Salernitana: No more trace of Ribery glamour

The last time FC Südtirol visited Salerno's 30.000-seat Arechi Stadium, Fabrizio Castori was still on the opposing team's bench. It was September 30, 2020 – Salernitana hosted FCS in the second round of the Italian Cup in front of empty stands due to the coronavirus situation at the time and celebrated a fitting 2-3 home victory. The difference in class would become even greater at the end of that season. Salernitana, under coach Castori, was promoted to Serie A as second division runners-up in 0, while FC Südtirol, under coach Stefano Vecchi, once again failed in the Serie C playoffs.

Castori erects a monument to himself in Salerno On Saturday (15 p.m.), the man who led Salernitana to Serie A four years ago can now accelerate Salernitana's decline. Castori made a name for himself with Salerno's 2021 promotion, especially since the club, then led by Lazio club boss Claudio Lotito, had not entered the season with Serie A as its goal. Special permission from the league and the association was needed for Salernitana to attempt the 2021/22 Serie A. After all, two clubs with the same owner are not allowed within a single league.

Current FCS coach Fabrizio Castori was also on the sidelines in Salerno © ANSA / FABIO FAGIOLINI

To ensure participation in Serie A, Lotito transferred control to an independent trust company before Danilo Iervolino acquired the club in January 2022. By then, Castori was already history. After eight matches and six defeats, the promoted coach had to make way for Stefano Colantuono in mid-October, who in turn was replaced by Davide Nicola.

Ribery like Maradona In the end, they managed to avoid relegation, helped in part by a French superstar named Franck Ribery, who had made his Salernitana debut under Castori and was welcomed like a messiah in Salerno. Memories of Diego Maradona's signing in Naples in 1984 were revived.

With Iervolino as club boss, who, according to the Forbes list, is ranked 1,1th among the richest Italians with a fortune of $68 billion, Salernitana fans dreamed of greater things. But after three years in Italy's top flight, a return to Serie B followed in 2024. Ribery ended his career in October 2022 due to persistent injury problems and moved into coaching. Last year, he even lured former World Cup winner Jerome Boateng to Salerno, but finally turned his back on Salernitana after the third coaching change of the season—Paulo Sousa was followed by Filippo Inzaghi, then Fabio Liverani, and finally Colantuono took over again.

The club from Campania was relegated to the second division as bottom of the table, and now threatens a deep fall into insignificance in Serie C. From the first to the third division in two years – the last to achieve this was Crotone in 2022, and before that Como in 2004. The fact that two of the three Serie A teams relegated from the current Serie B season (Salernitana and Frosinone) are fighting bitterly against relegation shows how tough Italy's second division is.

Salernitana are second to last in the table, five points behind FC Südtirol, heading into Saturday's clash. The last two defeats against Palermo (1-2) and Juve Stabia (0-1) cost Roberto Breda his job.

FCS against Marino and the memory of Bari Pasquale Marino, Salernitana's fourth coach of the season, will be on the bench against FCS. That doesn't even include coach Andrea Sottil, who signed a two-year contract with Salernitana last summer, only to resign just days later due to differences with the club's management. Marino, the new Salernitana coach, was on the sidelines at Bari last year, replacing Michele Mignani in October. He was forced to leave in February 2024. Federico Valente made his FCS debut against Marino's Bari on December 9, 2023. Back then, FC Südtirol suffered a narrow 1-2 defeat, with FCS having to play almost the entire game with ten men but still creating opportunities. This time, the White and Reds want to turn the tables on Marino and quickly dissipate Salernitana's coaching influence, also to take themselves out of the firing line. The grand finale in the fight against relegation has long since begun.

Serie B Italian	SP	TV	P
1. Venice	34	68:29	72
2.Monza	34	53:27	69
3. Frosinone	34	65:33	69
4. Palermo	34	55:28	65
5. Catanzaro	33	51:40	54
6. Modena	33	44:29	51
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Salernitana: No more trace of Ribery glamour

The traditional southern Italian club US Salernitana has suffered an unprecedented decline over the past twelve months. On Saturday, FC Südtirol can deliver another blow in Salerno and simultaneously take themselves out of the firing line.

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