a.c. cesena, commonly referred to as cesena (italian pronunciation: [tʃeˈzɛːna]), was an italian football club based in cesena, emilia-romagna.the club spent most of its history in professional leagues such as serie a and serie b, but went bankrupt and folded in 2018.another club from cesena, a.s.d.romagna centro cesena, claims to be the bankrupted club's successor and in 2019 changed its name to 'cesena f.c.'.the club was formed in 1940 and won its first promotion to serie a in 1973.since then, the club have been in serie a for a total of 13 seasons, their best achievement coming in 1976 with a sixth-placed finish and a short run in the following season's uefa cup.the other four promotions to serie a were achieved in 1981, 1987, 2010 (after two consecutive promotions — from the third league (lega pro) in 2009 and from serie b in 2010, both won on the final day of the season) and 2014.with players such as pierluigi cera and gianluigi savoldi, the club held its own and finished a respectable 11th place in their debut season, repeating that finish the following year.in the 1975–76 season, cesena surprised italy by finishing sixth and subsequently qualifying for the uefa cup.the glory was short-lived and they would be relegated the next year.a second promotion to serie a followed in 1981 and finished a respectable 10th before being relegated once more in 1983, staying in serie b for four years.after winning a play-off, they were back in serie a for 1987–88 and enjoyed a four-year stay, being obdurate enough to just avoid relegation in this time.after relegation in 1991, cesena had another chance to return to serie a in 1994.with players such as alessandro teodorani, emiliano salvetti, luigi piangerelli, aldo dolcetti, and dario hübner, this was a team of considerable ability.they finished level on points with padova, however, and lost a promotion play-off which would be a bitter blow for the club, who would suffer relegation to serie c1 in 1997.whilst promotion followed, a relegation play-off against pistoiese in 2000 would see them condemned to a four-year stay in the third division.in the 2005–06 serie b, cesena surprisingly emerged as contenders for promotion to serie a, ending in sixth place and being therefore qualified for the promotion play-offs.they escaped relegation the following season, but not in 2007–08.cesena's first campaign in serie c1, now rebranded lega pro prima divisione, started with former foligno boss pierpaolo bisoli as new head coach.throughout the season, cesena quickly emerged as major contenders for direct promotion, and managed to take first place in the league on week 33, with only one game remaining and a two-point advantage to challengers pro patria.on the final week of the season, cesena's 0–0 draw with verona, coupled with pro patria's 0–0 draw with padova, gave the bianconeri the league title and direct promotion back to serie b, after only one season in the italian third tier.cesena went to as 3rd in round 33, one point behind brescia in the 2009–10 season.cesena earned their second consecutive promotion after a 1–0 victory at piacenza and brescia's 2–1 loss in padua against padova on 30 may 2010, finishing 19 years of absence from the serie a.after the 2011–12 season, cesena were relegated from the top tier to the serie b.since relegation cesena also restructured their finance, which the company revered merger with intermediate holding company cesena 1940 srl in december 2012.the company held 98.23% shares of ac cesena spa.after the merger, another intermediate holding company, opera cesena calcio srl represented by igor campedelli (from unknown investor through romagna sport srl), which previously own 65.03% shares on cesena 1940 srl, sold 27.6% shares of cesena to gmg srl, a company of giorgio lugaresi, who already owned 30.06% shares of cesena 1940 srl before the merger.
ac cesena | league | serie b <tsp> ac cesena | ground | stadio dino manuzzi
after relegation in 1991, cesena had another chance to return to serie a in 1994.in the 2005–06 serie b, cesena surprisingly emerged as contenders for promotion to serie a, ending in sixth place and being therefore qualified for the promotion play-offs.cesena's first campaign in serie c1, now rebranded lega pro prima divisione, started with former foligno boss pierpaolo bisoli as new head coach.on the final week of the season, cesena's 0–0 draw with verona, coupled with pro patria's 0–0 draw with padova, gave the bianconeri the league title and direct promotion back to serie b, after only one season in the italian third tier.cesena earned their second consecutive promotion after a 1–0 victory at piacenza and brescia's 2–1 loss in padua against padova on 30 may 2010, finishing 19 years of absence from the serie a.after the 2011–12 season, cesena were relegated from the top tier to the serie b.