spot in the 1942-43 Coppa Italia after a 4-0 defeat to Torino at San Siro, with Francesco Pernigo continuing to star for ‘Il Arancioneroverdi’, the orange, black and greens. At the end of Mussolini’s fascist rule in 1945, the club changed their name to Associazione Calcio Venezia as coach Girani returned for a second spell. 

Nereo Marini took over in 1946-47 when the goals of Valeriano Ottino were not enough to save his side from relegation. Mario Villini coached the side to promotion as runners-up in 1948-49, for a spell of one season in Serie A before Venezia returned. It got worse in 1951-52 as the team was relegated to Serie C with Fulvio Bernardini as coach.

The Serie C title was clinched in 1955-56 under the tutelage of Carlo Alberto Quario with help from the goals of Giovanni Calegari. 1960-61 saw a further promotion when Gino Raffin’s goals helped Venezia to the Serie B title, with Serie A status remaining until the end of the conclusion of the 1962-63 campaign.

The club returned to the top table in 1965-66 when Armando Segato led his team to the Serie B title as Silvano Mencacci scored the goals with Marcello Neri an ever-present. Venezia went down twelve months later, followed by another relegation in 1967-68.

The team remained at the third-tier level for the best part of a decade before being relegated to Serie D in 1976-77. A runners-up finish in Girone B in 1978-79 saw a return to Serie C. The competition was called Campionato Interregionale as the Italian league system was restructured when Venezia won Girone C in 1982-83 to be promoted to Serie C2.

However, off the pitch, financial issues saw the old club fold, with their license taken over by the newly formed Calcio Venezia S.r.l. before they merged with l'Associazione Calcio Mestre S.p. In the summer of 1987, they changed their name to Calcio Venezia-Mestre S.r.l.

Mestre’s license was sold to the reborn Palermo club while Venezia-Mestre played their matches at Stadio Francesco Baracca in Mestre. The newly named side ended as Girone B runners-up in 1987-88 under coach Ferruccio Mazzola to go up to Serie C1. A further name change, to Associazione Calcio Venezia 1907 S.r.l. followed in 1989. 

My drawing of Stadio Pierluigi Penzo from the time of my visit
Click on the image to enlarge it

The team ended as runners-up in Girone A, Serie C1 season of 1990-91, with Alberto Zaccheroni leading the side led to promotion. A Serie B runners-up place in 1997-98 after a return to Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo took Venezia back to Serie A in a side containing Giancarlo Filippini and coached by Walter Novellino for the first time in thirty years.

Álvaro Recoba and Filippo Maniero starred going forward on their return, along with goalkeeper Massimo Taibi. Luciano Spalletti and then Francesco Oddo had spells as coach before the team was relegated in 1999-00. Cesare Prandelli was appointed as team boss as Venezia went straight back up at the first attempt, aided by the goals of Arturo Di Napoli. 

Their Serie A tenure lasted just twelve months before the team struggled in Serie B. At the end of the 2004-05 season, the club was declared bankrupt, with Società Sportiva Calcio Venezia S.p.a. being formed to take a place in Serie C2. Andrea Manzo and later Nello Di Costanzo took the team to the Girone A title in their first season in charge.

The following season saw Venezia lose in the play-off semi-finals for promotion before another restructuring of the club took place in 2009 with the formation of Foot Ball Club Unione Venezia S.r.l. after the previous incarnation was relegated due to serious budget irregularities.

The team lost in the Serie D play-off final of 2009-10 before the Girone C title was won in 2011-12 after Giancarlo Favarin had taken over as coach. Victory in the play-offs the following season saw Venezia rewarded with promotion to the third-tier Lega Pro Prima Divisione. Yet more financial troubles at the end of the 2014-15 campaign saw the club close again. 

It was immediately replaced by Venezia Football Club Società Sportiva Dilettantistica, who were placed in Girone C of Serie D. The team won the championship in 2015-16 to return to Lega Pro. At this point, the club name was changed to Venezia Football Club before winning the Liga Pro title in 2016-17 under coach Filippo Inzaghi.  

Alexandre Geijo and Stefano Moreo scored the goals as the side reached the playoffs on their Serie B return, where Palermo ended dreams of promotion. Stefano Vecchi replaced Inzaghi in the summer of 2018, before being quickly succeeded by Walter Zenga. The former national team goalkeeper didn't see out the season, with Serse Cosmi arriving in his place.

Salernitana were defeated in the relegation playoff, before Alessio Dionisi was appointed as manager, who was replaced ahead of the 2020-21 campaign by Paolo Zanetti. His side defeated Cittadella in the playoff final to reach Serie A, with goalscorers Francesco Forte and Riccardo Meggiorini playing a large part in a successful season.

Venezia went straight back down after one season at the elite level. Ivan Javorčić started the 2022-23 Serie B season as manager before being replaced by Paolo Vanoli. Cagliari defeated I Leoni Alati in the playoffs. There would be no mistake the following season as victory over Cremonese in the playoff final sealed promotion to Serie A.

The proposed new stadium at Tessera

The success was largely attributed to the goals of Joel Pohjanpalo and Christian Gytkjær, along with the goalkeeping of  Jesse Joronen. Eusebio Di Francesco was appointed as manager in July 2024, as Venezia were again relegated twelve months later. News, meanwhile, broke that a new stadium for the club as part of the Bosco dello Sport complex in Tessera was proposed.

Giovanni Stroppa became Venezia manager in July 2025.

FC Venezia will play in Serie B in the 2025-26 season.

My visit 

Sunday 14th October 2000

I was travelling around Europe by train for three weeks on an InterRail ticket, taking in as many major cities and sightseeing as possible, which of course included visiting football clubs and stadiums. I arrived in Venice on a night train at 6am, which I'd boarded in Nice. 

I relaxed and found somewhere for refreshments and to freshen up and leave my backpack, so I could go and discover the city. This was before my days of using computers or maps on them, so I had to go by the free maps at each destination, which didn’t always have football stadiums marked on them. 

I bought a pass to use the boats on the canals for the day and set out walking and riding. On the north side of the city, I saw what looked like the Venezia stadium on the archipelago of Murano. I got on board the boat and then set out when reaching dry land, only to find a basic community sports ground. 

Thwarted, I got on with seeing the usual sights: Rialto Bridge and St Paul’s Square, etc. My failure was nagging away at me. On my basic map, I saw another sports ground marked off. 
Now, while I found parts of Venice pretty, it was pretty apparent I’d be struggling to fill eighteen hours in the city, especially on my tight budget. 

I had nothing to lose, with my unlimited pass already purchased. I set off for Isola di Sant Elena by boat and then walked towards the site. It was immediately obvious that I’d struck gold. Stadio Pierluigi Penzo was ageing, even back then. The Main Stand was on the west side with a canal running behind it. 

It was a single-tiered stand with a TV camera box on the roof. I gained entry in the north-east corner. The three remaining stands were all huge portable structures of the sort seen around tennis courts and golf courses for major events without roofs. The one to me left had the yacht club behind it and also had a detached couple of blocks for away fans. 

All had green tip-up seats bolted onto the structures, with the corners between the stands consisting of flat open land. I went back to my sightseeing. I found a local paper which seemed to indicate that the club from Mestre, just across the bridge on the mainland, were playing at home in a regional league that afternoon. 

I went on a train, but soon gave it up as a bad job as I had no real detail and even fewer Italian language skills. I went back for yet another walk and a meal by one of the many canals.

Unfortunately, the pictures on this page have been taken from the internet as I took photos and then lost my camera after leaving my bag in a bar in Rome the following evening!