Wednesday, July 21, 2010

ASD Battipagliese (Italy)

Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Comprensorio Valsele Battipagliese is one hell of a name for a football club, so thank the good lord their fans prefer to call them either ASD or Battipagliese. They come from the town of Battipaglia in the south west of the country, which was only built in 1929 to house the displaced families from the earthquake in nearby Basilicata. Formed in the same year as their hometown, they currently play in the Eccellenza division, which is their highly regionalised sixth tier that has 28 different sub leagues.

The highest league level they have attained in their history was the old C1 division - the third tier - that they were promoted to in both 1989 and 1996. In 1997 they pleasantly shocked the whole of  Italy by beating Città di Palermo - now Serie A regulars - in a play off to stay in the division for another season. Not long after though they started a slide that saw them eventually get relegated to their current level in 2005.

They play in the 13,000 capacity Stadio Luigi Pastena, which despite struggling to fill, always evokes a cracking atmosphere out of their small, but quite pleasingly bonkers set of hardcore ultras.


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