FC Lugano is a Swiss football club based in Lugano. The club was refounded as AC Lugano in 2004 as a result of relegation and the financial situation of FC Lugano, which was founded in 1908. In 2008, the club reverted to its original name, FC Lugano. They play at the Stadio Cornaredo. They have played in what is now the Swiss Super League during the periods of 1922–53, 1954–60, 1961–63, 1964–76, 1979–80, 1988–97, 1998–02, and from 2015.
History
Football Club Lugano was formed on 28 July 1908 under the leadership of the then President Ernesto Corsini. Promotion to the highest Swiss Super League came for the first time in 1922, and after several years of going up and down, the team won its first Swiss Cup in 1931. The following decade, FC Lugano was able to win 3 national titles. During the first fifty years, Lugano played on the ground at the Campo Marzio – which opened on 13 September 1908 – but its success prompted the city to build a new stadium, and so on 26 August 1951, the Cornaredo Stadium was inaugurated, which has a capacity of 15,000. In 1968, Lugano won the Swiss Cup and hence the team participated in the Cup Winners' Cups. Two years later the team took part in the UEFA Cup. In 1993, Lugano won its third Cup against the Grasshoppers, later participating in the Cup Winners' Cup, which took it to the second qualifying round. In the 1995–96 season, Lugano participated in the UEFA Cup eliminating Jeunesse Hautcharage in the first round and in the second, Inter Milan. After the declaration of bankruptcy in 2003, on 30 June 2004, Lugano merged with Malcantone Agno, and it was decided that Lugano would re-enter the Swiss Football scene in the Swiss Challenge League, as AC Lugano. Morotti Joseph, the president of Malcantone Agno, was entrusted with the leadership of the new club. In 2007, the company was bought by a group led by Giambattista Pastorello. Luido Bernasconi became the new president. On 4 June 2008 the general meeting of shareholders voted on changing the name of the club – which returned to the historical name of Football Club Lugano, in its centenary year. In 2015 FC Lugano was promoted into Swiss Super League.
