Alessandria

Unione Sportiva Alessandria Calcio 1912, commonly referred to as Alessandria, is an Italian football club based in Alessandria, Piedmont. It currently plays in Serie B, the second tier of Italian football.

History

Brief history

Founded in 1912, Alessandria spent 13 seasons in Serie A between 1929 and 1960 and 21 in Serie B (last in 1975); it also reached one Coppa Italia final in 1936. To date, the most successful period in the team's history was between World War I and World War II, when it was, with Novara, Pro Vercelli and Casale, part of the so-called Quadrilatero Piemontese ("Piedmont Quadrilateral"), which forged great players and won important trophies.

One of the most famous players to have worn the club's characteristic and unique grey shirt is 1969 European Footballer of the Year award-winner Gianni Rivera; also, World Champions Luigi Bertolini, Felice Borel, Giovanni Ferrari and Pietro Rava, and famous players like Carlo Carcano and Adolfo Baloncieri also appeared for Alessandria. With the promotion in 2009 in Lega Pro Prima Divisione, the team finally left behind a long period of financial troubles and internal problems that had led the club to bankruptcy in 2003.

From 1912 to today

First football teams in Alessandria and birth of Football Club

Football arrived in Alessandria in the end of 19th century; there are reports regarding a match played in which a team of Alessandria played against one from Genoa. In 1896, the Unione Pro Sport Alessandria was created, followed by the football teams of the athletic club Forza e Concordia, which wore dark-grey shirts, and Forza e Coraggio, with pearl-grey shirts. Unione Pro Sport took part in some exhibition tournaments with teams based in Turin and Genoa between 1897 and 1898; in 1897, it won the football trophy at the National Gym Competition in Genoa. On 15 March 1898, it was invited to join the constituents of FIF, then took

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