Deja-vu Manfredonia. Vitulano Drugstore returns to Serie A three years after its first experience in the top national championship in the 2021/2022 season. An important but well-deserved goal achieved by David Ceppi’s boys, a coach who knows the top league well, protagonists of a top tournament and a characterful post-season.
HISTORY – The Apulian club is a club that boasts an almost thirty-year history. Founded in 1998, the Biancocelesti reached the national stage after just six years with promotion to Serie B, then confirmation up to Serie A2 in 2018 and Serie A in 2021. A single season ended with relegation. It only took three more years to recover what was lost. In the top league, therefore, a strong, structured club will return and will attempt this new adventure with past experience on which to build next season, to better enjoy the new transition to Serie A which is, in some ways, always a leap in the void.
SEASON – The Biancocelesti started the year at the top. Six consecutive victories, before the first stop. From that moment on, Group B experienced an exciting duel between the Apulians and Benevento. With direct promotion gone, the Biancocelesti dived into the post season. Lazio were eliminated in the first round, followed by Città di Melilli in a hard-fought double match. The last act, the final in Faenza, saw the triumph on penalties against the other big team in the category, Pordenone.
DIFFICULTY’ – Of course it wasn’t all rosy. Every season always hides some difficulties on the pitch, even if in the case of Manfredonia it is precisely the case to talk about difficulties on the pitch. The PalaScaloria, a white and blue fort, was in fact closed for over a month. Between March and April the Ceppi boys were forced to train at PalaTomaiuolo. One more obstacle in their way, right at the key moment of the season. To the point that the derby against Capurso was played at the PalaGravinese in Sammichele di Bari.
HOT CHEERING – The public should also not be underestimated, as they have always represented Manfredonia’s extra man. Also from this perspective, the closure of PalaScaloria, which initially reopened but only behind closed doors, represented a further disadvantage to overcome. The Municipality’s green light for the return of supporters also gave a further injection of confidence. In the post season the stands of PalaScaloria filled up again. Tribunes that have never emptied, even far from home, as demonstrated by the match against Pordenone, with hundreds of fans from Puglia who came to Faenza to support the Biancocelesti, and by the promotion party, which took place right in the PalaScaloria on Sunday night, at team return home. A more mature Manfredonia is now ready to live its new adventure in Serie A. A club that wants to definitively consecrate itself also in the top national championship. The structure and organization are there, the squad is already top-notch and the public is ready to make its voice heard in arenas across Italy.
