Foundation The club's roots can be traced back to 1905; on 2 April of that year, local newspaper the Gazzetta di Trapani ran an
advert requesting young people to form a football association for Trapani. The club founded, by professor Ugolino Montagna and young native Abele Mazzarese to represent the West-Sicilian town was named
Unione Sportiva Trapanese. It is one of the oldest teams on the island, after
Palermo and
Messina. U.S. Trapanese's first president was Giuseppe Platamone, and the club played its games at Via Spalti. The club's first official game came against
Palermo in October 1908; the more experienced Palermitan team won emphatically, scoring 12 goals. The Trapanese bounced back, however, playing local derbies against teams from
Marsala and
Erice.
Post-war times After World War I, in 1921, three local teams rose: Vigor, Bencivegna and Drepanum. During the
1921–22 season, Vigor finished 6th in the Sicilian section of the national championship of the C.C.I. (Confederazione Calcistica Italiana). On 22 January 1923, a merger occurred between Vigor and Drepanum; the club decided to revive the previous name
U.S. Trapanese. In June 1926, the club's name was changed to
A.S. Trapani. In the 1930–31 season, under the name
Juventus Trapani, the club won promotion from III Divisione to II Divisione. The following season, they achieved promotion again, this time into the early 1930s equivalent of
Serie C. They finished 8th in Serie C in the 1942–43 season, but then football in Italy was put on hold for World War II.
1940s, 50s and 60s Just after World War II, the club used the name A.S. Trapani for one season before changing its name to
A.S. Drepanum. They were entered into
Serie C, which, at the time, was divided into many regional groups. For the 1947–48 season, they qualified for the new, smaller Serie C, even finishing above
Messina. Unfortunately for the club, they were relegated to
Serie D in the 1949–50 season after finishing second from bottom.
1990s: peak and decline With former
Serie A player
Ignazio Arcoleo as head coach, Trapani experienced two consecutive promotions from
Serie D to
Serie C1 in the early 1990s. In 1995, a strong and qualified team composed mostly of young promising players such as
Marco Materazzi and more experienced local footballers such as
Francesco Galeoto qualified to the promotion play-off, but ultimately lost to
Walter Novellino's
Gualdo in the semi-finals with a late goal scored on injury time. After that, Trapani experienced a slow but continuous decline despite attempts to repeat past successes: Arcoleo left Trapani to coach
Palermo along with some of the best players, including Galeoto. The club then relegated to
Serie C2 in 1997,
Serie D in 2000 and even
Eccellenza in the 2005–06 season, despite a late attempt by Arcoleo and former star
Gaetano Vasari to save the team from relegation. In addition, the club also received a 12-point deduction for the 2006–07 season following a match-fixing attempt recognized by the Football Federation. In its 2006–07 Eccellenza campaign, Trapani, coached by former
Parma midfielder
Tarcisio Catanese, ended the
regular season phase to eleventh place and escaped relegation after having won relegation play-offs to Terrasini in a 5–0 single-legged win. From 2007 onwards, Trapani competed in the Serie D with little success.
From Serie D to Serie B and league exclusion In 2009, chairman Vittorio Morace appointed
Roberto Boscaglia as new head coach, intending to bring the club's return into professionalism; in his first season in charge, Trapani ended as runner-up behind
Milazzo. However, later in August, due to the high number of resignations of clubs in the higher tiers, Trapani was admitted into the
2010–11 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione (formerly Serie C2), thus ending the club's 13-year absence from the professional tiers. In 2010–11, Trapani finished as runner-up in the
Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Group C and successively won the promotion play-offs to
Lega Pro Prima Divisione. In the first campaign in the third tier, Trapani surprised everyone by topping the league against all odds; an end-of-season crisis, however, led to the Sicilians being overtaken by
Spezia in the penultimate week of the season and losing a direct promotion. In the subsequent promotion play-offs, after defeating
Cremonese in the semi-finals, Trapani lost a two-legged final to fourth-placed outsiders
Lanciano. In the following season, however, Trapani were crowned champions (this time in group A) and finally promoted to
Serie B for the first time ever. In 2015–16, with
Serse Cosmi as their coach, they finished in 3rd place, losing to
Pescara in the playoff final. However, they started off badly the following season, sacking Cosmi on 30 November with the club in last place. The appointment of
Alessandro Calori saw an improvement in form, and they ended the season in 19th place, sitting in the relegation play-off spots. Unfortunately, 18th placed
Ternana finished five points above the Granata, meaning the club were relegated to Serie C for the
2017–18 season. Trapani's first season return to the third tier, with Calori still in charge, saw the
Granata ending in third place (behind
US Lecce and
Catania) and then being eliminated at the playoff stage by eventual winners
Cosenza. During the summer of 2018, Trapani's ownership announced their intention to sell the club and reduce the budget due to financial and legal issues surrounding the parent company, Ustica Lines.
Vincenzo Italiano was hired as the new head coach in place of Calori, with
Raffaele Rubino as sporting director for the new season. The season also saw the club being sold from the Morace family to the FM Service company, owned by Maurizio De Simone. The club ended the season in second place, and had a successful campaign in the subsequent promotion playoffs, making it to the finals against
Piacenza after defeating
Catania in the semi-finals. On 5 June 2019, just a few days after the first leg of the playoff finals, the Trapani playing squad announced their intention to send their
notice of default after the new ownership had repeatedly failed to pay their salaries. On 15 June 2019, Trapani defeated Piacenza 2–0 to win their second promotion to Serie B in the club's history. The very next day, Rome-based property developer Giorgio Heller (who was already linked to the club in the past) announced his acquisition of a majority 80% share of the club. The takeover was formally finalized on 21 June 2019, in time to allow the club to successfully register for the
2019–20 Serie B season. However, after an unfavourable season that ended with immediate relegation to Serie C, Trapani were excluded altogether on 5 October 2020 due to outstanding financial issues.
Restart from Serie D and Serie C return In the summer of 2021,
Paceco-based
Serie D club Dattilo acquired the footballing rights of Trapani, including the logo, and renamed themselves as
Football Club Trapani 1905. In their debut season under the new denomination, Trapani ended in a mid-table finish. In April 2023, the club was bought for €1,240,000 by
Valerio Antonini. Under his tenure, Trapani dominated the
2023–24 Serie D Group I, without losing a single match in the league, winning promotion to Serie C immediately. On 29 May 2024, Trapani also won the
Coppa Italia Serie D title, defeating
Follonica Gavorrano in a two-legged final. ==Rivalries==