FC Malcantone Agno (Switzerland)
Founded on July
1st, 1955, the club adopted the colours red and white, giving them
the nickname, Die Rot-Weissen. (The Red and Whites). Playing most of their
football in the Swiss fourth tier, the club didn’t really rise up the ladder
until the late 90’s, when in the season of 1998-99 the club were promoted to
the Swiss 1. Liga. While settling into their new league, the club were straight
away one of the top sides in the division. The division itself was split into
three different groups, based on geographical location. FC Malcantone were
playing in Group 3 and won it in the 2001-02 season. This set up a promotion
playoff against SC Young Fellows Juventus, a club that had only been created in
1992. Unfortunately, Malcantone were beaten, 4-2 on aggregate and had another
season in the Swiss 1. Liga to look forward to.
The 2002-03
season was just as successful on the picth for the Red and Whites, as they once
again won their group, Group C. This time, they would be facing FC La
Chaux-de-Fonds in a promotion play-off match. The result was different tis time
and Malcantone beat FCC, a club who were founded back in 1894, 3-2 on
aggregate, meaning they gained promotion to the Nationalliga B. At the same
time, the club moved stadium to play at the Stadio Cornaredo. Things were
looking positive for the Swiss club, and after years of just dwelling in the
lower leagues, they felt it was time to show Swiss football that they were
around and not just make up the numbers.
The 2003-04
season saw the rebranding and reformatting of the Swiss league. The league that
Malcantone were now playing in was known as the Swiss Challeneg League and was
the second tier of Swiss football. If they could manage the unthinkable and
gain promotion this season, they would be playing in the Swiss Super League,
against some of the country’s top clubs. While that didn’t happen, the club had
a super season on the field, finishing 4th in the league, six points
behind Vaduz, who had occupied second spot and one of the promotion spots. The
league that year was won by FC Schaffhausen. It was still regarded as a great
achievement by the club, and something they could build on for the next season.
But that was to
be it from FC Malcantone. The 2003-04 season was to be their last as a club, as
hey merged with the already defunct FC Lugano. It was a strange move, as Lugano
had already been expelled from the Swiss football league, but they were
re-admitted into the Swiss Challenge League, in FC Malcantone’s place and have
been able to re-build the club ever since. Morotti Joseph, who was the
president of FC Malcantone at the time, was given leadership of this newly
formed club.
At the time of
writing, AC Lugano are now playing in the Swiss Premier League, after winning
the Swiss Challenge League in 2014-15 and gaining promotion. They finished 4th
last season (2021-22 season) and had some considerable investment over the last
few years.
A short story
really of a club, who had played in the lower leagues of it’s countries
footballing pyramid for many years, only to start progressing when all of a
sudden they decided to merge with an already defunct football club and lose
their identity altogether. I have tried, in my research, to find out why they
ade that decision, but nothing seems to come up about it, only speculation and
rumours. Maybe they felt they could piggyback on the name of Lugano, a club who
had won the Swiss Super League three times in their history, and had a far
greater support than themselves. Lugano have also won the Swiss Super Cup four
times in their history, the latest one being last season (2021-22). It does
feel like a bigger fish has just swallowed up a smaller fish to stay alive
here. Ironically, Malcantone’s crest had a fish on it. It seemed like a club
that was going places, just missing out on promotion to Swiss Super League, and
with some investment, they may have gotten there eventually. I guess we will
never know. But we won’t forget them, and as long as Lugano are still playing
and winning trophies, so are FC Malcantone Agno. Well, in my eyes they are.