Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Puteolana 1902 is an Italian association football club based in Pozzuoli, Campania, currently playing in Serie D.
Originally founded in 1902 as Puteoli Sport, they changed their name to U.S. Puteolana in 1919 and played at professional level under different denomination in the subsequent years.
The historic Puteolana have played in the First Division Championship (Serie A), during the early 1920s, the last time they played in a professional league was Serie C2 in 2003.
The nicknames of the team were Diavoli rossi (Red Devils).
History of Puteolana 1902
Puteoli Sport
The club was founded during 1902 as an eclectic institution oriented to multiple sports under the banner of Puteoli Sport, this is the foundation date that the club officially carries with it today. A few years later in 1909 the name was changed to Puteoli Sporting Club.
For the 1913–14 season they were entered into a FIGC organised league in the form of the Terza Categoria, which at the time was the third level of Italian football (today's equivalent is Serie C1).
U.S. Puteolana
Italian Football Championship
After World War I the club was renamed for the third time, this time to Unione Sportiva Puteolana. They were entered into the Prima Categoria Championship (Serie A) for the 1919–20 season; here they competed against the top clubs in the Campania region and qualified for the semi-finals of Southern Italy, eventually losing out to Fortitudo Roma.
The following season they were entered into the championship again, beating sides such as Naples and Salernitana. Despite qualifying for the next round FIGC put them in last place due to irregularities, ending their season early.
As Italian football split into two factions after the main teams had a disagreement with FIGC, Puteolana played in the CCI run league (called Prima Divisione) which featured most of the big clubs. In the Campania section they competed against six other teams and won all 12 fixtures. They then defeated Anconitana, before facing Fortitudo in Rome for a chance to meet Pro Vercelli in the league's final for the championship. However, Putelolana lost 2–0 to Fortitudo, essentially meaning they ended the season with a top four finish.
Despite their respectable position in the previous season, the club were not enrolled into the newly reunited league (because of economic problems), instead competing in the far lower III Divisione. The club climbed up two divisions and by 1925–26 were back in the top level championship, however they lasted just one season as they lost all of their games in the Campania section.
Decline
The club disappeared from upper-level competition for a large period of time, from 1926 until 1947. During this period they competed in competitions such as the provincial ULIC youth leagues and various seasons spent in purely amateur divisions such as I Divisione, II Divisione and III Divisione.
Eventually Puteolana won I Divisione in 1947–48 and were promoted up to the Promozione Interregionale, which was just one step below Serie C at the time. They would bounce between Serie D and Promozione Campania for much of the 1950s and 1960s. After being promoted from Promozione Campania in 1969–70, they spent the entire decade of the 1970s in Serie D generally around mid table area, the closest they came to gaining promotion was a 4th-place finish in 1973–74.
The start of the 1980s brought the club into turmoil, they were relegated in three successive seasons before becoming defunct in 1982. However, that season a team from the city of Naples called Internapoli moved to Pozzuoli because they were having problems with their home Stadio Arturo Collana and thus changed their name to S.C. Puteolana 1909. After just four seasons in Serie D and one in Promozione, the new club too was folded in 1986.
Campania Puteolana
A club founded in 1975 in the Province of Caserta but had moved to Ponticelli in Naples, moved again in 1986 to Pozzuoli as a means to carry on the older clubs legacy in the city. It was a man named Mario Giocondo Mauriello who engineered the move and the club changed its name from Campania Ponticelli to Società Sportiva Calcio Campania Puteolana.
Campania Puteolana was playing in Serie C1 gaining a 6th-place finish in their first season since the rebirth. The same season in the Coppa Italia Serie C they finished as runners-up to Livorno, after losing the two-legged final 3–1. Under the management of Claudio Ranieri (his first managerial job) the club were relegated to Serie C2 the following year, however Brazilian manager Jarbas Faustinho Canè led them straight back up as champions.