Aurora Pro Patria 1919

The club was founded in 1919.

The club has played in Serie A fourteen times mostly during the first half of the 20th century, the last time being in 1955–56.

In 1995 the club, then officially named Pro Patria et Libertate, was disqualified from Serie D.

The Gallaratese of Gallarate was admitted to Serie C2, in order to keep the historical brand alive, it changed its name to Pro Patria Gallaratese G.B. (G.B. being for Gallarate and Busto Arsizio, respectively): the club is considered the direct heir of Pro Patria et Libertate.

The club played in the fourth tier until 2002, when the club won promotion to Serie C1 via the playoffs. In 2008 the club was relegated to Serie C2 after losing in the playoffs to Hellas Verona by 2–1 on aggregate, but was later readmitted to Lega Pro Prima Divisione to fill a vacancy.

On June 2008, a club takeover was completed and ambitious plans for a return to Serie B were unveiled. However, impressive performances in the Lega Pro Prima Divisione 2008–09 were accompanied by financial troubles, which led to the club being declared insolvent by the local magistrate in April 2009 due to excessive financial debts. The club's president was later arrested and has to stand trial on charges related to the bankruptcy.[2] The drive to Serie B came to nothing for the team in a most bitter way; badly losing the home return match of their playoff final against Padova, who played with 10 men after an early sending off.

On 27 June 2009 Aurora Pro Patria 1919, owned by the Tesoro family, construction businessmen from Apulia, acquired the sports title from the liquidator of the old company.[3]

In the season 2009–10 it was relegated to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione. In the 2012–13 season it was promoted to Lega Pro Prima Divisione. In the 2014–15 season it was relegated to Serie D, but it was readmitted to Lega Pro to fill vacancies. A second consecutive relegation to Serie D however brought the club down to the amateur levels of Italian football. Pro Patria is one of the most important football club in the whole Varese area, but due to the last performances on the pitch, the team has never reached the same fame as before.

On 3 January 2013, the club was hosting A.C. Milan in a friendly, when a small group of people aimed chants at A.C. Milan players, including M'Baye Niang, Urby Emanuelson, Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng. Boateng reacted angrily, kicking the ball into the stands, before the Milan players walked off the field, causing the game to be abandoned.[4] The final verdict on the incident, however, stated that the punishment handed down was not in reference to racism allegations.[5] Pro Patria was forced to play one game behind closed doors because of this incident.[6]

Unfortunately the episode has signed in a negative way the Italian Football, and in fact the same year there were more racism episodes than the past 25 years. Serie A has introduced several laws against the racism phenomenon also if nowadays the racism in the football stadiums is common.

As of 29 January 2021[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ITA Stefano Greco (on loan from Roma) 2 DF  ITA Giacomo Compagnoni 3 MF  ITA Leonardo Galli 4 DF  ITA Lorenzo Saporetti 5 MF  ITA Stefano Molinari 6 DF  ITA Federico Gatti 7 MF  ITA Niccolò Cottarelli 8 MF  ITA Tommaso Brignoli 9 FW  ITA Sean Parker 10 FW  ITA Giuseppe Le Noci 11 FW  ALB Aristidi Kolaj (on loan from Sassuolo) 12 GK  ITA Giulio Mangano 13 DF  ITA Andrea Boffelli 14 MF  ITA Luca Bertoni

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF  ITA Luca Pizzul 16 MF  ITA Giovanni Fietta 17 DF  ITA Giorgio Spizzichino 18 MF  ITA Leonardo Piran 19 DF  ITA Manuel Lombardoni 20 MF  ITA Gianluca Nicco (on loan from Piacenza) 21 DF  ITA Riccardo Colombo 23 MF  ITA Filippo Ghioldi 24 MF  CIV Emmanuel Latte Lath (on loan from Atalanta) 25 FW  ITA Davide Ferri 27 MF  ITA Paolo Pisan 30 FW  ITA Davide Castelli (on loan from Genoa) 31 DF  ITA Stefano Vaghi

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  ITA Simone Dellavedova (at Città di Varese)