CarpiFootball Club 1909 is an Italian professional football club based in Carpi in the province of Modena. The club was founded in 1909 and re-founded in 2000. Carpi's colours are white and red, hence the nickname "Biancorossi". At the end of the 2012–13 season, Carpi won their first promotion to Serie B. On 28 April 2015, the Biancorossi won their first promotion to Serie A, but were relegated back to Serie B after only one season. The Golden Era ended in 2019, with the relegation back in Serie C after five seasons in Serie B and one season in Serie A. In its history, the Biancorossi have won a handful of league titles, including: the old Lega Pro Seconda Divisione; Serie B once; Serie C once; and Serie D four times. At the regional level, Carpi has won Promozione, Prima Divisione, and two Prima Categoria titles.
History
A.C. Carpi (1909–2000)
The club was founded in the summer of 1909 by local student Adolfo Fanconi as Jucunditas, and changed their denomination to Associazione Calcio Carpi a few years later. Carpi played three seasons in the Italian Football Championship, the precursor to Serie A, from the 1919–20 season until 1921–22. Starting from the 1930s, they mostly played between Serie C and Serie D. Carpi achieved their best result in 1997, a third-placed finish under coach Luigi De Canio which allowed them to play the Serie B promotion playoffs then lost to Monza. The club was cancelled in 2000 following relegation to Serie D and subsequent bankruptcy.
Carpi F.C. 1909 (2000–present)
A new club, named Calcio Carpi, was therefore admitted to Eccellenza Emilia–Romagna. The club assumed the current denomination in 2002, following promotion to Serie D and a merger with the second team of the city, Dorando Pietri Carpi, that had just reached Serie D as well. Pietri Carpi also sold its license to Boca. At the end of the 2009–10 season, through repechage due to the numbers of teams in financial difficulty, the club was admitted into Lega Pro Seconda Divisione. In 2010–11, the club's first season in the higher division, it was promoted again to Lega Pro Prima Divisione. In the 2011–12 season, as a result of the work being done on their stadium, the Sandro Cabassi, the team played in the Mapei Stadium – Città del Tricolore.
Serie B (2013)
In the season 2012–13 the team was promoted from Lega Pro Prima Divisione to Serie B for the first time ever when they defeated Lecce in the Girone A Play-off Final 2–1 on aggregate. This was the club's third promotion in just four seasons. Carpi FC's first ever fixture at Serie B level ended in a 1–0 defeat away to Ternana on 24 August 2013. Their first win came in the manner of a 2–0 victory at Spezia courtesy of goals from Fabio Concas & Roberto Inglese. Carpi's first season in Serie B ended in a 12th-place finish, only three points away from a promotion play-off place, ensuring their place for another season.
Serie A debut promotion (2015)
The 2014–15 Serie B campaign saw Carpi, managed by experienced coach Fabrizio Castori, completing the first half of the season in a surprising 1st place, with a record of 43 points and a nine-point advantage over second-placed Frosinone. On 28 April 2015, after a goalless draw with Bari, the club gained an historic first ever promotion to Serie A. Carpi's first season saw a complete overhaul of the squad from the season previous, as a consequence of the departure of long-time director of football Cristiano Giuntoli, who had masterminded the club's rise from the amateur Serie D to the top flight, to Napoli; he was subsequently replaced by Sean Sogliano. On 28 September 2015, after a 1–5 loss to Roma, the club announced it had relieved Castori of his coaching duties with immediate effect, replacing him with Giuseppe Sannino in the first managerial change of the 2015–16 Serie A season. Carpi had achieved just two points from its opening six matches. On 3 November, the club performed a U-turn, and Castori was rehired. The club's debut top-flight season ultimately ended in relegation by a single point, with the club having found itself in a relegation dogfight from virtually the start of the season. The following season saw another complete rebuild of the first-team squad, with several important players returning to their parent clubs from loan, as Carpi sought an immediate return to Serie A. It ended in heartbreak after they fell to Benevento in the play-off final.
