Before one looks on to the future, the past one must see first!

-Yoda (or me acting like yoda)

Ok, Now let us open the history books (or better yet WIKIPEDIA!) and dig up what we can find about our little unnoticeable Chievo Team!

Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, that’s our full name,(we are named after and based in a suburb of Verona, Veneto) we are owned by Paluani, a cake company was the inspiration for our original name, Paluani Chievo!

ok this looks interesting…

The club is nicknamed alternatively gialloblu, mussi volanti(flying donkeys) or Ceo, ok, We share our stadium with Hellas Verona (like Roma and lazio) which is the 42,160 seater Marcantonio Bentegodi stadium.

Great our stadium is apparently bigger than some of the Euro 2008 Stadiums!

Chievo slipped into the relegation zone on the final match day of 2006-2007 and was demoted to Serie B, but subsequently rebounded to clinch promotion back to the top-flight in their first year in the cadetteria. (and here we are again!)

Our Baby Years;

The team was founded in 1929 by a small number of football fans from the small borough of Chievo, a Verona neighbourhood.

Cool This just keeps getting better and better!

Initially the club was not officially affiliated to the Italian Football Federation, but played under the denomination “Ond Chievo” imposed by the fascist regime several amateur tournament and friendly matches.

Hmm, what next…

The formal debut in an official league is dated November 8, 1931. The team colours at the time were blue and white.

1931, important date, lol, Blue and White, reminds me of some other unimportant team…. (no ofense Johonna!)

However, Chievo disbanded in 1936 because of economic woes, and the team returned to play in 1948 after World War II, being registered in the regional league of “Seconda Divisione” (Second Division). In 1957 the team moved to the “Carlantonio Bottagisio” parish field, where Chievo played until 1986

Blah blah blah

In 1959, after the restructuring of the football leagues, Chievo was admitted to play the “Seconda Categoria” (Second Category), a regional league placed next-to-last in the Italian football pyramid. That year, Chievo changed its denomination to “Cardi Chievo”, after the new sponsor, and was quickly promoted to the “Prima Categoria”, which it left in 1962 after having experienced its first relegation ever.

Ok so we got to First category (whatever that means) in 1959, and we were relegated in 1962, 3 short years!

Here we get to serie A (i think)

In 1964, Luigi Campedelli, a businessman and owner of the Paluani company, is named new Chievo chairman. Under Campedelli’s presidency, Chievo climbed the entire Italian pyramid, reaching the Serie D after the 1974/1975 season. Under the name “Paluani Chievo”, the team is promoted to Serie C2 in 1986. After this promotion, Chievo was forced to move to the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi, the main venue in Verona; another promotion, to Serie C1, then arrived in 1989. In 1990, the team finally changed its name to the current one, “A.C. ChievoVerona”.

Summary of this section No serie A yet!, Unknown Boundaries -> Serie D -> Serie C2 & New Stadium ->Serie C1 & Our current name, So close to serie A i can feel it!

In 1992, President Luigi Campedelli, who returned at the helm of the club two years before, died of a heart attack, and his son Luca Campedelli, aged just 23, became the new chairman. Luca Campedelli, the youngest chairman of all Italian professional football clubs, promoted Giovanni Sartori as Director of Football and named Alberto Malesani the new head coach. Under Malesani, the team astonishingly won the Serie C1 and was promoted to Serie B, where city rival Hellas Verona was playing at the time. In 1997, after Malesani signed for Fiorentina, Silvio Baldini was appointed new head coach. The following season, with Domenico Caso as new coach, saw the first dismissal ever in the presidency of Luca Campedelli, with Caso fired and replaced with Lorenzo Balestro.

Summary here, still no serie A but! Youngest ever chairman! Winning Serie C1 -> Serie B & getting to Hellas Verona! (apparently we had some good coaches!)

In 2000/2001, Luigi Del Neri was signed as new coach, and led Chievo to a historic promotion to Serie A, the first-ever in the team’s history, ending its Serie B run in third-place.

SERIE A, we got there, while Hellas Verona a team which has been in serie b longer than us didn’t, and know what 2001 was a GREAT year, Roma won the Schudetto Then!!!

Serie A times! (I just found out that this team is one heck of a team!)

In its 2001/2002 Serie A debut, to everyone’s great surprise the small and unconsidered Chievo, most critics’ choice for an instant return to Serie B, quickly became the most astonishing team in the league, playing spectacular and entertaining football and even leading the top division for six consecutive weeks, finally ending the season with a highly respectable fifth place, qualifying the team to play in the UEFA Cup.

First Year in serie A (we were Upsets!)

In 2002/2003, Chievo debuted at the European level but were eliminated in the first round against Red Star Belgrade. The team finished the Serie A season in seventh place, again proving itself one of the most valued Serie A teams. The 2003/2004 season, the last with Del Neri at the helm, saw Chievo ending in ninth place.

2nd year, We went to the UEFA cup! *waving to hellas in serie B*

The 2004/2005 season is remembered as one of the toughest ever in Chievo’s history. Mario Beretta, a Serie A novice from Ternana, was named new coach: after a good start which brought Chievo to a third place behind Juventus and AC Milan, the team slowly lost positions in the Serie A table. Three matches before the end of the league, Chievo was third from last, a position which would relegate it to Serie B. As a last resort Beretta was fired and Maurizio D’Angelo, a highly respected former Chievo player, was appointed temporarily to replace him as coach. Morale improved, and two wins and a tie from the final three matches proved just enough to keep Chievo in Serie A.

Avoided relegation in 3rd year, damn we like that number 3!

On July 14, 2006, the verdict in the scandal was made public. Juventus, AC Milan and Fiorentina, all qualified for the 2006-07 Champions League, and Lazio, originally inscribed for the 2006-07 UEFA Cup, were all banned from UEFA competition for the 2006/07 season, although AC Milan were allowed to enter the Champions League after their appeal to FIGC. Chievo took up a place in the third qualifying stage of the competition along with AC Milan and faced Bulgarian Levski Sofia. Chievo lost the first leg 2-0 in Sofia and managed a 2-2 home draw on the second leg. Levski advanced to the Champions League group stage on a 4-2 aggregate score, and Chievo was knocked out. As a Champions League third round qualifying loser, Chievo was placed in the UEFA Cup final qualifying round. On August 25, 2006 Chievo was drawn to face Portuguese Braga. The first leg, played on September 14 in Braga, ended in a shock 2-0 win for the Portuguese side. The return match, played on September 28 in Verona, was won by Chievo 2-1. However, the Italian side lost 3-2 on aggregate and was knocked out of any further European competitions.

WE WENT TO THE CL!!!!!!!!! STILL WAVING TO HELLAS!

On October 16, 2006, following a 1-0 defeat against Torino F.C., head coach Giuseppe Pillon was fired, and replaced by Luigi Del Neri, one of the original symbols of the miracle Chievo, who had led the club to Serie A in 2002.

On May 27, 2007, the last match day of the 2006-07 Serie A season, Chievo was one of five teams in danger of falling into the last undecided relegation spot. Needing only a tie against Catania, a direct competitor in the relegation battle, Chievo lost 2-0 playing in the neutral field of Bologna. Simultaneous wins by Parma, Siena and Reggina condemned Chievo to Serie B for the 2007-08 season after six seasons in the senior league.

Sad year for everyone!

Finally WERE BACK!

Chievo bounced back quickly from the disappointment of their last matchday relegation in 2006/07, going in search of an immediate promotion back to the top flight. After the expected departure of several top-quality players (i.e., Semioli, Lanna, Brighi, Sammarco, Bogdani among them), as well as the manager (Luigi Del Neri parted ways with the club, and Giuseppe Iachini replacing Del Neri) and captain (Lorenzo D’Anna giving way to Sergio Pellissier at the end of the transfer window), a new squad was constructed, most notably including the arrivals of midfielders Maurizio Ciaramitaro and Simone Bentivoglio, defender Cesar, and forward Antimo Iunco. This new incarnation of the ‘gialloblu’ were crowned Winter Champions (along with Bologna), en route to a 41st matchday promotion after a 1-1 draw at Grosseto left them 4 points clear of third-place Lecce with one match remaining. Furthermore, they were conferred the “Ali della Vittoria” trophy on the final matchday of the season, their first league title of any kind in 14 years.

So i think that pretty much covers the history, the rest is in the past post’s By samson!

Now all what is left is to show you something i didn’t know, some players, that were the cause of our chievo Revolution!

Perrota (yes he played here!)
Brighi (He too played here!)
Cristiano lupateli (the list just keeps ketting better and better!)
Santana! (Viola Star!)
Amauri (Belive it or not, he was a donkey before!)

here’s the full list

Phew that was a long one!, now the match Preview is coming up next!

Chevio Verona VS Lazio Merda!

Mostafa OUT!