Bellinzona

AC Bellinzona is a Swiss football club based in Bellinzona. It was founded in 1904, and won the Swiss Super League in 1948. After being folded in 2013 declaring bankruptcy, the team played the Ticino Group of 2.Liga, the sixth tier of the Swiss Football League System in 2014–15 season. After winning it and the 1. Liga Classic, Bellinzona is promoted to 1. Liga Promotion.

History

Since Bellinzona is an Italian-speaking region, many of Italy's Serie A clubs loaned youth players to the club to get first team experience.

Bellinzona was promoted to the Swiss Super League after beating St. Gallen 5–2 on aggregate in the relegation play-off following the 2007–2008 season. Bellinzona played at the top level in the 2008–2009 season for the first time since the 1989–90 season. As finalists in the Swiss Cup, the team also qualified for the 08-09 UEFA Cup where it beat Ararat Yerevan of Armenia in the 1st qualifying round. Then they knock-out Ukrainian FC Dnipro on away goal rule (2:3 in Dnipropetrovsk, and 2:1 home victory, 4:4 aggregate). In third qualifying round they faced Galatasaray losing both games 3:4 at home ground and 1:2 in Istanbul.

In 2013 before the 2013–14 season of 1. Liga Promotion the club was declared bankrupt. After staying one season playing only at young divisions, the club went back to professional football, joining the 2014–15 2.Liga. After two years in 1. Liga Classic, the club finished first in 2018 and was promoted to the 1. Liga Promotion for the 2018–19 season.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Беллинцона (russian)