Lecce was founded as
Sporting Club Lecce on 15 March 1908, initially including
football,
track-and-field and cycling sports. The first club president was Francesco Marangi. The first colours worn by Lecce during this time were black and white stripes, known in Italy as
bianconeri. In its formative years, Lecce played in mostly regional leagues and competitions. During the 1923–24 season, the club dissolved before returning on 16 September 1927 as
Unione Sportiva Lecce. The club was still wearing black and white stripes (similar to
Juventus' kit) at this point, and the first president under the name Unione Sportiva Lecce was Luigi López y Rojo.
League: Early years 1930s, 40s and 50s Taranto Sport played Lecce in a game for promotion to
Serie B from the local Southern Italian league; Lecce were victorious winning 3–2 after
extra time. They were entered into
Serie B for the 1929–30 season. The first game match played in the league was against
Novara on 6 October 1929, a 2–1 victory. Lecce would eventually finish 13th. However, for the second time in the club's history, it ceased activity at the end of the 1931–32 season. Four years later, Lecce returned and competed
Serie C, finishing 11th in their return season. Around this time, the club was in turmoil: the following season they withdrew from Serie C after four days, and then during the 1938–39 season, they finished in third place but were moved down to 12th after it was revealed the club had violated the league's federal regulations. The club finished in first place during the 1943–44 season, but club football was then suspended due to
World War II. Nonetheless, when club football resumed, Lecce finished as champions of Serie C, gaining promotion back into Serie B. Two decent seasons followed (finishing fourth and third in respective seasons), with star player Silvestri scoring 20 goals in one season, before the club was relegated. Lecce stayed down in Serie C for six seasons during this period, though this was not a particularly successful time for the club. Striker Anselmo Bislenghi scored 83 goals for the club during this period, thus becoming a hero. The club slipped even lower to
Serie IV, where they spent three years.
Seventeen seasons of Serie C: 1960s, 70s and 80s From 1959 to 1975, Lecce played 17 seasons in Serie C. They came extremely close to promotion several times during that period, finishing in second place three consecutive seasons (1971–72 to 1973–74) before gaining promotion in the 1975–76 season. The same year as their promotion, Lecce tasted cup success, winning the
Coppa Italia Serie C. In 1976, Lecce took part in the
Anglo-Italian Cup, notching up a 4–0 victory against
Scarborough. In 1980, a scandal occurred which rocked
Italian football, including Lecce under president Franco Jurlano. However, Jurlano was able to demonstrate his innocence and the scandal only lead to disqualification of player Claudius Merlo. Later, the club was struck by a tragedy in 1983: players
Michele Lo Russo and Ciro Pezzella died in an
automotive accident. To this day, Lo Russo remains the club record holder for most number of appearances, with 415.
Promotion to Serie A: mid-1980s and 90s Under the management of
Eugenio Fascetti, Lecce would achieve promotion to
Serie A for the first time in 1985. They finished bottom and were relegated after only one season, but defeated
Roma 3–2 away in the penultimate game to deal a fatal blow to Roma's title hopes. Losing a promotion play-off 2–1 to
Cesena the following season, they would return to Serie A in 1988. Under
Carlo Mazzone, Lecce finished a respectable ninth place in 1989. Stars of the side included striker
Pedro Pasculli and midfielders
Antonio Conte and
Paolo Benedetti. They lasted three seasons before relegation, and returned two years later. The 1993–94 season saw Lecce finish in last place with a pitiful 11 points, the lowest ever of any Serie A team, and a second relegation came the following year.
Giampiero Ventura saw Lecce achieve two successive promotions from Serie C to Serie A before leaving for
Cagliari. Once more, it proved a struggle in Serie A despite the best efforts of striker
Francesco Palmieri and a famous away win against
Milan on 19 October 1997. In the summer of 1998,
Pantaleo Corvino was appointed new sports director, gaining a reputation for scouting new talents in the years to come. The team was good enough to return to Serie A in 1999 and begin another three-year stint in the top-flight, with yet another return to Serie A in 2003.
Three years in Serie A (2003–2006) 5–3,
Stadio Via del Mare, 1 May 2005 In 2004, under
Delio Rossi, who had been managing the club since 2002, Lecce achieved an impressive result, reaching a high-point of tenth despite a poor first half of the season. Famous performances include two consecutive sensational victories, first against Italian giants Juventus 3–4 in
Turin (the first ever win at the
Stadio Delle Alpi for Lecce) and then in the
Stadio Via del Mare against
Internazionale, 2–1. In
2004–05, coach
Zdeněk Zeman oversaw a highly attack-minded team that scored plenty of goals. Lecce ended the year again finishing tenth, putting in the spotlight talents like
Valeri Bojinov and
Mirko Vučinić. The team had the second-best attack with 66 goals (Juventus came first with 67) and the worst defence, with 73 goals conceded. This is a record, as for the first time the team with the worst defence managed to survive in the history of Serie A. The
2005–06 season was a continual struggle for Lecce. The club changed its manager two times (
Silvio Baldini for
Angelo Adamo Gregucci and in January 2006 youth team coach
Roberto Rizzo, supported by goalkeeper coach
Franco Paleari, for Baldini). The numerous managerial moves could not turn Lecce's fortune as they were relegated with a few games to spare and ended the season in 19th place. In June 2006, Giovanni Semeraro returned at the helm of the club after nine months. The club re-appointed Zdeněk Zeman as manager, just one year after he left the club. Lecce was unable to avoid relegation from Serie A, despite some initial hope due to the
Serie A match-fixing scandal.
Two-year stint in Serie B and promotion The club had a mixed start to the
2006–07 season in Serie B, winning three home matches (including a win against early league leaders
Genoa), though they suffered poor away form. After a large drop in form, recording 10 losses in 18 matches, Zeman was sacked as manager and replaced by
Giuseppe Papadopulo. On 10 March 2007, Lecce clinched a historical victory over
Frosinone, beaten 5–0 at Stadio Via del Mare. Having gained 36 points in the second half of the season, Lecce ended the season in the middle of the table, in ninth place. In 2007, Lecce gained more points than any other team in Serie B. The
2007–08 season saw Lecce fight for a place in Serie A for the next season. Despite earning 83 points (12 more than sixth-placed
Pisa) and boasting the best defence in the tournament, the
giallorossi were forced to face play-offs for promotion in the top flight. In the semi-final, they beat Pisa in both legs (1–0 away and 2–1 at home) to secure a place in the final against
AlbinoLeffe. Then they won the first leg 1–0 away, before securing a 1–1 draw in the second leg at the Studio Via del Mare to gain promotion.
Between Serie A and Serie B After persistent rumours, Papadopulo quit due to a difference of opinion with the general manager of the club and was replaced by
Mario Beretta, who had a quite satisfactory start in the
2008–09 Serie A season. He remained in charge for twenty-seven games, but, due to four defeats in the last five matches, with the team one point below the survival zone, he was sacked and
Luigi De Canio was appointed new manager. Seven points earned in ten matches were not enough to secure Lecce a spot in the next Serie A season. Relegation was official with one match to spare, after a 1–1 home draw against
Fiorentina. Lecce had a mixed start in the
2009–10 Serie B campaign, but clinched first place in November 2009 and kept it for the rest of the season. In May, the team was on the verge of promotion, but wasted opportunities in their last two matches meant they had to wait until the last match to celebrate their eighth elevation to the top flight in the last 25 years. A goalless home draw with
Sassuolo proved enough to clinch the Serie B title with 75 points and win the
Coppa Ali della Vittoria. Lecce ended a satisfactory
2010–11 Serie A season successfully avoiding relegation with one match to spare after beating arch-rival and already relegated
Bari 2–0 away on 15 May 2011. In the last few matches, the team managed to win a tough battle against other underdogs and some glorious teams such as
Sampdoria that ended the season in despair. Manager
Luigi De Canio left the team in June. In the
2011–12 Serie A season, Lecce was relegated to Serie B. The start of the season was bad and new manager
Eusebio Di Francesco was sacked in December, after 9 losses in 13 matches.
Serse Cosmi was appointed new manager. Lecce refused to crumble as Cosmi's arrival instilled battling qualities into the relegation strugglers, who managed to gain a considerable number of points in the following months, but eventually failed to avoid relegation, due to four losses in the last five matches. Lecce managed to struggle until the final game.
Third division years On 10 August 2012, Lecce was provisionally relegated by the Disciplinary Commission set up for the
Scommessopoli scandal investigations
2012–13 Lega Pro Prima Divisione because of their involvement. Furthermore, the former president of Lecce, Semeraro, was suspended from all football activities for five years. On 22 August 2012, Lecce's relegation was confirmed by the Federal Court of Justice. In the first season back into the third tier, Lecce ended in second place behind outsiders
Trapani and was surprisingly defeated in the promotion playoffs finals by another outsider club,
Carpi. The following season ended in similar fashion, with Lecce failing to win the league once again and then losing the playoffs finals, this time to
Frosinone, despite a number of high-level signings such as former
Palermo star, and well-known Lecce supporter,
Fabrizio Miccoli. In 2014–15 Lecce ended the season in sixth place and did not enter the playoffs. Following the departure of the Tesoro family, the club was taken over by a consortium of entrepreneurs led by Saverio Sticchi Damiani. The club ended the 2015–16 season in third place, two points behind the second-placed team, and qualified for the playoffs round. After defeating
Bassano 3–0 at home, in the semi-finals Lecce lost to
Foggia in both the home and the away match. In the following season, Lecce finished in second place. The elimination came in the play-off quarterfinals against
Alessandria on
penalties after two draws in two matches.
Back to the top In September 2017,
Fabio Liverani was named new coach of Lecce, with whom he achieved two direct promotions from Serie C to Serie A, thus bringing the Salento club back to the Italian top-tier league after seven years. Lecce then fought against
Genoa for survival and made it to the last day of the
2019–20 season before being relegated with a home loss to Parma. The
salentini missed out promotion to Serie A in the
2020–21 season, losing to
Venezia in the play-off semifinals after a 4th-place finish, but then, with coach
Marco Baroni, won the
2021–22 Serie B championship, thus celebrating their tenth elevation to the top flight and being awarded the Coppa Nexus. Lecce striker
Massimo Coda was top scorer of the Serie B for two sonsecutive seasons (2020–21 and 2021–22). The
giallorossi side then gained survival in the next Serie A campaign with a game to spare, with Baroni and Lecce parting ways at the end of the 2022–23 season. ==Colours, badge, nicknames, and symbols==