Although the town is more famous for the Palio and the fierce rivalry between the various “contrade", they also have a football club.
The Associazione Calcio Robur Siena was founded in 1904. They took on the club colours of black and white. The club's symbol is the Wolf that feeds Senio and Ascanio, the twin sons of Remo, who founded the town.
Until 1921 Siena only played in local friendly games. They then joined the Tuscan Promozione league and immediately gained promotion to Seconda Divisione (2nd tier). They then spent the 1920's and early 30's mainly in the 3rd tier.
It was not until the mid-1930's that they had some stable years in Serie B, with their best placements being 4th (1939, even beating Fiorentina) and 5th (1940).
After the war, in 1948, they returned to Serie C and in 1952 to Serie D. It was not until 1956, when they became Serie D national champions that they went back up to C. In this period the owner was Danilo Nannini (for music fans, the father of famous singer Gianna Nannini and for Formula 1 fans, the father of 1980's driver Alessandro). Danilo was a former player but wealthy from the family pastry business.
The 1960's were spent in C with two 4th places (1961, 1969) but in 1970 they were relegated again. Nannini had left by now.
They went close to promotion several times and finally made it in 1976 but in 1978 were declassed to C2 due to a new league format.
In 1980 Siena became a joint stock company and Nannini returned as president. In 1981 it was back up to C1 but the 1980s would see the Bianconeri go up and down between C1 and C2. Meanwhile in the mid- 80's the club was bought by a Roman lawyer, Max Paganini.
In the 1990's they found some stability and saw them constantly in C1. Their best performances were two 8th places (1996, 1998).
In 1997 the club was taken over by Claudio Corradini but in 1999 changed hands again and passed to a group of several entrepreneurs.
The 1999-2000 season saw the Bianconeri winning the league and promotion to Serie B under manager Antonio Sala. Siena also won the Serie C Supercoppa beating Crotone 2-1 on aggregate.
It was in this period that Siena came under the increasing protection of a major bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, one of the oldest in the world. Their support and sponsorship would change the football club's history.
After two honourable 13th and 12th places the Tuscans won their first historic promotion to Serie A in 2003. The manager was, former Lazio player, Giuseppe Papadopulo and top scorer was Simone Tiribocchi with 16 league goals.
Robur stayed in Serie A for six seasons but in the 7th were relegated. The Bianconeri finished 13th, 14th, 15th, 15th, 13th, 14th and 19th. The managers in these years were Papadopulo (2001-2004), Vincenzo Guerini (a few matches in 2001-02), Luigi Simoni (2004), Luigi De Canio (2004-05), Mario Beretta (2006-07), Andrea Mandorlini (2007), Beretta again (2007-08), Marco Giampaolo (2008-09), Giampaolo, Marco Baroni and Alberto Malesani (2009-10, the relegation year). In these years some good players passed through Siena: Rodrigo Taddei, Enrico Chiesa, Nicola Ventola, Nicola Amoruso, Tore André Flo, Ciro Immobile just to name a few.
During this period the Montepaschi bank was also involved in basketball and Siena won five consecutive league titles between 2006 to 2011. Siena's glory years.
During the last difficult year in Serie A the football club was bought by Roman building entrepreneur Massimo Mezzaroma (Lazio owner, Claudio Lotito's brother-in-law). There were however the first signs of economic struggles caused by Montepaschi's financial crisis.
In 2010-11 Robur were back in Serie B but they bounced straight back up again under Antonio Conte (future top manager with Juventus, Italy, Chelsea, Inter and Tottenham amongst others).
In 2011-12, despite the economic situation, Siena finished a decent 14th in A, under Giuseppe Sannino. The Bianconeri also reached the semi-finals of Coppa Italia (lost 2-3 to Napoli on aggregate).
The following year however they were relegated under Serse Cosmi (1-17) and then Giuseppe Iachini. This would be their last year in the top flight.
After a 9th place in Serie B, in 2014 A.C. Siena were declared bankrupt.
A new club was formed, Robur Siena Società Sportiva Dilettantistica and allowed to take part in Serie D in recognition with the link to the previous club.
They immediately won promotion to Lega Pro (then Serie C from 2017-18). They finished top and won the Serie D Scudetto for the 2nd time.
In the following seasons Robur finished 6th, 12th, 2nd (lost playoff), 6th and 6th again in C.
In 2020 Robur Siena did not take part but changed to ACN Siena 1904 and participated in Serie D. They finished 5th but were promoted to Serie C due to other clubs' problems. They then finished 13th and 12th.
In 2023 they were excluded from the league for financial problems and became Siena Football Club. They currently play in Eccellenza Toscana (5th tier) and are Armenian owned.
So, a low-key history with a golden decade between 2003 and 2013. It is fair to say Siena is still more famous for its Palio's than its football.
The Siena fans have special friendships (the famous "gemellaggi") with Udinese and fellow Tuscans Pistoiese. They are also friendly with Bologna and Como. The historic rivalry is with Fiorentina, the derby with the Viola is called the "Derby Guelfi-Ghibellini" recalling the battle between the two towns at Montaperti in 1260. There is also strong rivalry with Livorno, Empoli, Roma and Perugia. In addition, historic rivalries outside football exist with Arezzo and Grosseto.
The top three players for appearances are: Antonio Monguzzi on 368 (1960-72), Simone Vergassola 350 (1996-2001) and Michele Mignani 289 (1996-97, 1998-2006), his number 4 shirt has been taken off the picking list.
In a Lazio context, in 18 Serie A games the Bianconeri won 6, the draws were 6 and Lazio won 6. There was also the Coppa Italia game in December 2012 which ended 1-1 with a Michael Ciani injury time equaliser and then Lazio won on penalties and eventually the Coppa Italia itself (May 26 2013…).
It is not likely the two teams will meet again, in the near future at least.
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