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Spezia Calcio 1906 is an Italian football club, based in La Spezia, Liguria. The club was founded in 1906. Spezia currently plays in Serie C1/A, having last been in Serie B in 1951; however, Spezia will play 2006/2007 season in Serie B, after having won its league. The team's colors are black and white.
The 1943/1944 scudetto
In the 1943/1944 season, because of the World War II the Italian football federation decided to split the top league in regional rounds. The team, named Vigili del Fuoco della Spezia (Firefighters of La Spezia), was included in round D, together with Suzzara, Fidenza, Busseto and Parma. Spezia won the round, even playing one less match than the second-placed team, Suzzara, and got qualified to the semi-final round, in which it challenged Suzzara, Carpi and Modena. Spezia won also this round, winning five of the six matches played, losing only to Carpi. By winning the semi-final round, Spezia was admitted to play a two-legs play-off against Bologna.
The first match, played in Bologna, was suspended because of incidents started after the 1-0 goal of Spezia, contested by the Bologna supporters; Spezia was awarded a 2-0 win because of that. The return match, scheduled to be played in La Spezia, was first moved to Carpi, because of the heavy bombings underwent by the Ligurian city in the period, then cancelled because of protest by Bologna chairman Renato Dall'Ara, so Spezia was admitted to the final without to play the return match.
The finals, held in Milan, were played against Venezia and Torino. On July 9, 1944, the first match between Spezia and Venezia was played: it ended in a 1-1 draw, commented by the Gazzetta as "surprising result".
On July 16, Spezia challenged the Great Torino, with Vittorio Pozzo as coach and Silvio Piola as striker. The matched ended in an epic 2-1 victory of Spezia. After the third match, in which Torino beated Venezia in a 5-2 win, Spezia won the finals.
However, the Italian league of 1944 was not immediately considered as official by the Italian federation, because it was obtained during war times in a reduced league, and the first and only scudetto of Spezia was finally awarded only in 2002 by the Federation, even if not counted officially as Italian championship triumph, but as "decoration".
Today, Spezia remembers the 1944 triumph by playing with a tricolour badge on the team's official jersey, with the authorization of the Football Federation.
Current first team squad
As of July 15, 2006
External links
"Spezia Calcio 1906"