10 years on: Livorno ,s European adventure

An unheralded JAMES RICHARDS recalls when weight… Italian club punched above their

THE Calciopoli scandal of 2006, which showed that directors from some of Italy’s top clubs had essentially fixed matches by requesting favourable referees, had disastrous results for Italian football’s reputation.

The clubs involved received punishments ranging from points deductions to enforced relegation.

However, amid all this turmoil, there was one club that had their football history changed forever in a positive way. Heralding from the unassuming Tuscan port town of Livorno, Livorno Calcio had finished the 2005/06 season in ninth place, which for a club of their size was considered a remarkable achievement.

After the Calciopoli scandal broke and the trials finished, Livorno were awarded sixth place, meaning qualification to the UEFA Cup which would see the club play in Europe for the first time in their history!

Only a few years earlier Livorno had been slugging it out in Serie C. When promotion to Serie B was secured by winning the Serie C1/A title in 2001/02, fans ran onto the pitch in pure elation.

The club’s ardent left wing supporters were delighted. After all, it had been 30 years since the club had last played at this level!

Among the fans that rushed onto the pitch to celebrate promotion was a certain Cristiano Lucarelli, a Livorno-born striker who was contracted to Torino.

The first season back in Serie B was a relative success for the club - they managed a 10th-place finish. But it was the next season that started them on their remarkable rise to Europe! Lucarelli took a pay-cut to join his home-town team, initially on loan, and his 29 goals in 38 games led Livorno to third place and promotion to a Serie A that was expanding from 18 teams to 20.

Livorno’s return to Serie A was, by many, expected to end in immediate relegation but impressive home form and 24 goals in 35 games from Lucarelli saw the club confound all expectations by finishing eighth.

Lucarelli finished as the league’s top scorer and he was highly sought after during the summer but he opted to remain loyal, famously stating “some players use their billions to