⚽️🇮🇹 Big coaching changes at Juve, Napoli and Milan!
In this week’s Italian soccer digest, we look at some of the new 'misters' in Serie A, Venezia's promotion, the Azzurri's Euro 2024 preparation and more!
🏆 Italy finalize preparations for Euro 2024
The Italian national team flew to Germany on Monday to begin their quest to defend the European Championship trophy.
🇮🇹 Luciano Spalletti’s side are aiming to win the coveted continental crown for a third time this summer, after triumphs in 1968 and 2020.
🏠 The team has made its base in the small town of Iserlohn, just outside Dortmund. Italy’s first match of the tournament, against Albania on Sunday (3pm ET, FOX), will be at Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion.
👏 The Azzurri earned back-to-back clean sheets in their final two warm-up games as they drew 0-0 with Turkey in Bologna before Davide Frattesi’s beautiful cushioned volley earned a 1-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in Empoli. Before the latter game, Italy’s newly-crowned Under-17 European champions paraded around the stadium.
🕰️ Italy used two different formations in their two friendlies, playing a 4-3-3 system against Turkey and a 3-4-2-1 against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Spalletti was satisfied with the results, but admitted his team is “70-80%” ready as the days tick down to their opening game.
🤩 Before leaving for Germany, a quintet of legendary players who donned the iconic No. 10 shirt visited the Italy camp: Roberto Baggio, Francesco Totti, Alessandro Del Piero, Gianni Rivera and Giancarlo Antognoni dished out their advice and encouragement to the squad at the invitation of coach Spalletti.
🗓️ After the aforementioned opener against Albania, Italy then face Spain on June 20 in Gelsenkirchen before taking on Croatia in Leipzig on June 24 (both at 3pm on FOX).
🆕 Antonio Conte returns to Serie A as the managerial carousel starts spinning
Antonio Conte’s appointment as Napoli coach has taken plenty of newspaper column inches in a very busy couple of weeks for Serie A managerial changes.
✍️ Conte, who previously won the scudetto as a coach with Inter and Juventus, has signed a three-year deal with the three-time champions and will look to transform their fortunes after a disappointing 10th-place finish in 2023/24.
🗣️ “Napoli is a club of huge importance on the international stage,” said Conte. “I’m happy and excited by the idea of taking my seat in the Napoli dugout. I can certainly promise one thing: I’ll give my all to develop the team and the club.”
🦓 Juventus also has a new coach! Thiago Motta, who led Bologna to a sensational fifth-placed finish this season, has joined the Bianconeri on a deal until June 2027.
🗣️ “I am really happy to begin a new chapter at the helm of a great club like Juventus,” said Motta. “I thank the owners and the management, who can be sure of my ambition to keep the Juventus flag flying high and to please the fans.”
👋 There’s also a new Mister in Milan! Today, the Rossoneri announced Portuguese coach Paulo Fonseca has committed to a three-year deal. The 51-year-old previously managed Roma for two campaigns, and was most recently in Ligue 1 with Lille.
🗣️ “I am proud to take on the role of Milan manager and I will work to honour this Club and its great history,” said Fonseca at his unveiling earlier today. “Together, we will strive for excellence and to write a new chapter of successes that I hope can be celebrated with our extraordinary fans. Forza Milan!"
👔 Elsewhere, there has been a rotating door in the league as coaches take on new roles: Vincenzo Italiano will lead Bologna next season after leaving Fiorentina, where he was replaced by outgoing Monza coach Raffaele Palladino.
🏎️ Monza, meanwhile, has brought in former Italy center-back Alessandro Nesta for his first Serie A managerial role.
🦅 Lazio has hired Marco Baroni, the architect of Hellas Verona’s Serie A survival, after Igor Tudor resigned from his role in Rome after less than three months in charge. This morning, Verona announced Paolo Zanetti as Baroni’s replacement.
⬇️ There’s still more coaching changes to be made this summer, which leads us to a unique Italian phrase…
💬 Calcio Conversations
With many other Serie A teams looking to change their coach this summer, this is a good time to introduce one of calcio’s most colorful expressions: the mangia-allenatori or ‘coach-eater’!
🤔 What does it mean? A mangia-allenatori is a club owner or president who regularly changes coaches and can rattle through several different managers in the course of a season.
🤯 Like who? During the 2023/24 season, three clubs fired two coaches: Napoli (Rudi Garcia and Walter Mazzarri), Empoli (Paolo Zanetti and Aurelio Andreazzoli) and Udinese (Andrea Sottil and Gabriele Cioffi).
🥲 But Salernitana were the biggest ’coach-eaters’ of all, with Paulo Sousa, Filippo Inzaghi and Fabio Liverani all being dismissed before Stefano Colantuono became their fourth boss of a season to forget as they finished last and suffered relegation.
🆙 Venezia bounce back up to Serie A
The final place in the 2024/25 Serie A was taken by Venezia, who ousted Cremonese in the final of the Serie B playoffs.
⚽ One goal over two legs was enough to seal the Lagunari’s return to the top flight after two years away. After a 0-0 first-leg draw in Cremona, Christian Gytkjaer’s goal midway through the first half of the second leg proved decisive for a 1-0 aggregate victory.
🙌 There were emotional scenes at full-time as fans flooded onto the pitch at the Stadio Pierluigi Penzo to celebrate their return to Serie A, before enjoying an incredible boat party on the picturesque canals of the city.
📈 The 2024/25 campaign will be Venezia’s 14th in Serie A. They were last in the top flight in 2021/22, where they survived a single season before dropping back to Serie B.
🇪🇺 Atalanta to take on Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup
Atalanta discovered their UEFA Super Cup opponents when Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid defeated Borussia Dortmund to lift their 15th Champions League title.
🇵🇱 Gian Piero Gasperini’s side will face Real Madrid in Warsaw on August 14 for the traditional curtain-raising clash between the Champions League and Europa League winners.
🫡 Atalanta wrapped up their season with a 3-2 defeat against fellow European finalists Fiorentina in a postponed game that completed the league fixtures. The result ensured that the Bergamaschi finished fourth, with La Viola in eighth.
👋 In that game, Italian soccer waved goodbye to one of its most celebrated referees as Daniele Orsato officiated for the final time in Serie A, drawing an end to an illustrious career that included the 2020 Champions League final.
👏 Although Fiorentina fell short by losing to Olympiacos in the Conference League final, three of their players were named in the Team of the Season as Pietro Terracciano, Dodo and Cristiano Biraghi featured.
🇺🇸 Pulisic ‘one of the best in the world’
Christian Pulisic’s debut season with AC Milan was a resounding success and the USMNT captain has earned plaudits from his national teammate Tyler Adams.
🍒 The Bournemouth midfielder was a guest on the Men in Blazers podcast, where he heaped praise on Pulisic: “He’s one of the best in the world in his position when he’s fully healthy. That really became evident this year – the numbers that he was putting up.”
🐐 Adams isn’t the only American to be impressed by Pulisic’s Italian impact. Former USMNT manager Bruce Arena this week tipped the forward to become the USMNT GOAT - “He has put some years together of quality. He’s getting there. No question about that.”
⚾ Elsewhere, there was a cross-sport moment to treasure this week when Juventus and USMNT star Tim Weah swapped shirts with Francisco Lindor at a Mets game.
🇮🇹 Social Post of the Week: Del Piero rolls back the years
What’s that? You want to see Alessandro Del Piero scoring a carbon-copy of his iconic 2006 World Cup strike? With a Usain Bolt assist? OK then…
🇮🇹 Thuram discovers Milan
Marcus Thuram had a debut season to remember with Inter as he helped fire the Nerazzurri to a dominant scudetto win. In the latest episode of our Champions of Made in Italy series, the French striker talks about his new life in Milan.
🇮🇹 Serie A is partnering with the Italian government for the Champions of Made in Italy documentary series, which is bringing insight into the cities and cultures that surround every club in the league. More episodes below…
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🇺🇸 Serie A stars past and present play $1M North Carolina tournament
Serie A was well represented in Cary, NC at the second annual edition of the TST 7-a-side tournament, where Inter and a team combining the youth talents of Como and Cagliari competed for a $1M prize.
😮 Inter fielded a side featuring Academy prospects and legends, with Marco Materazzi (pictured above with NBA star Chris Paul) and Giorgos Karagounis taking to the field.
👍 The Como-Cagliari combined team consisted of youth talents aged 17 to 19 from each of the Serie A sides. They reached the Round of 16, where 2023 champions Newtown Pride ended their journey.
💰 The $1M men’s team prize was taken home by an amateur side from Delaware, La Bombonera.
🇮🇹⚽️📺 Euro 2024 schedule
The Serie A season may have concluded, but Italy’s Euro 2024 campaign gets underway this week.
Saturday, June 15th
Euro 2024 Group Stage: Italy v Albania (3pm ET on FOX)
Thursday, June 20th
Euro 2024 Group Stage: Spain v Italy (3pm ET on FOX)
Monday, June 24th
Euro 2024 Group Stage: Croatia v Italy (3pm ET on FOX)
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