A.S.D. Sorrento 1945 is an Italian association football club from Sorrento, Italy, which was founded as Sorrento Calcio in 1945. Currently the club plays in the Serie C Group C, the third tier of Italian club football.
The team lost its affiliation to the FIGC, after being declared bankrupt by a court in Torre Annunziata in September 2016. Since this verdict, Sorrento Football Club was founded by the merger of Atletico Sorrento 5 and Sant'Antonio Abate. The club re-registered to compete in the Eccellenza Campania in 2016–17.
The club has spent most of its history in the lower regions of the Italian football system. Sorrento reached as high as Serie B during the early 1970s, where they recorded their overall highest finish with a 19th place in the 1971–72 season. In addition to this and the championships they have won at lower levels, Sorrento have also won the Serie D Italian Cup.
History
The club was founded in 1945 and after playing lower divisions, they earned the right to be enrolled into the Promozione Campania league for the 1949–50 season. Sorrento finished bottom of the league, in a season which was dominated by stronger local rivals such as Avellino and Casertana.
Under the name Flos Carmeli, which is a Roman Catholic reference to the Blessed Virgin Mary meaning Faith, Love, Obedience and Service, the club returned to the league during the mid-1950s. This time their positioning was more stable, and they had a new ground in the form of Stadio Italia. The name of the Sorrentine club was changed back to the original Sorrento Calcio in 1957.
In the late 1960s, Sorrento began to become far more successful on the field, they achieved successive promotions. First they won Promozione Campania by three points and then in their debut Serie D season of 1968–69 they were champions on goal difference, after finishing level on points with Torre del Greco side Turris.
1970s league success
The side from the province of Naples experienced Serie C level football for the first time in the 1969–70 season. Sorrento achieved a respectable 4th-place finish above more famous clubs such as Lecce and Messina, as well as regional rivals Salernitana and Avellino. In the following season, Sorrento improved further and were crowned champions of Serie C; just one point above Salernitana to clinch the title.
With players such as Giuseppe Bruscolotti in the squad, Sorrento were entered into Serie B for the 1971–72 season. It was considered a huge achievement for the small provincial side to reach the division in the first place; many of the teams who they played against had a larger stadium capacity than the entire population of Sorrento.
Although they finished second from bottom and were relegated by the end of the season, Sorrento recorded several very good results. The most impressive was a 4–0 victory against Brescia on 30 April 1972. They also beat Livorno twice, and Bari 1–0 away.
After their relegation Sorrento were unable to bounce back, instead being forced to battle it out in Serie C during the 1970s from then on; the highest position they were able to end a season with was a 4th place in 1975–76 sandwiched between Bari and Messina. For 1978–79 the league system was slightly reorganised and the club were placed into Serie C2; the fourth level of Italian football. A runners-up spot was achieved in 1984–85, where Sorrento finished just one point behind champions Licata of Sicily; the runners-up spot was enough to give Sorrento promotion up into Serie C1.
Decline
Sorrento were relegated from Serie C1, at the bottom of the table during their first season, for the rest of the 1980s Sorrento were down in Serie C2. A further slide came in 1989–90 when they were put down into Campionato Interregionale (today's equivalent is Serie D), it is presumed this was due to financial reasons as Sorrento actually finished 5th in Serie C2 the season prior to that.
The now deflated Sorrento were relegated from the Interregionale league in 1990–91 with a 15th-place finish, the club was put into the Promozione Campano league. They missed out on promotion to Boscoreale, the following season Sorrento finished as runners-up to Gragnano and were thus not promoted once more. Finally at the third attempt, Sorrento Calcio achieved their promotion out of the Promozione Campano league via winning the championship of 1993–94.