Catania is a professional football club founded in 1908 consisting at that time mostly of sailors and ship workers. The team started competing in Serie B in 1934 previously playing in the Catanese championship or regional leagues. It was the time after World War Two that the club received the name Club Calcio Catania. Later on in the 1950s and 1960s it was promoted twice to Serie A once reaching the 8th place there.
During the 1970s Catania was rotating between Serie B and Serie C climbing atop of the football pyramid in 1984 but managing to stay there only for a season. During the 1980s and 1990s Catania faced a gradual slump dropping down to Serie C1. Yet the worst year was 1993 as the club had serious financial troubles and was dissolved by the Italian football authorities, but after the court appeal the club officials managed to change the verdict and let them stay in the 6th division. Relatively fast the club bounced back to Serie B in the yearly 2000s.
At the beginning of the season 2004/2005 businessman Antonino Pulvirenti bought Catania and under his helm the club returned to the top tier of Italian football. The first run after 22 years is remembered by the successful start of the season as well as the dramatic events at the home stadium of the team when ultras clashed with law-enforcement guard and killed one policeman. Due to those events Serie A matches were suspended for two weeks. That season Catania finished the 13th, afterwards securing a place in the top division for the following 6 seasons. The 2011/2012 season saw the team finishing 11th.
The home ground of the team is Stadio Angelo Massimino with a capacity of 23,420 spectators.
The nicknames of the team are the Elephants and the red and light-blues.
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