Mantova was founded in 1911. They played in
Serie A for seven seasons:
1961–62,
1962–63,
1963–64,
1964–65,
1966–67,
1967–68, and
1971–72, being nicknamed in its initial period as "Little Brazil" ("
Piccolo Brasile"). The green and yellow shirt actually remembered that period, by far the best one in the team history. Mantova has also played eight seasons in
Serie B, winning the title
1970–71. Mantova was cancelled from the Italian football panorama in 1994 due to
insolvency. Former famous players for the club include
Dino Zoff,
Angelo Sormani, Anton Alleman and
Karl-Heinz Schnellinger. Mantova was promoted from
Serie C2 to Serie B in two consecutive seasons, in 2003–04 as league champions, and in 2004–05 as runners-up and playoff winners. Mantova begun the
2005–06 Serie B campaign introducing itself as a strong potential candidate for promotion to Serie A, despite its lack of players experienced with these levels (almost the same squad which promoted to Serie B the previous season) and a coach,
Domenico Di Carlo, on just his second year as first team football trainer. The team led the Serie B table for a long part of the season, gaining an unexpected interest by the media. However, Mantova was not able to maintain the head of the league in the end, and the team concluded its season in fourth place, gaining a spot in the promotion playoffs. Successively, AC Mantova won its playoff semifinal against
Modena after two ties (0–0, 1–1), qualifying because of its top placement in the regular season. The first playoff final, against
Torino, saw Mantova winning at home 4–2. However, Mantova was not able to maintain this advantage in the return match, lost 3–1 in
Turin after
extra time, which allowed Torino to be promoted in Serie A because of a superior placement in the regular season. During the
2006–07 season, Mantova became the first club to beat
Juventus in a Serie B match. They ended the season in eighth place, confirming themselves in the top side of the league table. Following Di Carlo's resignations, Mantova appointed
Attilio Tesser as new head coach for their
2007–08 Serie B campaign. As part of an ambitious summer transfer market, on 23 August 2007 Mantova signed former
Italian international Stefano Fiore. However, the club's campaign proved to be disappointing as the team failed to break into the promotion playoff zone, resulting in the sacking of Tesser in the mid-season. He was replaced by Giuseppe Brucato, a young manager with no previous experience in the league, who guided the club to a mid-table finish in the season. Brucato was confirmed as head coach of Mantova for the
2008–09 season. As Fiore parted company with the club following an unimpressive season with the
virgiliani, he was replaced by
Tomas Locatelli. However, Mantova failed to assure themselves a place in the higher ranks of the league, causing the sacking of Brucato following a 1–3 home defeat to
Parma. The club successively appointed former
Milan defender
Alessandro Costacurta as its new head coach. Costacurta later resigned and was replaced by
Mario Somma, who led the club to a final 13th place, only two points ahead the relegation play-off zone. For the
2009–10 season, Mantova was guided by former Italian international
Michele Serena. The financial situation of the club was deteriorated, which the club raised the short term profit by player exchange, but also raised the long term amortisation cost. The club had swapped
Stefano Mondini with
Christian Jidayi on 30 June 2008 in
co-ownership deal for
€750,000, made the clubs had player selling revenue of €1.5 million. June 2009 also saw Jidayi return to
Cesena and Mondini back to Mantova; 50% of both players' rights were valued at €750,000. However, it became a financial burden for both clubs, which Mantova had to amortise Mondini's value (€1.5 million) in instalments as amortisation. In June 2008 Mantova also swapped
Valerio Di Cesare (€1M) and
Simone Calori (€0.5M) with
Riccardo Fissore (€0.5M) and
Mattia Marchesetti (€1M). Again, Mantova had to amortise €0.5M in for 3 seasons for Fissore (€166,667) and Marchesetti (€333,333). At the beginning of
2010–11 season, Mantova went bankrupt and a new entity was admitted to
Serie D. Mantova came first in Girone B and gained promotion to
2011–12 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione. They finished 16th and only escaped relegation after beating both
Lecco and
Vibonese in the playoffs. The first leg against Vibonese was a 0–0 stalemate away, leading to fears the club would not survive the second leg. However, Mantova went on to record a famous 4–0 victory. The home leg was viewed by over 3,000 spectators and Mantova enjoyed some of the strongest support of the 40 sides in Lega Pro Seconda Divisione. Throughout the 2011–12 season, Mantova sacked three managers and three sporting directors. In the
2012–13 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione, Mantova had a solid season, finishing in ninth place, nine points short of a promotion playoff place and 11 points above a relegation playoff place. In the off season, 70% of Mantova is sold to former
Sambonifacese president Michele Lodi, who became the president of Mantova. The
Lega Pro Seconda Divisione underwent a reformatting. The first eight teams in each girone, plus one team winning the relegation playoff round from each division will remain in Lega Pro. The last six teams in each girone, plus three relegation play-out losers from each division will be relegated to Serie D. In all, eighteen teams will remain in Lega Pro, and eighteen teams will be relegated to Serie D. In the
2013–14 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione, Mantova finished eighth, which guaranteed them a spot in next season's
2014–15 Lega Pro Divisione Unica, the new Serie C. The team was part of the "Group A". Mantova remained in the third tier until 2017. At the start of season, the club did not join the
2017–18 Serie C, a successor club, Mantova 1911 S.S.D., was admitted to
2017–18 Serie D instead. In 2018 it was taken over by Maurizio Setti, the holder of
Hellas Verona, who invested in the club to be promoted to Serie C. Mantova lost the championship to Como despite reaching 83 points and was promoted the following year, despite the championship not being completed because of the
COVID-19 outbreaks in Italy. In the
2020–21 Serie C Mantova placed 10th in their group, and placed 15th in the
following season. The third Serie C season under Setti's ownership ended with a relegation to Serie D after losing the relegation play-offs to
AlbinoLeffe. In the summer 2023, Filippo Piccoli became the owner of the club, which managed to be readmitted to Serie C after
Pordenone's exclusion. After a dominant league campaign, culminated in a 5–0 away win against the closest rivals
Padova, Mantova clinched promotion and returned to
Serie B after 14 years. ==Colours and badge==