Many Italian football lovers were latching onto the Rise From The Ashes tale of FC Pompei, the football club only founded in 2022 that had flown into the country’s third tier. Indeed, many prominent Football Manager content creators were tipping the club as “one to manage” on the highly anticipated Football Manager 2030.
That was largely as significant changes off the pitch were helping the club play catch-up on the achievements of Robí Sulpicius and his players. The major talking point of the summer was the Pompei board securing a location for their new stadium at a cost of £11.9m they absolutely did not have. To cover the costs, they secured a £5.25m grant and £1.4m sponsorship deal, along with a £6.5m loan that’ll be paid off at £59k per month until 2039. Construction of the 12,875-capacity Pompei Stadium will be completed by July 2031, so they’ll continue to play 60 miles away at Massimo Romano.
Prior to that, the financial situation had improved slightly. The club was ‘only’ £309k in the red after making a £217k profit over the last 12 months, and the board increased the wage budget to a new high of £15k per week. However, the stadium costs are likely to really hurt them over the next few seasons.
Sulpicius did some good business in the transfer window, which began with binning off some unnecessary earners and tying key players down to new contracts on reduced wages. But star striker Mattia Lanzarotti had silly contract demands and left at the end of his contract. But Sulpicius made what he thought were some strong signings led by midfielder Saul Correnti plus centre back Leonardo Bacher, left back Gabriele Cigognini, former Lazio striker Alessandro Rossi, winger Nicola Visentini, who was sidelined for four months with a torn hamstring, midfielders Fabio Cincilla and Alessio Marconi, the latter on loan from Cosenza, and goalkeeper Matteo Esposito.
Sulpicius considered sticking with the unorthodox 4-3-3 he’d devised last season. But he soon realised the signings he’d made were better suited to the more orthodox 4-3-3 approach they’d used in previous seasons with a few tweaks to the player roles.
Pompei Deliver On Their Manager’s Expectations
Pompei were still fancied as favourites to be relegated from Serie C/C with the bookies giving them 350/1 title odds, which Sulpicius thought was pretty harsh. Foggia are 5/6 favourites along with relegated Catanzaro (evens) and Potenza (6/4) and Crotone (4/1). However, as alluded to in Part 7, Sulpicius was secretly targeting a first shot at the baffling Serie C playoff system.
Sulpicius’ 7th season at Pompei began with a trip to a fellow expected struggler Turris. HIs side started superbly as a nice short corner routine ended up at the feet of Rossi, who smashed home his debut goal. That feat was matched by Marconi as he latched onto Cincilla’s clever through ball to loft the ball into the top corner. It was all over after an hour as Cigognini’s through-ball sent Davide Rapetti through to punish some kamikaze defending. That marked a great start with strong performances from all the new boys.
A much tougher task saw Pompei entertain Foggia a week later. They conceded early, equalised quickly through winger Matteo Malasomma then fell 3-1 behind, only for Foggia to score two own goals in the last 20 minutes. That offered plenty of optimism, which they took into dominating Avellino 3-0 with a Malasomma brace and Bacher’s first goal for the club. Last season, Malasomma scored three in 37 and the season before five in 37. But he scored the opener in a 2-2 at Cavese then bagged another double in a 3-2 win at home to Giugliano, which took him to six in five.
The unbeaten start continued with draws against Picerno and Monopoli, both top-eight sides last season, and at Campobasso and Olbia then Rossi got a brace in a 3-0 win over Campobasso and the only goal at home to bottom-side Afragolese. But the streak ended at 11 with a 1-0 defeat at Catanzaro. They continued to perform well and a 2-2 at home to Fidelis Andria left Pompei in 7th place heading into the new year. They only trailed leaders Foggia by 8 points and were right in the playoffs mix that Sulpicius had been hoping for with a 5-point gap back to 11th-place Monopoli.
Sustaining Pompei’s Playoff Hopes
The 2030s began with a 4-2 defeat at leaders Foggia but they bounced back by dominating Turris 3-0 again and Rapetti and Rossi strikes earning a 2-1 win at struggling Giugliano. The form dipped a little but a 3-1 win at Afrogolese took Pompei 11 points clear of 11th-place Cavese. And a solid finish saw Pompei finish 6th on 64 points after 17 wins, 13 draws and 8 defeats with 72 goals scored and 51 conceded. And Rossi proved a great signing as he finished joint-top scorer in Serie C/C with 22 goals.
First Taste of Serie C/C Playoffs
That took Pompei into a six-round playoff system, which began with a new club record attendance of 1,500 at home to Monopoli. The bumper crowd gave Pompei a flyer as Rossi twice turned home Rapetti crosses in the first seven minutes. The winger made it a first-half assist hat trick as his cross was powered home by Correnti before Rossi wrapped up his hat trick. Four days later, they travelled to Fidelis Andria and the same two scorers secured a 2-1 victory.
That saw them join teams from the other Serie C divisions as the playoffs became two-legged ties, and they were drawn against Atalanta U23s. An even first leg finished 1-1, and Malasomma’s 79th-minute strike earned a 1-0 win in Bergamo to reach the quarter-final. Next was a big challenge against Südtirol, who had several players Sulpicius had actually heard of. But his side acquitted themselves superbly, defending brilliantly before Marconi finished off a team move to nick a 1-0 home win. And another resolute performance, Esposito’s 9 saves and Bacher’s header secured a 1-1 away to reach the semis.
An unlikely promotion was in sight with Pistoiese between Pompei and the Final. They started the home leg superbly as Rapetti’s volleyed cross was turned in by Rossi. Midfield stars Correnti and Marconi combined to double the lead and Bacher put them 3-up. Pompei continued to dominate and Rossi missed two chances. But they settled for a dominant 3-0 victory before a 2-2 away sent Pompei into the Final!
That teed up the biggest tie in Pompei history against SPAL, who were in Serie A 11 years ago. The home leg was first again and SPAL dominated the early stages only for Rossi to tuck home Cigognini’s low cross. It seemed to be drifting to a 1-0 but a wild conclusion saw Rossi’s header ruled out, SPAL win a nonsense penalty that Rossi immediately answered, before SPAL equalised again in the fifth of four minutes of injury time.
Pompei’s 10th playoff game and 48th league game started poorly as the hosts totally dominated and led 2-0 at the break. Sulpicius laid into the team, then berated them, and they responded as Marconi curled home from 20 yards. Ten minutes later, Rossi went down in the box and was dubiously awarded a penalty that he converted for his 30th goal of the season. Pompei looked inspired, so Sulpicius threw on Malasomma and the winger delivered as he cut in from the left and curled the ball into the top corner. They were suddenly minutes away from promotion, so he went super defensive, and SPAL resorted to long-range strikes that Esposito handled with ease. And Pompei claimed a monumental 5-4 aggregate victory. The Pompei players mobbed Sulpicius and the fans rushed onto the pitch to celebrate the unlikeliest of victories and by far the biggest in club history.
FC Pompei were promoted to Serie B!!
Celebrating A Shock Promotion!
To say Pompei’s promotion to Serie B wasn’t on the cards was probably the biggest understatement in Italian football history. The club was favourites to be relegated at the start of the season, but a strong conclusion to the regular campaign set them up for an impressive run through the playoffs.
Rossi had been an inspired signing, breaking Ingrotelli’s record with 30 goals this season. Marconi was fantastic with 14 goals from midfield followed by Rapetti and Malasomma (11) and Correnti (6). While the excellent Rapetti led the way with 16 assists followed by Malasomma (10), Correnti (9) and Marconi (8).
Off the pitch, things were not looking good. The stadium costs and the end-of-season payout pushed Pompei a massive £900k into the red. So, rebuilding for a tilt at Serie B was going to be a massive ask.
But could Pompei again defy all the odds in Italy’s second tier? Join us next Friday to find out!
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