Albinoleffe

Atalanta is the name that comes up first when AlbinoLeffe's history is discussed in Bergamo. For years the two clubs even shared a ground, and the Derby di Bergamo has been played out in Serie B three times, the last of them in 2010/11. Some supporters in the valley, though, rate the meeting with Brescia as the one that stirs more emotion; accounts of which fixture matters most still diverge.

The club itself is a merger. It was formed on 2 July 1998, when Albinese Calcio, founded in 1919, joined with Società Calcio Leffe, founded in 1938, and took on Leffe's old federal registration. Albino and Leffe sit some 9 kilometres apart in the Val Seriana; the merged club kept both names.

AlbinoLeffe played at Atalanta's Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia in Bergamo from 2003 to 2019, then two seasons at Gorgonzola. In 2021 it settled at a new ground in Zanica, built for the club and now carrying its name. The colours held steady throughout: blue and sky blue at home, with an away kit in the red and yellow of Bergamo province's coat of arms. Supporters call the team Seriani, after the valley.

Promotion arrived twice by play-off: into Serie C1 in 1999, then into Serie B in 2003. The club spent the next 9 seasons there without a break, its closest brush with Serie A coming in 2007/08, when a fourth-place finish led to a play-off final lost to Lecce. The one trophy in the club's cabinet is the Coppa Italia Serie C, won in 2001/02 against Livorno.

Relegation from Serie B followed in 2012, then a points penalty for match-fixing in 2013. Two further drops into Serie D, in 2015 and 2016, were both reversed.

Andrea Belotti came through the academy, playing 39 games and scoring 14 goals for the first team. He went on to captain Torino and win Euro 2020 with Italy. The ground he left behind now holds 1,791.