A.C. Monza

The 1973–74 Coppa Italia Serie C

The club's history began in 1912, when the fusion of various city societies gave life to Monza Foot Ball Club. Starting from the Terza Categoria, the club climbed the divisional ladders Italian football during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1939, although still playing in the Terza Divisione, the club reached the Coppa Italia quarter-finals (the only team of this level to be able to achieve the same result was Bari in 1984, to then be overcome in 2016 by Alessandria who reached the semifinals).[3] In 1951 Monza gained promotion to the Serie B and stayed in the division for fifteen years,[4] before going back to Serie C.

Returning immediately to the second division, Monza opened its first success cycle in the mid-seventies, when it was noted for its performance in the Coppa Italia Serie C: they played three consecutive finals, winning the first two over Lecce and Sorrento, but losing in 1976 in a second confrontation with the Apulians. At the end of the season, the team won the Anglo-Italian Cup in the final against Wimbledon FC. At the end of the seventies the Lombard club came close to gaining promotion to the Serie A, but lost the chance two matches from the end of the season.

Between the eighties and nineties, Monza saw an era of success between the second and third division: in 1988 and 1991 they won the Coppa Italia Serie C, both times against Palermo. In 1996, the club lost in the Coppa Italia Serie C final against Empoli. At the beginning of the 2000s, the club returned to Serie C1 again and in the mid-2000s, after losing the Coppa Italia Serie C final against Salernitana, Monza entered administration and started again from Serie D.[5]

In 2017 the club won the Serie D and returned to the Serie C, before losing their fourth Coppa Italia Serie C final in 2019, against Viterbese. In 2020 Monza returned to the Serie B, after a 19-year absence from the competition.[6] In 2021, they reached the Serie B promotion play-offs, but were unable to achieve three promotions in four years, losing in the semi-finals to Cittadella.[7]

The organized support in the city has its roots since the early seventies: the first purely ultras group were the Commandos. In 1977, the Brigate Biancorosse were born, alongside smaller groups such as Prima Linea and Fossa Arditi. In the early eighties the various components of the ultras movement in Monza decided to gather behind a single banner, that of the Legione d'Assalto, which was joined shortly after by the Eagles Monza, the most representative group, in terms of longevity and numbers, of tifo in Monza. In those years, nearing the retirement of the Stadio Sada in favor of the new Stadio Brianteo, several minor groups, in addition to the Eagles, were born: Vedano Erotika, Wild Kaos, Libertà Korps, Gruppo Avvinazzato, Inferno Biancorosso, and Indians. Those groups decided to abandon the central steps in favor of the Curva Lambro.

Following the transfer of Monza to the new stadium, the cheering experienced a period of liveliness, especially as regards the Monza Clubs, which came to multiply and count several members throughout Brianza. After the dissolution of the Eagles in 1992, the Gioventù Brianzola was born in 1993 from the union of the remaining ultras groups. They decided to adopt an eagle as a symbol, in tribute to the work done by the Eagles over the years. In 1994 the S.A.B. (Sempre Al Bar, Italian for "Always at the Bar") were born: the split was due to a different way of understanding the tifo and for basic differences. In the beginning it was a closed and goliardic group, dedicated to eating well (and above all to drinking) and that organizing itself with private cars or minibuses for away matches.

Choreography by Monza fans in the Curva Davide Pieri in 2019.

In 2001 the Gioventù Brianzola broke up, and the S.A.B. became the driving group of the Curva Davide Pieri: from that moment the organization of transfers by bus and with special trains began. Since 1999 the Graziosa Group also appeared, marked by mutual support with the S.A.B. The Graziosa Group, the S.A.B. remained the only ultra group to attend the Brianteo for a few years, except in 2009 when they were joined by the 1912 group, in 2006 by the C.U.B. and in 2017 by the N.D.O.; until 2017, the latter group occupied the West Stand of the stadium. Recently, several groups were born in the Curva, including Libertà, Ultras Cederna (from the name of the homonymous district), Pollakis (active, until 2019, in the grandstand sector) and Ronco, while the clubs of fans multiplied, with the return of several "Monza Club" in the city and in the province.

The Curva Sud of the Brianteo is also called Curva Davide Pieri, in memory of a young fan who died prematurely in December 1998.[8] The West tribune bears the name of the historic fan Angelo Scotti, who died in 2018, while the press tribune was named in memory of Claudio Parma, a journalist and Biancorosso fan, who died on 3 July 2008.[9]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to AC Monza.

• Official website (in English and Italian)