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Bellinzona
Full name	Associazione Calcio Bellinzona
Nickname(s)	Granata (Maroon)
Founded	1904
Ground	Stadio Comunale Bellinzona, Bellinzona, Switzerland
Capacity	5,000 (600 seated)
Chairman	Paolo Righetti
Manager	Mario Rosas and Manuel Benavente
League	Swiss Challenge League
2023–24	Swiss Challenge League, 8th of 10
Website	http://www.acbellinzona.ch/
	Current season

AC Bellinzona is a Swiss football club based in Bellinzona. It was founded in 1904, and won the Swiss Super League in 1948. After being folded in 2013 declaring bankruptcy, the team played the Ticino Group of 2.Liga, the sixth tier of the Swiss Football League System in 2014–15 season. After winning it and the 1. Liga Classic, Bellinzona is promoted to 1. Liga Promotion. They currently play in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football.

History

Because Bellinzona is an Italian-speaking region, many of Italy's Serie A clubs have loaned youth players to the club to get first team experience.

Bellinzona was promoted to the Swiss Super League after beating St. Gallen 5–2 on aggregate in the relegation play-off following the 2007–2008 season. Bellinzona played at the top level in the 2008–2009 season for the first time since the 1989–90 season. As finalists in the Swiss Cup, the team also qualified for the 08-09 UEFA Cup where it beat Ararat Yerevan of Armenia in the 1st qualifying round. Then they knocked-out Ukrainian FC Dnipro on away goal rule (2:3 in Dnipropetrovsk, and 2:1 home victory, 4:4 aggregate).^[2] In third qualifying round they faced Galatasaray losing both games 3:4 at home ground and 1:2 in Istanbul.^[3]

In 2013 before the 2013–14 season of 1. Liga Promotion the club was declared bankrupt.^[4] After staying one season playing only at young divisions, the club went back to professional football, joining the 2014–15 2.Liga.^[5] After two years in 1. Liga Classic, the club finished first in 2018 and was promoted to the 1. Liga Promotion for the 2018–19 season.

In the 2021–22 Swiss Promotion League, Bellinzona reached second place during the regular season. In the promotion round, they were able eke out a first-place finish ahead of FC Breitenrain to gain promotion to the Swiss Challenge League. As Breitenrain withdrew their license request, Bellinzona would have been promoted even had they not won the season.

Their return to the Challenge League was a season of ups, such as a 5–1 home victory to FC Wil, and downs, such as a 0–6 home defeat to Stade Lausanne-Ouchy on the last matchday, which saw the team finish in ninth place (out of ten). Following a 3–2 victory against Wil on matchday 33, the team was secured from relegation. Another sign of the unsettled season was the number of changes in the coaching staff. David Sesa, who had joined in the pre-season, resigned after only two months at the helm.^[6] Baldassare Raineri took over the team in September, before being terminated in the winter break^[7] and his replacement Stefano Maccioppi^[8] was terminated at the end of March 2023.^[9] Counting interim coach Fernando Cocimano, who took over coaching duties between Sesa and Raineri and again after Maccoppi until the end of the season, the team had four different coaches throughout the season.

Honours

Swiss Super League
- Champions: 1947–48
Swiss Challenge League
- Champions: 1942–43 (Lost promotion play-off), 1943–44 (Won promotion play-off), 1975–76, 1979–80, 1999–2000 (Lost promotion play-off)
Swiss Promotion League
- Champions: 2021–22
1. Liga Classic
- Champions: 1931–32, 1935–36, 1998–99, 2017–18
2. Liga
- Champions: 1920–21 (as 4th tier), 2014–15 (as 6th tier)

Players

Current squad

Updated 9 September 2024.^[10] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	BIH	Šerif Berbić (on loan from Lugano)
2	DF	FRA	Hugo Lamy
3	DF	DEN	Aris Sörensen
4	MF	URU	Jonathan Sabbatini
7	FW	NGA	Caleb Chukwuemeka
8	MF	ITA	Tommaso Centinaro
10	MF	URU	Thomás Chacón
11	FW	SUI	Ranjan Neelakandan
14	DF	CUB	Fábian Gloor (on loan from Zürich)
17	FW	BFA	Issouf Diarra
19	FW	ALG	Islem Chouik
20	MF	LBR	Mohammed Sangare
21	GK	SUI	Elio Trochen
22	GK	SUI	Simon Enzler


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
24	DF	URU	Sebastián Gorga
25	MF	NGA	Johan Nkama (on loan from Lugano)
26	MF	ALG	Nassim L'Ghoul
33	FW	KOS	Rilind Nivokazi
34	DF	SUI	Ilan Sauter
66	MF	ANG	Hervé Matondo (on loan from Sion)
71	DF	SUI	Gilles Richard (on loan from Sion)
76	MF	KOS	Valon Hamdiu
77	MF	POR	Nuno da Silva
80	MF	SUI	Perrault Tokam
88	MF	COD	Néhemie Lusuena
91	DF	SUI	Dragan Mihajlović
96	MF	KOS	Gentijan Dujaka

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	BRA	Lucas Peres (at Rampla Juniors until 31 December 2024)
—	FW	URU	Matías Ocampo (at Brusque until 30 June 2025)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	FW	URU	Rodrigo Pollero (at Brusque until 30 June 2025)

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Head coach^[1]	Mario Rosas Manuel Benavente
Fitness coach	Diego Megias Navarro^[1]
Goalkeeper coach	Pietro Scalesi
Physiotherapist	Luca Moretti
Doctor	Gianluca Baroni

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Annuncio Ufficiale" [Official Announcement]. acbellinzona.ch (in Italian). AC Bellinzona. 3 October 2023. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
^ "Bellinzona-Dnipro 2009 History | UEFA Europa League". UEFA.
^ "Galatasaray-Bellinzona 2009 History | UEFA Europa League". UEFA.
^ "Konkurseröffnung über AC Bellinzona" (in German). 22 April 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
^ "Federazione Ticinese di Calcio" (in Italian). Retrieved 3 August 2014.
^ "David Sesa ist nicht mehr Trainer der AC Bellinzona". sfl.ch (in German). Swiss Football League. 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ "Comunicato ACB – 18.01.2023". acbellinzona.ch (in Italian). AC Bellinzona. 18 January 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
^ "Benvenuto Stefano!". acbellinzona.ch (in Italian). AC Bellinzona. 19 January 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
^ "Stefano Maccoppi ist nicht mehr Trainer der AC Bellinzona". sfl.ch (in German). Swiss Football League. 31 March 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
^ "SQUADRA" (in Italian). Retrieved 13 November 2020.