Spezia Calcio

Spezia Calcio is an Italian professional football club based in La Spezia, Liguria, currently competing in the Serie B. Spezia Calcio was founded in 1906 by the Swiss banker Hermann Hurni (or Hurny in some documents), who played for the early Crystal Palace amateur teams in London during his time there as a student.

The first Spezia playing kit, light blue and white, was a second-hand amateur Crystal Palace kit donated to Hurny when he returned to La Spezia. In 1911, following the decision of Alberto Picco and others to honour Pro Vercelli as an example of a small team able to beat the big teams, a plain white shirt was adopted with black shorts and black socks, which is still in use today. In the 1920s prior to the creation of Serie A, Spezia played several top league games against the giants of Italian football including AC Milan, Juventus, and Inter Milan. The club has participated in all tiers of the Italian football system.

Spezia won the 1944 Campionato Alta Italia which was officially recognized by FIGC (the Italian Football Federation) in 2002 after a long dispute and the use of a special permanent badge was authorized. The tricolour badge is exhibited on the official jerseys during games and has a different shape and size compared to the ordinary Scudetto.

Following the fall from Serie B in 1951, Spezia was destined to languish in third and fourth division for 55 years. The 2000s saw the return to Serie B in 2006, bankruptcy and the rebirth re-establishing themselves as a regular Serie B team once again. In 2020, exactly 100 years from its first appearance at the top level, Spezia finally returned to Serie A as the winner of the promotion play-offs, securing a second Serie A term for the 2021–22 season.