Debt-ridden FC Pompei made the doubters eat dust last season as a hot run of form led them to an impressive 3rd-place finish in Serie D/H. But there was no doubt the off-field matters were the biggest talking point in the summer of 2026.
Coming into Sulpicius’ fourth season, the club’s financial situation was a fiery shade of red, with the bank balance dropping to minus £469k. The board had at least raised the weekly wage budget back to £3,400 but, in reality, the only thing that’s ever going to save this club financially is a miraculous takeover, which doesn’t appear forthcoming anytime soon.
So the manager was again limited to scouring freebies to try and strengthen his squad after captain Vinzenco Carrotta and backups winger Alfredo Varsi and keeper Antonio Mele left the club. And in the end, he only managed to replace Carrotta with experienced midfielder Diulio Evangelista. That was largely as the first 11 was decent for this level and any players better than them either wanted too much money or chose to join other clubs. So they stuck with a familiar lineup with a couple of tweaks in the midfield roles.
An Early Baptism Of Fire
The bookies again don’t fancy Pompei’s chances, predicting them to finish 16th in Serie D/H with title odds of 50/1. Paganese somehow remain 13/8 favourites followed by Fidelis Andrea (7/4), Matera (2/1) and relegated Casarano (11/4).
Pompei started the season well as Evangelista scored 11 minutes into his debut and winger Matteo Malasomma nicked a late 2-1 win at Rotonda. Malasomma was on target again in their first game at Vittorio Bellucci, sealing a 2-0 win over Savoia and Evangelista scored again in a 2-0 win at Pol. Santa Maria. And a 0-0 at home to Manfredina sent them top of Serie D/H for just the second time.
This time they stayed top for longer than a week as they won at Casarano then Ingretolli’s brace led a 3-0 domination of Mariglianese. But they lost goalkeeper Damiano Campisi to a broken arm, which forced 17-year-old Domenico Marchese, who has 4-star potential but is nowhere near first-team ready, into the starting lineup. He faced a baptism of fire as Pompei lost 3-2 on his debut at 6th-place Fasano before making six saves to earn a 2-2 at home to Altamur, five saves as a brace by striker Cristiano Ingretolli downed Barletta 3-1 and kept his first clean sheet as Ingretolli earned a 1-0 at bottom side Ginosa. The young keeper excelled in his biggest tests yet as he repelled most of the 1.3x G that Paganese threw at him while Ingrotelli bagged a hat trick to secure a 3-1 success then kept a clean sheet and earned man of the match with 7 saves to earn a 0-0 at Fidelis Andria.
That gave Sulpicius somewhat of a dilemma as Campisi, who’d only conceded twice in six games, returned, given Marchese had a 7.24 average rating from seven appearances. But the senior man was restored and kept a clean sheet as Pompei downed Matera 2-0, uncharacteristically conceded three as they drew at Nardó but was back to his best as Alessio Lettera and Antonio Orefice strikes defeated 2nd-place Palmese 2-0. Two more clean sheets against fellow high-flyers Gravina and Martina saw Pompei move 9 points clear at the top in early December before young attacker Alessandro Minelli’s first senior goal earned a 1-0 over lowly Bitonto.
Title Race Heats Up
The new year began in the same fashion as Ingretolli and Lettera secured a 2-1 win over struggling Rotonda. But their 15-game unbeaten streak ended with a 2-1 loss at Manfredonia in mid-January before drawing 1-1 with 3rd-place Casarano and at Mariglianese to see their lead cut to 5 points. But they exploded back into form as Orefice and Ingretolli doubles secured a 4-1 hammering of Fasano, which sent them back onto an 8-game unbeaten run that included promising midfielder Marco Granata’s first goal for the club grabbing a late win at Paganese, who were languishing in the bottom half.
But a 4-2 loss at Matera left Pompei with a five-point advantage over Casarano going into a title showdown and with 2nd place more or less locked down. And they had an odd two-week break between all of their five remaining fixtures.
Game 1 – Palmese (9th, away): A tricky away day started poorly but Lettera’s 72nd-minute strike earned his side a point. And that proved crucial as Casarano drew 0-0 at Bitonto.
Game 2 – Maglie (20th, home): Next up was a must-win home clash against already relegated Maglie. And they delivered as Malasomma’s early goal settled any nerves before an Ingretolli double wrapped up a comfortable 3-1 win. Casarano drew again, 1-1 at home to Rotonda, to extend Pompei’s lead to 7 points but Pompei lost Evangelista for the title race to a torn hamstring.
Game 3 – Gravina (3rd, away): The toughest test of the run-in followed and they slipped to a 2-0 defeat, while Casanaro won 1-0 at Savoie to close the gap to 4 points.
Game 4 – Martina (11th, home): If results went their way, Pompei could secure the title on their own turf. But they put in another poor display, conceding to Martina’s first shot then struggling to create anything until Minelli nicked a late equaliser off the bench. Casanaro won 2-1 at home to Pol. Santa Maria to make it a 2-point gap going into a nerve-wracking final day.
Game 5 – Bitonto (16th, away): Pompeii made the trip to lowly Bitonto, who needed a win to avoid the relegation playoffs, while Casanaro travelled to 5th-place Manfredonia.
Any viewers could have been forgiven for not realising there was a title on the line as Pompei started sluggishly, before Bitonto somehow missed a free header from a yard out. Casanaro scored a penalty after 10 minutes, doubled their lead after an hour, but conceded just before half time. That meant the two sides were level on points and, despite Sulpicius pushing his side forward, they remained devoid of inspiration. Nothing happened in a dire second half and Pompei stumbled to a 0-0. And Casanaro threw their lead away to draw 2-2. And Pompei lifted the trophy in slightly underwhelming fashion.
FC Pompei were Champions of Serie D/H!
Pompei finished on 74 points and won Serie/H by 2 points after 20 wins, 14 draws and 4 defeats. They scored 64 goals, only bettered by Gravina’s 67 and 13th-place Fasano’s 74, and had the second-best defence as they only conceded 35. Ingretolli led the league with 24 goals while Evangelista and Malasomma came 2nd and 3rd on the assists chart with 16 and 12, well behind Matera’s Samuel Guzmán, who got an impressive 21.
Celebrating Unexpected Success
Sulpicius knew he had a decent team by Serie D standards and, if he could keep key players fit, they had a chance at troubling the top of the league. And that proved true as, until the final few weeks, the starting 11 was rarely disrupted.
Ingroteli, who’ll retire aged 33 at the end of the season, again topped their scoring chart with 24 in 35 followed by Malasomma (10), Lettera (7) and Orefice (6). Evangelista proved a key signing as he led the way with 16 assists, as well as doubling his entire career goal tally of 4, followed by Malasomma (12), Orefice (9) and Letters (4). But special mention has to go to Marchese, whose performances in his 7 games were undeniably crucial to delivering the unlikely title for his side.
Sulpicius’ efforts hadn’t gone unnoticed this season as he was offered a mass of Serie C jobs and selected to manage the Serie D side for the Viareggio Tournament, in which Serie D’s best took on Europe’s big boys’ under 20s sides in mid-March. They did quite well, considering he had no knowledge of any of the players, drawing 2-2 with Torino and 0-0 with Brøndby either side of beating Dunbeholden 1-0 but exited 2 points behind the Danes.
Sulpicius now faced a mammoth task to rebuild his Pompei squad for a tilt at survival in their first-ever season in Italy’s tier three. Join us next Friday to find out how he goes about it!
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