Saturday 10th January 2026 ko 14:30

Serie C Girone A

A.S. GIANA ERMINIO 0

A.C. RENATE 1 (Karlsson 33)

Att c600 at Stadio Citta di Gorgonzola

Entry €10

Robyn and I were in Milan for the weekend, and true to form this wasn’t a trip that involved wall-to-wall football. We’d visited the stunning La Scala Opera House, and the equally beautiful Cathedral- the Duomo di Milano but stood as we were in the piazza outside, we looked at each other and decided we fancied watching a game.

That might give the impression that I hadn’t looked into what might be on, I had- anyone who knows me would know that! But a game at 3rd Division side Giana Erminio was interesting on two levels- you can reach the club on the Milan metro, and the club play in the town of Gorgonzola!

That’s right, Gorgonzola, famous for its strong tasting blue-veined cheese, although we didn’t find any on sale during our visit! Perhaps the time to visit is in September when a game can be paired up with the town’s cheese festival! That then leans you to the idea of cheese-based hopping, Cheddar, and Stilton are obvious but you could visit Leicester Nirvana because they play in red. Or do you visit Gloucester City twice? I’m sure there are others…

You do need to consider how to get to Gorgonzola by metro though. Chances are like us, you’d have bought a 3-day pass for the metro, but that does only cover the innermost metro zones, more than enough for most tourists, but Gorgonzola lies outside these. That means you either need to go to a ticket office and buy a return for the portion outside, or simply tap in and out using your debit card as we did. From there it was a short bus ride to the Stadio Communale, or the Stadio Città di Gorgonzola if you’d prefer, and thanks to the friendly driver for pointing out where to get off, it wasn’t obvious!

Since Serie C is still fully professional you will need photo ID to both buy tickets, and again to enter the ground. We tend to carry our passports when out and about abroad as so many countries now insist on some form of personal ID anyway. It was completely straightforward to visit the ticket office, and in essence pick which side of the pitch we wanted to sit by, the cost was €10 either way!

The club was founded in 1909 as Unione Sportiva Argentia, with the name Erminio Giana adopted later, after a local soldier killed during World War I. You can just about see his portrait on some of the tifo flags. As such I believe they are the only professional club in Europe named after a specific individual! The club spent much of the intervening years playing in the regional Lombardy Leagues before being promoted into Serie D in 2013 and into Serie C the next year! And bar one reprieve they’ve been in Serie C, in the northern Group A ever since.

We walked in, took our photos, and sat amongst as much atmosphere as I’ve seen 600 people make, and that includes the tiny contingent from the visitors from just north of Monza, there was always something to see, and to comment on, and yes also to make you laugh!

The game can be summed up with one word, “Histrionics.” The game was run efficiently by a maternal referee, well used to overgrown boys but the existance of Italian 3rd division VAR really didn’t help her. 3 times the check was carried out, 3 times the referee went to the booth by the half way line, and 3 times she signalled nothing with her arms, with quite a flourish! But each time it happened the histrionics that went with it from both sides were as laughable as they were pathetic! That included a challenge by the home bench, handing a card to the fourth official, presumably both sides get one each.

The problem was that the challenge happened in second half stoppage time, with Giana trailing to Icelandic striker Ottar Karlsson’s first half strike. A Giana forward went to ground in installments, and with absolutely nothing to lose by doing so, why not challenge? The referee tried to not to make her signal too dismissive, but Robyn and I knew the truth.

We eventually got the bus back to the station, despite one steward being convinced that the service didn’t exist (!) but it was remarkable how quiet it was waiting for our train. It was in such contrast from what we’d seen at the football.