The English writer D.H. Lawrence referred to Sardinia as an island that is “lost between Europe and Africa, and belonging to nowhere”.

Sitting between the French island of Corsica and the Italian region of Sicily no one could ever doubt the Italian character of Sardinia yet this is an island that expresses a unique regional identity.

Situated in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Sardinia is a mountainous region without very high peaks but with a vast and charming natural environment. Natural composition has not been spoiled by man on a island where the sea surrounds and reigns supreme.

Sardinia is one of the five Italian autonomous regions along with the Aosta Valley, Trentino-Alto Adige/Sudtirol, Sicily and Friuli. Its particular statute – which in itself is a constitutional law – gives the region a limited degree of autonomy entailing the right to create its own laws in a strictly defined number of domains.

FOOTBALL ON SARDINIA

Across the various professional and semi-professional leagues in Italy there are around 20 football clubs located on the island of Sardinia.

The most well known and successful side is Cagliari Calcio who were founded in 1920. The club won its only Scudetto in 1969–70, when they were led by the Italian national team’s all-time leading scorer Gigi Riva.

The first football clubs were Ilva Football Club and Società di Educazione Fisica Torres 1903 (Torres Calcio) both of whom were founded in 1903.

Two years later in 1905 it was the turn of Olbia Calcio.

Despite the strategic location of Cagliari at the foot of the island it took time for football to arrive in the capital. While football in Italy was officially born in 1893 the first reports of football on Sardinia were of challenge games played in Calangianus in the Province of Sassari at the end of the 19th century.

Despite being 190km south of Sassari – with its port the destination of many British ships – Cagliari soon become the island capital of football. The first real inner island challenge match is said to have taken place on Sunday 27 April 1902, between two groups of Cagliari students in the Piazza d’Armi.

In 1911, the team of the Amsicora Gymnastics Society in Cagliairi went to Turin to play a tournament and Sardinian football tournaments were occuring.

Thanks to a surgeon by the name of Gaetano Fichera Cagliari Calcio were founded on 30 May 1920. The first match was against Torres and Cagliari wore a white shirt.

By 1926 red and blue was combined with white for the club shirt; colours that still exist to this day. The official red and blue colours of Cagliari mirror those featured on the stemma of Cagliari.

The red parts of the shirt are a reference to the coat of arms of the House of Savoy, a family which was previously the monarchy of Italy and more relevantly to Cagliari in particular, the Kingdom of Sardinia.

The blue part of the club colours are a reference to the sky and the sea, and also a castle; this is because the old historic centre of Cagliari is walled and called the Castello. Due to the use of these colours on their shirt in halves, Cagliari is commonly nicknamed rossoblu.

Sardinia is an island that offers sweeping white beaches, a unique recipe collection and a host of colours thanks to the landscape.

The differences between Sardinia and the mainland themselves are reflected in the language. Sardinian or Sardo is commonly spoken and has Spanish and Catalan influences thanks to the island once being the natural stop for explorers journeying through the Mediterranean Sea and links to the Spanish kingdom.

The Phoenicians, Vandals, Spaniards and Byzantines all left their mark on Sardinia making the island the diverse destination that it is today.

CLUBS

Polisportiva Alghero – 1945

Arzachena Academy Costa Smeralda – 1965

Associazione Sportiva Atletico Calcio – 1963

Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Polisportiva Calcio Budoni – 1973

Cagliari Calcio – 1920

F.C.B Calangianus – 1905

Unione Sportiva Dilettantistica Castelsardo – 1958

AS Dilettantistica Castiadas calcio – 1973

Società Sportiva Dilettantistica Sassari Calcio Latte Dolce – 1973

U.S.D. Nuorese Calcio – 1930

Olbia Calcio – 1905

Associazione Calcio Porto Torres – 1960

Progetto Sant’Elia – 1998

Sanluri Calcio – 2003

Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Selargius Calcio – 1965

Società Sportiva Tavolara Calcio – 1954

U.S. Tempio – 1966

Società di Educazione Fisica Torres – 1903

Società Sportiva Villacidrese Calcio – 1979