Empoli Football Club is an Italian professional football club based in Empoli, Tuscany. Founded in 1920, the side is part of a select group of Italian football clubs not based in a provincial capital city that have participated in Serie A.
Empoli has spent most of its history in professional football. Empoli competed in European competitions once, in which they were eliminated in the qualification stage of 2007–08 UEFA Cup.
History
thumb|upright=1.44|The performance of Empoli in the Italian football league structure since the first season of a unified Serie A (1929/30)
From the 1920s to the 1970s
In August 1920 in Empoli, Foot Ball Club Empoli and the football section Unione Sportiva Empoli were born. After the participation of a tournament in San Miniato, the two merged into a single local football club. The next season, the new club, after having obtained in September affiliation in the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) ratified by the Tuscan Regional Committee, was included in Group A of the Tuscan Promozione 1921–22, but did take part due to economic problems, choosing instead to join the league of Terza Categoria, where the team achieved second place in the group A. However, the club's fortunes did not change and Malesani was sacked after a 2–0 defeat to Sampdoria which left them at the bottom of the table. Cagni was re-appointed on 31 March 2008 but the team suffered a last-minute relegation. Cagni resigned and was replaced by Silvio Baldini ahead of the 2008–09 season. Baldini's tenure, however, did not prove to be successful, as the Tuscans ended the season only in fifth place, and were later defeated in the promotion playoffs by Brescia.
Between Serie B and Serie A
Despite modest results, Baldini was sacked. By December 2011, the club had gone through four coaches since the 2009–10 season. The club maintained their Serie B status dramatically in 2011–12. After a poor season, Empoli finished 18th, one point from safety, which meant a relegation play-off against Vicenza over two legs. The first game finished goalless before Vicenza led 2–0 in the second leg with 30 minutes to go. However, two goals in two minutes saw the Azzuri level the tie before Massimo Maccarone secured a 3–2 victory in the fourth minute of injury time. 2012–13 saw the club finish fourth, a dramatic improvement on the previous season, but lost the promotion play-off final to Livorno over two legs. The club secured promotion back to Serie A the following season, finishing as runners-up to Palermo and stayed in the top flight for two seasons, finishing 15th in 2014–15 and 10th in 2015–16. Going into the final matchday of the 2016–17 Serie A season, Empoli were one point above the relegation zone ahead of Crotone, however were eventually relegated to Serie B after they failed to beat Palermo, while Crotone beat Lazio. After a triumph of the 2017–18 Serie B, Empoli promptly regained promotion to Serie A, after winning Serie B on 28 April 2018, four matches in advance. On the final matchday of the 2018–19 Serie A season, Empoli were one point above the relegation zone ahead of Genoa, however were eventually relegated to Serie B after they were defeated by Internazionale; while Genoa drew with Fiorentina, both sides finished on the same number of points, but Genoa had a greater goal difference by one. However, Empoli finished first in the 2020–21 Serie B season, their third title in the competition in their history, and so returned to Serie A after two seasons. In the 2023–24 season, Empoli secured their continued presence in Serie A, following a stoppage time goal in a 2–1 victory against Roma on the final matchday.
Players
Current squad
Youth sector
Other players under contract
Out on loan
Coaching staff
As of 4 July 2025
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Position
! Name
|-
| Head coach
| Guido Pagliuca
|-
| Assistant coach
| Nazzareno Tarantino
|-
| Technical collaborator
| Simone Angeli <br/> Stefano Bianconi
|-
| Goalkeeper coach
| Leonardo Baldini
|-
| Match analyst
| Riccardo Carbone <br/> Giampiero Pavone
|-
| Fitness coach
| Rocco Perrotta <br/> Eduardo Pizzarelli
|-
| Performance data analyst and Head of the youth sector performance area
| Andrea Vieri
|-
| Rehab coach
| Diego Chiesi
|-
| Head of medical staff
| Giuseppe Anania
|-
| Club doctor
| Luca Gatteschi
|-
| Physiotherapist
| Mirco Baldini <br/> Francesco Brandinelli <br/> Francesco Marino
|-
| Kit manager
| Luca Batini <br/> Sauro Spera
|}
Notable former players
;Players with international caps, appearances in Olympic Games or 100 league appearances with Empoli
- Etrit Berisha
- Ardian Ismajli
- Stiven Shpendi
- Kristjan Asllani
- Elseid Hysaj
- Nedim Bajrami
- Frédéric Veseli
- Mark Bresciano
- Vince Grella
- Emílson Cribari
- Jorge Vargas
- Igor Budan
- Ignazio Abate
- Daniele Adani
- Stefano Bianconi
- Marco Borriello
- Raoul Bortoletto
- Luca Bucci
- Antonio Buscè
- Andrea Coda
- Dario Dainelli (youth)
- Antonio Di Natale
- Éder
- Sebastian Giovinco
- Massimo Maccarone
- Claudio Marchisio
- Vincenzo Montella
- Alessandro Pane
- Andrea Raggi
- Tommaso Rocchi
- Luca Saudati
- Luciano Spalletti
- Francesco Tavano
- Luca Toni
- Ighli Vannucchi
- Piotr Zieliński
- Samuel Mráz
- Zlatko Dedić
- Johnny Ekström
- Marcelo Zalayeta
- See also: :Category:Empoli FC players
List of coaches
Below is a list of Empoli coaches from 1920 until the present day.
- Antonio Vojak (1937–39)
- Enrico Colombari (1939–40)
- Sergio Cervato (1968–70)
- Sergio Castelletti (1971–72)
- Renzo Ulivieri (1972–76)
- Bruno Giorgi (1976–77)
- Vincenzo Guerini (1983–85)
- Luigi Simoni (1988–89)
- Vincenzo Montefusco (1989–91)
- Francesco Guidolin (1991–92)
- Adriano Lombardi (1993–94)
- Luciano Spalletti (1995–98)
- Luigi Delneri (1998)
- Mauro Sandreani (1998–99)
- Corrado Orrico (1998–99)
- Elio Gustinetti (1999–2000)
- Silvio Baldini (2000–03)
- Mario Somma (2004–06)
- Luigi Cagni (2006–07)
- Alberto Malesani (2007–08)
- Luigi Cagni (2008)
- Silvio Baldini (2008–09)
- Salvatore Campilongo (2009–10)
- Alfredo Aglietti (2010–11)
- Giuseppe Pillon (2011)
- Guido Carboni (2011–12)
- Alfredo Aglietti (2012)
- Maurizio Sarri (2012–15)
- Marco Giampaolo (2015–16)
- Giovanni Martusciello (2016–17)
- Vincenzo Vivarini (2017)
- Aurelio Andreazzoli (2017–18)
- Giuseppe Iachini (2018–19)
- Aurelio Andreazzoli (2019)
- Cristian Bucchi (2019)
- Roberto Muzzi (2019–20)
- Alessio Dionisi (2020–21)
- Aurelio Andreazzoli (2021–22)
- Paolo Zanetti (2022–23)
- Aurelio Andreazzoli (2023–24)
- Davide Nicola (2024)
- Roberto D'Aversa (2024–present)
Continental appearances
UEFA Cup
Source:
{| class="wikitable"
! Season
! Round
! Club
! Home
! Away
! Aggregate
|-
| 2007–08
| First round
| Zürich
| style="text-align:center; background:#dfd;"| 2–1
| style="text-align:center; background:#fdd;"| 0–3
| style="text-align:center;"| 2–4
|-
|}
Honours
- Serie B
- Winners: 2004–05, 2017–18, 2020–21
- Serie C1
- Winners: 1928–29, 1982–83
- Coppa Italia Serie C
- Winners: 1995–96
Divisional movements
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:90%; text-align: center;"
|-
!Series!!Years!!Last!!Promotions!!Relegations
|-
|align=center|A
|17||2024–25|| - || 7 (1988, 1999, 2004, 2008, 2017, 2019, 2025)
|-
|align=center|B
|22||2020–21|| 7 (1986, 1997, 2002, 2005, 2014, 2018, 2021) || 2 (1950, 1989)
|-
|align=center|C
|47||1995–96|| 3 (1946, 1983, 1996)|| 3 (1936, 1957, 1962)
|-
!colspan=5|83 out of 90 years of professional football in Italy since 1929
|-
|align=center|D
|7||1962–63|| 3 (1937, 1961, 1963)||Never
|}