S.P.A.L.

The club was founded in March 1907 as Circolo Ars et Labor (latin for Art and Work Club) by the Salesian priest Pietro Acerbis. In the early stages, it was mainly a cultural and religious association, then in 1913 it became a multi-sports company, taking the name of Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor (SPAL). The team began its professional activity under the aegis of the Italian Football Federation (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio) in 1919, competing in the second-tier tournament.

SPAL played in the top flight league from 1920 to 1925, reaching the qualification playoff for the National Finals in 1921–22. From 1925 until the Second World War, they played in Serie B and Serie C: in this period, the club's all-time top striker Mario Romani scored 130 goals in 189 games during two different periods with the white-blues (1925–32 and 1937–38).

Between 1939 and 1943 the club temporarily changed its name to A.C. Ferrara, wearing the black and white colours of the city. After the suspension of the championships due to war, in 1945 the club returned to the name SPAL and to the light blue and white kits.

Fabio Capello at SPAL in 1966.

In 1946 Paolo Mazza became chairman of the club. After five consecutive seasons in Serie B, SPAL won promotion to Serie A after finishing the championship first in 1950–51. The white-blues subsequently stayed in the top division for most of the 1950s and 1960s, competing in 16 out of 17 Serie A seasons from 1951 to 1968.

SPAL finished fifth in 1959–60, thus obtaining the best finish in its history. Also, in 1961–62 they played in the Coppa Italia final, losing against Napoli. In the early stages of 1962–63 season, in which the club finished in eighth place, the white and blues managed to reach the top of the league table. During those years, the club was a launchpad for many young players who became stars, among them Fabio Capello.

In 1963–64 they were relegated to Serie B, but they came back to Serie A after only one year, and remained in the top division until 1968. At the end of the last season in the top flight, SPAL won the Cup of Italian-Swiss Friendship.

SPAL fans celebrating a goal scored in 1992.

During 1970s, 1980s and 1990s SPAL played mostly in Serie B and Serie C/C1.

Paolo Mazza quit the presidency in December 1976 and was replaced by Primo Mazzanti. The former chairman died in December 1981 and three months later Ferrara's Stadio Comunale was named after him.

In 1990, Giovanni Donigaglia became chairman of the club: between 1990 and 1992 SPAL obtained back-to-back promotions from Serie C2 to Serie B, under the management of Giovan Battista Fabbri. Donigaglia left the presidency in 2002 with the squad in Serie C1. He was replaced by Lino di Nardo.

The club went bankrupt in 2005,[2] and were reformed as SPAL 1907 S.r.l., under the terms of Article 52 of N.O.I.F..[3] In the summer of 2012, after suffering a second bankruptcy, the club was refounded for the second time as Società Sportiva Dilettantistica Real SPAL and would begin life in Serie D[4] again under Article 52 of N.O.I.F..[5]

At the end of the 2012–13 season the club took back its original name. Giacomense, a club founded in 1967 at Masi San Giacomo, a frazione of Masi Torello, had moved to the city of Ferrara; on 12 July 2013, owner Roberto Benasciutti made a deal with the Colombarini family for a merger between SPAL and Giacomense, with the latter giving its sports title to SPAL and continuing to play in Ferrara. The club changed its name to S.P.A.L. 2013, in order to continue the football history of SPAL. They finished the 2013–14 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione season in sixth place, thus qualifying for the inaugural unified 2014–15 Lega Pro season.

In 2015–16, the squad won promotion to Serie B for the first time since the 1992–93 season, after finishing first in group B of the Lega Pro. The following year they came first in Serie B, thus obtaining promotion to Serie A after a 49-year absence.[6] In their first season back in Serie A, SPAL avoided relegation by finishing in 17th place.[7] At the end of the 2018–19 season they confirmed their presence in the top flight for a third consecutive year, finishing 13th. The club had mixed fortunes in the 2019–2020 season and, after gaining just 15 points in 23 games, coach Leonardo Semplici was dismissed in February 2020, replaced by Luigi Di Biagio.[8] SPAL were relegated to Serie B, finishing in last place with 20 points. The club reached the 2020–21 Coppa Italia quarter-finals, becoming the only team from Serie B to advance to that stage in the competition.

As of February 1st 2021[10]

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  ALB Etrit Berisha 3 DF  ITA Luca Ranieri (on loan from Fiorentina) 4 DF  SRB Nenad Tomović 5 MF  ITA Jacopo Segre (on loan from Torino) 6 MF  ITA Salvatore Esposito 7 MF  ITA Simone Missiroli 8 MF  ITA Mattia Valoti 9 FW  ITA Alberto Paloschi 10 FW  ITA Sergio Floccari (captain) 11 MF  ITA Alessandro Murgia 13 MF  EST Georgi Tunjov 14 FW  ITA Federico Di Francesco (on loan from Sassuolo) 17 MF  ITA Leonardo Sernicola (on loan from Sassuolo) 19 MF  ITA Luca Mora

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 DF  ITA Caleb Okoli (on loan from Atalanta) 22 GK  SEN Demba Thiam 23 DF  ITA Francesco Vicari 24 MF  ITA Federico Viviani 25 DF  ITA Riccardo Spaltro 27 MF  BRA Gabriel Strefezza 29 FW  ESP Raúl Asencio (on loan from Genoa) 32 DF  ITA Marco Sala (on loan from Sassuolo) 41 DF  ITA Lorenzo Dickmann 80 FW  SEN Demba Seck 90 FW  ITA Luca Moro (on loan from Padova) 93 FW  ITA Marco Tumminello (on loan from Atalanta) 97 GK  SEN Maurice Gomis

As of February 1st 2021

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ITA Marco Meneghetti (at Südtirol until 30 June 2021) — DF  ITA Kevin Bonifazi (at Udinese until 30 June 2021) — DF  BRA Igor Julio (at Fiorentina until 30 June 2021)

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  ITA Paolo Cannistrà (at Piacenza until 30 June 2021) — MF  ITA Davide Mazzocco (at Virtus Entella until 30 June 2021)

Below a chronological list of SPAL captains since 1950.

Name Years Giovanni Emiliani 1950–53 Marcello Castoldi 1953–54 Edoardo Dal Pos 1954–59 Oscar Massei 1959–61 Sergio Cervato 1961–65 Oscar Massei 1965–68 Carlo Dell'Omodarme 1968–69 Enrico Cairoli July 1969 – October 1973 Lucio Mongardi October 1973 – June 1975 Sergio Reggiani 1975–76 Ottavio Bianchi 1976–77 Franco Pezzato 1977–79 Mauro Gibellini 1979–81 Rosario Rampanti 1981–82

Name Years Mirco Brilli 1982–83 Giuseppe De Gradi 1983–85 Elio Gustinetti 1985–86 Fabio Perinelli 1986–87 Arturo Vianello 1987–88 Massimo Pellegrini 1988–89 Francesco Cini 1989–90 Franco Fabbri 1990–91 Giuseppe Brescia 1991–93 Andrea Mangoni 1993–94 Giuseppe Brescia 1994–96 Eugenio Sgarbossa 1996–97 Fausto Pari 1997–98 Alfonso Greco 1998–99

Name Years Massimo Gadda 1999–00 Emanuele Cancellato July 2000 – January 2002 Cristian Servidei January 2002 – June 2002 Francesco Zanoncelli 2002–03 Manuel Milana 2003–06 David Sesa 2006–08 Luis Fernando Centi July 2008 – February 2009 Marco Zamboni February 2009 – June 2012 Davide Marchini 2012–13 Massimiliano Varricchio 2013–14 Nicolas Giani 2014–17 Luca Mora July 2017 – January 2018 Mirco Antenucci January 2018 – June 2019 Sergio Floccari July 2019–

• Serie B
  • Winners (2): 1950–51, 2016–17
• Serie C
  • Winners (3): 1937–38, 1972–73, 1977–78
  • Runners-up (4): 1941–42, 1942–43, 1969–70, 1970–71
• Lega Pro
  • Winners (1): 2015–16
• Serie C1
  • Winners (1): 1991–92
  • Runners-up (1): 1995–96
• Serie C2
  • Winners (1): 1997–98
  • Runners-up (1): 1990–91

• Coppa Italia
  • Runners-up (1): 1961–62
• Coppa Italia Serie C
  • Winners (1): 1998–99
  • Runners-up (1): 1988–89
• Supercoppa di Lega Pro
  • Winners (1): 2016

• Cup of Italian-Swiss Friendship
  • Winners (1): 1968

• Campionato Primavera B
  • Winners (1): 1964–65