Fairy Tales Do Exist: The Story of SPAL
Many of you may be wondering why I am making a reference to fairy tales when writing a sports blog. After all, March is many months away and we won't be talking about Cinderellas in the NCAA tournament until then. However, the fairy tale that I'm referring to has nothing at all to do with college basketball. In fact, this fairy tale could never play out in the United States with the way American professional sports are structured.
This fairy tale was written and continues to be written in the northern Italian city of Ferrara, Ferrara is home to a professional football (soccer) club SPAL 2013 which stands for Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor. SPAL are plying their trade in the Italian first division Serie A this season but it is the way that they arrived there that makes this a fairy tale story.
After SPAL were reformed in 2013, they began playing in the Italian fourth division known as Serie D for the 2013-14 season. In their first season as a reformed club SPAL were able to play well enough to gain the aforementioned promotion. SPAL returned to Lega Pro (now known as Serie C) which is where they were playing before their financial issues.
During the 2014-15 season SPAL made their return to the Italian third division Lega Pro and a had a solid season finishing fourth. However, that wasn't good enough to achieve promotion and would again play in Lega Pro for the 2015-16 season. SPAL ended up having a great second season back in Lega Pro under the guidance of coach Leonardo Semplici who had taken over during December 2014. SPAL won their division along with promotion up to Serie B. This promotion meant that SPAL would be playing second division calcio for the first time in 23 years.
With such a quick ascent from fourth division calcio to the second division following financial difficulties not much was expected from SPAL during the 2016-17 season. In fact, SPAL were expected to be battling for survival to avoid returning to Lega Pro after just one season. Many believed they were going to have a very difficult time of just remaining in Serie B after they won just one of their first six matches. However, as the season progressed SPAL continued to improve under the leadership of Semplici and his attacking 3-5-2 system.
Last season, SPAL constructed a nice mix of talented youngsters and solid veteran players, all of whom were Italian (almost unheard of in today's global game). Many of these players like young goalkeeper, Alex Meret, who was brought in on loan from Serie A side Udinese began to reach their full potential (Meret earned an Italian national team call in March). As SPAL continued to improve they also brought in veteran striker Sergio Floccari and all his top flight experience into the mix in January as well.
SPAL played well throughout the season after their slow start. In quite the opposite of what was expected of them, SPAL were able to shockingly win the Italian Serie B title! This meant that after just four full seasons removed from their financial difficulties, SPAL had earned promotion three times to go from Italy's lowest professional division to it's top flight. A truly incredible feat which can only be described as a fairy tale.
This season SPAL are playing in Serie A for the first time in forty-nine years. Expectations are again low as many believe that SPAL will struggle to avoid relegation back to Serie B. SPAL meanwhile will again to try to defy expectations and continue their fairy tale by remaining in Serie A past this season. To achieve their goal of survival SPAL have brought in veterans with plenty of Serie A experience in the form of strikers Marco Borriello and Alberto Paloschi and renewed the loan goalkeeper Meret among many other roster moves with the intent of achieving survival.
So far after six games, similarly to last season, SPAL have only won one game against at home against Udinese. However, their four points currently have them seated in 14th position in the Serie A table which is two points and four places above relegation. Only time will tell if SPAL can remain above the relegation spots (18-20th places), as there is still plenty of calcio left to play before teams begin to truly separate themselves from the relegation zone. However, no matter where SPAL finish the season, their story is one that truly belongs in a storybook.
This fairy tale was written and continues to be written in the northern Italian city of Ferrara, Ferrara is home to a professional football (soccer) club SPAL 2013 which stands for Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor. SPAL are plying their trade in the Italian first division Serie A this season but it is the way that they arrived there that makes this a fairy tale story.
What is the Promotion/Relegation System?
For those unfamiliar with the promotion/relegation system in European countries, like Italy, which have multiple divisions of soccer, I'll give you a quick rundown. Basically what happens is the bottom teams in the upper division are swapped with the top finishers of a lower division on a yearly basis. For example, last season in Serie A, Empoli, Palermo, and Pescara finished in the last three spots in the standings. Those three teams were dropped down to Serie B (2nd division) and replaced with 3 of the top finishers from Serie B, Hellas Verona, Benevento, and SPAL. This season Empoli, Palermo, and Pescara are playing in B while Hella, Benevento, and SPAL are playing in A. This happens annually throughout all 4 tiers of Italian calcio (soccer).
The Fairy Tale
SPAL were originally founded in Ferrara in 1907, hence the original name of the club being SPAL 1907. However, as has happened all too often to smaller football clubs around the peninsula in recent years, the club went bankrupt for a second time in 2012. After the club went bankrupt it was reformed under a new name SPAL 2013.After SPAL were reformed in 2013, they began playing in the Italian fourth division known as Serie D for the 2013-14 season. In their first season as a reformed club SPAL were able to play well enough to gain the aforementioned promotion. SPAL returned to Lega Pro (now known as Serie C) which is where they were playing before their financial issues.
During the 2014-15 season SPAL made their return to the Italian third division Lega Pro and a had a solid season finishing fourth. However, that wasn't good enough to achieve promotion and would again play in Lega Pro for the 2015-16 season. SPAL ended up having a great second season back in Lega Pro under the guidance of coach Leonardo Semplici who had taken over during December 2014. SPAL won their division along with promotion up to Serie B. This promotion meant that SPAL would be playing second division calcio for the first time in 23 years.
With such a quick ascent from fourth division calcio to the second division following financial difficulties not much was expected from SPAL during the 2016-17 season. In fact, SPAL were expected to be battling for survival to avoid returning to Lega Pro after just one season. Many believed they were going to have a very difficult time of just remaining in Serie B after they won just one of their first six matches. However, as the season progressed SPAL continued to improve under the leadership of Semplici and his attacking 3-5-2 system.
Last season, SPAL constructed a nice mix of talented youngsters and solid veteran players, all of whom were Italian (almost unheard of in today's global game). Many of these players like young goalkeeper, Alex Meret, who was brought in on loan from Serie A side Udinese began to reach their full potential (Meret earned an Italian national team call in March). As SPAL continued to improve they also brought in veteran striker Sergio Floccari and all his top flight experience into the mix in January as well.
SPAL played well throughout the season after their slow start. In quite the opposite of what was expected of them, SPAL were able to shockingly win the Italian Serie B title! This meant that after just four full seasons removed from their financial difficulties, SPAL had earned promotion three times to go from Italy's lowest professional division to it's top flight. A truly incredible feat which can only be described as a fairy tale.
This season SPAL are playing in Serie A for the first time in forty-nine years. Expectations are again low as many believe that SPAL will struggle to avoid relegation back to Serie B. SPAL meanwhile will again to try to defy expectations and continue their fairy tale by remaining in Serie A past this season. To achieve their goal of survival SPAL have brought in veterans with plenty of Serie A experience in the form of strikers Marco Borriello and Alberto Paloschi and renewed the loan goalkeeper Meret among many other roster moves with the intent of achieving survival.
So far after six games, similarly to last season, SPAL have only won one game against at home against Udinese. However, their four points currently have them seated in 14th position in the Serie A table which is two points and four places above relegation. Only time will tell if SPAL can remain above the relegation spots (18-20th places), as there is still plenty of calcio left to play before teams begin to truly separate themselves from the relegation zone. However, no matter where SPAL finish the season, their story is one that truly belongs in a storybook.
Putting It into Perspective
For fans of American sports putting SPAL's fairy tale success story into perspective is difficult because there is no direct comparison to be made. American pro sports teams don't have to worry about being sent to a lower division for having a poor season. In fact, oftentimes teams having a poor season will "flop" in order to get a better draft pick. They are able to do this because there aren't any negative repercussions nearly as devastating as relegation that European football teams must face.
The closet hypothetical comparison that I can make would use baseball as an example; so I'll do that to try and put SPAL's fairy tale into perspective. Baseball in America, like soccer in Italy, is broken into a four tier system going from single A up to the majors. Think of SPAL as a single A team like the Staten Island Yankees. Say the Staten Island Yankees won the single A title a few years ago and were then promoted to AA ball and then promoted again to AAA after another great season. Sounds crazy, I know but stick with me. Pretend last season Staten Island played AAA and won the title and were promoted to the major leagues and a team like the Philadelphia Phillies who had an awful season were sent to AAA. I know the story just got crazier; a major league team in AAA and A ball team in the majors! SPAL in Serie A is like the Staten Island Yankees playing Major League Baseball. Digest all that for a minute and appreciate SPAL's story for the fairy tale that it truly is because you will never see anything close to it in the United States.
You can read more about SPAL's story on ESPNFC in an article written by Micahel Yokhin near the end of last season here.
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