Brescia Calcio

Brescia Calcio, commonly referred to as Brescia, is an Italian football club based in Brescia, Lombardy, that currently plays in Serie B, the second tier of Italian football. The club holds the record for total number of seasons (64) and consecutive seasons (18, from 1947–48 to 1964–65) in Serie B, which they have won four times. Their best finish in Serie A came in the 2000–01 season when they placed eighth. At the beginning of the 21st century, led by the 1993 Ballon d'Or winner Roberto Baggio, the club also qualified for the Intertoto Cup twice, reaching the final in 2001 but being defeated on away goals by Paris Saint-Germain. During this era, Pep Guardiola, former FC Barcelona captain and later a highly decorated manager, also played for the club. The team's colours are blue and white. Its stadium is the 19,550-seater Stadio Mario Rigamonti. They have a long-standing rivalry with Atalanta from nearby Bergamo. History The team was founded in 1911 as Brescia Football Club, joining the Terza Categoria division the same year. In 1913, Brescia was promoted to First Division for the first time, and from 1929 they played in Serie A for six of the seven following seasons. Successively, the club played among the two top divisions until 1982, when Brescia was relegated to Serie C. The club then returned to Serie B in 1985. Brescia played outside the two divisions of Lega Calcio (Serie A and B) only four years; under this aspect, only 11 clubs in all Italy marked a better performance.