Although founded in 1929 as O.N.D. Chievo, the team from Verona is very young in terms of Serie A and B experience. Chievo was founded in the Chievo borough, a small neighbourhood in Verona by football fans. Their first apperance in an official league was in 1931 but was disbanded in 1936 due to economic problems. After World War II in 1948 the team returned as A.C. Chievo being registered in Seconda Divisione. In 1957 the small team moved to the 'Carlantonio Bottagisio' field, where they would play untill 1986. In 1959 the leagues were restructured and Chievo was admitted in Seconda Categoria, a regional league, one of the lowest in the Italian football pyramid. The team changed name in 1959 to 'Cardi Chievo' because of a new sponsor. Two years later Luigi Campedelli, owner of the Paluani cake company which today still owns the club, bought the club and a major climb started through the Italian football pyramid where the team reached Serie D in 1974/75. This year the team changed name back to A.C. Chievo. The team reached Serie C2 in 1986, this time under name Paluani Chievo, and this promotion saw the team move to the stadium Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi. This stadium also belongs to arch rivals Hellas Verona. Promotion to Serie C1 came in 1989 and the team changed to their current name A.C. ChievoVerona. Luigi Campdelli died in 1992, which resulted in his son becoming the new president, the only 23 year old Luca Campedelli. He is the youngest chairman to ever have been in charge of a professional football team. Campedelli signed Alberto Malesani as coach and the team got promoted to Serie B for the first time ever in 1994/95. In 2000/01 Chievo signed Luigi Del Neri as coach, a person that would go over in history for this team. Del Neri was the trainer who sensationally brought Chievo to Serie A. Experts saw Chievo suffer a quick spell in Serie A but to everybody's surprise the team not only managed a fifth place but also a six week spell at the top of Serie A. Via the teams fifth place the team reached UEFA Cup but Chievo were eliminated by Red Star Belgrade in their first European tournament ever. The following seasons Chievo managed some respectable midtable positions except in 2004/05 were the team almost got relegated. After the 2005/06 season 'The Flying Donkeys' were awarded a place in the UEFA Champions League after the Calciopoli scandal where Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio were escluded from European tournaments. Chievo entered in the third-qualifying round where they lost to Levski Sofia 4-2 on aggregate. The team from Verona had the chance to emerge in the UEFA Cup but also here tid they fail as they lost 3-2 on aggregate to Braga in the final qualifying round. After six seasons in Serie A Chievo got relegated to Serie B in 2007/08 but only spent one year in the second division, winning the 'Ali della Vittoria' for winning Serie B. Hereafter the team has stayed in the top flight ever since.
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