Cagliari Calcio (Italian: [ˈkaʎʎari] ( listen); Sardinian: Casteddu) is an Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia. The club was formed in 1920 and currently plays in Italian Serie A, having spent a large part of recent years mainly in Serie A and Serie B.

They won their only scudetto in 1970, when they were led by Italian national team all-time leading scorer, Gigi Riva. The team's colors are blue and red. The club's stadium is the 23,486 seater Stadio Sant'Elia.

Cagliari became the first ever out-right champions of Serie C during the 1951–52 season, prior to that in the league the championship was shared amongst more than one team. They spent the 1950s from then on in Serie B, losing a promotion play-off in 1954. After descending to Serie C in the early 1960s, Cagliari's rise would be meteoric- eventually achieving promotion to Serie A in 1964.

The squad for the Rossoblu's debut season in Serie A featured players like defender Mario Martiradonna, midfielders Pierluigi Cera, Nené and Ricciotti Greatti, and forward Luigi Riva. A poor first half of the season saw Cagliari in last place with 9 points at the halfway mark. An astonishing second half of the season saw Cagliari defeat the likes of Juventus and Milan and finish in 7th place with 34 points. Two seasons later Riva finished Serie A top scorer for the first time while Cagliari finished with the league's best defensive record.

Cagliari (Italian: [ˈkaʎʎari] ( listen); Sardinian: Casteddu; Latin: Caralis) is the capital of the island of Sardinia, a region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has about 156,000 inhabitants, or about 480,000 including the outlying townships (metropolitan area): Elmas, Assemini, Capoterra, Selargius, Sestu, Monserrato, Quartucciu, Quartu Sant'Elena.

An ancient city with a long history, Cagliari has seen the rule of several civilizations. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia (which in the 1861 became the Kingdom of Italy) from 1324 to 1720 and from 1798 to 1815. Seat of the important University of Cagliari and the Primate Roman Catholic archdiocese of Sardinia, the city is an important regional cultural, educational, political and artistic centre, known for its diverse Art Nouveau architecture and several monuments. It is also Sardinia's economic and industrial hub, having one of the biggest ports in the Mediterranean sea, an international airport, and the 28th highest income rate in Italy, comparable to several Northern cities, such as Turin, Vicenza and Genoa.

Zdeněk Zeman (born May 12, 1947 in Prague) is a Czech-Italian football coach. He has managed numerous different teams, mostly in Italian football, over the years, and is currently in charge of Serie A club Roma.

Zeman's football coaching career originates from his previous experiences as fitness teacher and started in Sicily, where he resided since the late 1960s. His first coaching experiences were for amateur football teams from Palermo neighborhood (Cinisi, Bacigalupo, Carini, Misilmeri, Esacalza). In 1974, thanks to his uncle Čestmír Vycpálek's aid, he had his first notable experience as part of the Palermo Calcio youth coaching staff, which ended in 1983.

In 1975 he graduated with honours at the ISEF of Palermo (a sports school) with a dissertation about sports medicine. In 1979 he finally obtained the patentino (a kind of license for coaching football at the professional level) at the Coverciano's school for football coaches.

His first opportunity as professional head coach came from Licata, a small-medium city in the province of Agrigento, where he won Serie C2 with a team mainly composed of youngsters. In 1986, he then left Licata in order to join Foggia Calcio of Serie C1, but he was sacked before the end of the championship. In 1987 he became coach for Parma of Serie B, but was fired after just seven matches. In 1988 he returned to Sicily as coach of Messina, classified at the 8th place for the end of the season, also thanks to the goals of Salvatore Schillaci.