PERUGIA 2 v LIVORNO 0 -STADIO RENATO CURI - SERIE C - 27th October 2025

Perugia AC's history can be described as pretty routine lower division football with a sprinkling of golden moments.  They completed an invincible season in 78-79  going unbeaten but not winning the Serie A title. Unable to turn a few more of the 19 draws into wins they finished 3 points behind AC Milan.  A generation later they won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2003 and since then have suffered a bankruptcy and tumble down the leagues. 

Getting there -    Very easy to get to Perugia with the  airport close by and low cost flights available  via Ryanair from London and elsewhere. Being in the middle of the Umbrian region which itself is in the middle of Italy the train  offers a slower option winding its way around the Apennine hills, a couple of hours from either Rome or Florence. There are other clubs nearby but they are also lower division.

Getting in -   After 10 games of the season Perugia were sitting 2nd bottom of the table, without a win and had scored 6 goals in those 10 matches. Given that poor start and average attendance of around 4000 it was quite surprising to see a queue for tickets at 4:30pm for this Monday night clash versus mid table Livorno. But then again, it wasnt possible to buy a ticket online without a fidelity (fan) card. My very basic Italian bought a 23 euro ticket in the Tribuna Ovest stand. Behind the goal in the Curva Nord, you can get in for 6 euro where the majority of the home vocal support congregated.

What its like -   Perugia is a lovely medieval city to wander around pre and post match. The Renato Curi Stadium is at the bottom of the hill with the city at the top and connecting both ends is a great little Mini Metro pod like rail system taking people up and down the fairly steep two and a half mile slope. Its definitely worth the 1.50 Euro  fare each way as there isn’t much around the ground to enjoy although there is quite a decent, by Italian standards, Club Shop, Museum and bar. 

The stadium has a capacity of 24000 but that’s currently on 3 sides of the ground. One stand is in the process of being taken down with renovation work taking the capacity down to around 18,000. 

I wasn't expecting much since the average goals for tally was just above half a goal a game and the first half certainly lived up to that with neither team threatening. The fantastic home support amongst the 5,500 ish crowd were a million miles better than their team on the pitch. 

Thankfully for the vocal home fans their team upped their game in the 2nd half and as you might need when things are not going for you,  received a bit of luck with the first goal to get them going. A shot from the outside of the area, hit the post then the keeper and bobbled over the line  for an OG. A second came 15 minutes later from another shot  outside the box and parried via the keeper  into the path of the oncoming Perugia centre forward Montevago. Game over.