On the "heel" of Italy, where the Salento peninsula pushes out between two seas, football wears yellow and red. Lecce were founded on 15 March 1908 and on 15 March 2027 the club turns 119 years old. This is the story of the "Wolves" of the south.

From Sporting Club to US Lecce

The club started out as Sporting Club Lecce, with Francesco Marangi as its first president. In the early years football in the city was split among small clubs.

On 16 September 1927 Sporting merged with the city's Juventus and Gladiator, and Unione Sportiva Lecce was born. Two years later, in 1929, came the first promotion to Serie B.

How the yellow and red arrived

The first colours were not the ones we know today. Sources disagree on exactly what they were: English Wikipedia speaks of black and white stripes, while Italian Wikipedia says Sporting wore red and black and that black and white came with the 1927 refoundation.

Yellow and red were adopted around 1928-1929. They are the heraldic colours of the city, and today the team wears them in yellow and red stripes. That is why the players are called "Giallorossi", the Yellow and Reds.

The she-wolf under the oak

Lecce's crest shows a she-wolf under a holm oak, the tree called leccio in Italian. It is the emblem of the city itself, and the tree is typical of Apulia.

The she-wolf also gives the club its nickname "Lupi", the Wolves. Fans also call them "Salentini", after the Salento peninsula.

The Via del Mare and the big promotion

The Via del Mare stadium opened in 1966 with a friendly against Spartak Moscow. Ten years later Lecce won the Coppa Italia Serie C and the Anglo-Italian Semiprofessional Cup.

The big moment came in 1985, with the first promotion to Serie A after a play-off in Monza. The club went down after its first season, but in the penultimate round it beat Roma 3-2 in Rome and wrecked their title hopes. Its best finish was ninth, in 1988-89.

There were hard times too: in 1993-94 the club finished bottom with just 11 points, one of the lowest totals in Serie A history. But Lecce always finds its way back.

From Conte to Cuadrado

Lecce has been home to Franco Causio, Sergio Brio, Antonio Conte and Pedro Pasculli, a world champion with Argentina in 1986. The club's all-time top scorer is Javier Chevantón.

The shirt has also been worn by Fabrizio Miccoli, Mirko Vučinić, Juan Cuadrado and Luis Muriel. For the 115th anniversary in 2023, the club released a special shirt inspired by the 1991-92 kit.

Michele Lorusso holds the appearance record with 418 matches. In 2004 Lecce enjoyed one of its sweetest seasons, beating Juventus in Turin and Inter at the Via del Mare.

In recent years Lecce climbed from Serie C to Serie A with back-to-back promotions in 2018 and 2019, won Serie B in 2022, and has fought every season since to stay in the top flight.

Celebrate with us

Yellow and red stripes, a she-wolf under an oak and a stadium that smells of the sea. Happy 119th birthday to Lecce and to all of Salento!

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: The Via del Mare during Lecce v SPAL (2020) – Vincenzo.togni, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.