Alberico Evani (; born 1 January 1963), sometimes misspelled as Alberigo Evani, is an Italian
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
manager and former player, who was deployed as a
midfielder. He started his club career with
Milan, where he spent the majority of his playing career, winning several trophies during his 13 seasons at the club, including, three
Serie A titles and two
European Cups; he later also played for
Sampdoria
Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa.
The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s ...
,
Reggiana, and
Carrarese. At international level, he represented
Italy at the
1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...
, where they reached the
final. He is the current assistant coach of the
Italy national football team.
Club career
Born in
Massa
Massa may refer to:
Places
*Massa, Tuscany, the administrative seat of the Italian province of Massa-Carrara.
*Massa (river), river in Switzerland
* Massa (Tanzanian ward), administrative ward in the Mpwapwa district of the Dodoma Region of Ta ...
,
Tuscany, Evani played in
Serie A 353 times with 16 goals. After starting out in the
A.C. Milan youth academy, he was promoted to the
A.C. Milan senior team, where he developed into a quick
left-sided midfielder, with good technique. Although he was not as fast or as skilful as some of Milan's more notable players at the time, Evani's consistency, work-rate, and versatility along the left wing proved vital to the Milan senior team, especially during
Arrigo Sacchi's reign, and subsequently under
Fabio Capello
Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional football manager and player.
As a player, Capello represented SPAL 1907, Roma, Milan and Juventus. He played as a midfielder and won several trophies during his career which ...
.
Evani was handed his debut at the age of 18 in 1981, going on to wear the ''Rossoneri'' shirt for the next 13 years. His honours while at Milan included two promotions from
Serie B, three
Serie A titles, two
European Cups, two
Italian Super Cups, two
European Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
s and two
Intercontinental Cups, scoring the winner against
Atlético Nacional in their
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
triumph, winning the "Man of the Match Award". He left Milan in 1993 to join
Sampdoria
Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa.
The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s ...
, the club with which he won the
Coppa Italia in
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
, staying there for four years until moving to
Serie B side
Reggiana in 1997, and ending his career at
Carrarese in 1998, in
Serie C1
Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1 ...
.
International career
Evani had represented the
Italy under-21 side, and the
Italy under-23 side at the
1988 Olympics, where they reached the semi-finals, finishing in fourth place. When Sacchi was appointed as
Italy coach, Evani became regular member of the Italian national side; in total he made 15 appearances for Italy. He made his debut for Italy on 21 December 1991 in a 2–0 win over
Cyprus. He subsequently represented his country at the
1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...
, appearing in Italy's opening defeat to
Ireland, and scoring a penalty kick in the shootout loss to
Brazil in the
final.
Style of play
Although Evani was not gifted with outstanding pace for a
winger, or the ability to wizard his way past defenders with elaborate feints, he developed into a dynamic and skilful left-sided midfielder, whose speed, discipline and dependable qualities proved vital to the success of the Milan senior team during the late 80s and early 90s; his technique, distribution,
crossing ability, and in particular his tendency to make attacking runs along the left flank enabled him to excel in this position. Due to his tactical intelligence, versatility, positional sense, professionalism, stamina, and defensive work-rate, he was also capable of holding his position and covering defensively for the overlapping runs of the attacking full-backs, or for the late runs of his other midfield teammates; these qualities also made him capable of playing as a
full-back, a position which he frequently occupied earlier on in his career. He was even used as a
central midfielder in his later career, after losing some of his pace, due to his ability to start attacking plays with his passing. Evani was also an accurate
set-piece taker, and possessed a powerful shot from outside the area.
Throughout his career Evani was nicknamed "Bubu," because of his apparent similarity to
Yogi Bear’s sidekick
Boo-Boo.
Managerial career
After his retirement, Evani returned A.C. Milan, serving as youth team coach for the ''Allievi Nazionali'' (16- to 17-year-old players), being crowned as national champions in 2007, then starting undertaking coaching qualifications.
In June 2009 he was announced as new head coach of
Lega Pro Seconda Divisione
Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...
club
San Marino Calcio. He was removed from his coaching post in April 2010 despite being in second place with his team, citing internal problems within the team and difficult relationships with the board as the main reasons for his dismissal.
In August 2010 Evani was appointed head coach of the
Italy U18.
On 6 August 2013, Evani was appointed the coach of
Italy U20.
On 6 February 2018, Evani was appointed the
caretaker manager
In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...
of
Italy U21 for March friendlies against Norway and Serbia, while
Luigi Di Biagio was appointed caretaker manager of the senior Italy national team until Di Biagio returned on 15 May. Later that month, senior side coach
Roberto Mancini named Evani an assistant coach. In November 2020, after Mancini tested positive for
COVID-19 amid its
pandemic in Italy, Evani became the stand in manager for a friendly match against
Estonia (4–0 win), and the final two
2020–21 UEFA Nations League A
The 2020–21 UEFA Nations League A was the top division of the 2020–21 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the second season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. Le ...
matches against
Poland and
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Honours
Player
Milan
*
Serie A:
1987–88,
1991–92,
1992–93
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...
*
Serie B:
1980–81,
1982–83
*
Supercoppa Italiana
The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...
:
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
,
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
,
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
*
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
:
1988–89,
1989–90
*
European Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
:
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
,
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
*
Intercontinental Cup:
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
,
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
Sampdoria
*
Coppa Italia:
1993–94
Italy
*
FIFA World Cup (Runner-up):
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
Individual
*
Intercontinental Cup Man of the Match:
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
*A.C. Milan Hall of Fame
Manager
Milan
*Campionato Allievi Nazionali: 2006–07
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evani, Alberigo
1963 births
Living people
People from Massa
Association football midfielders
Italian footballers
Italian football managers
Italy international footballers
Olympic footballers of Italy
Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics
A.C. Milan players
U.C. Sampdoria players
A.C. Reggiana 1919 players
Serie A players
Serie B players
Serie C players
1994 FIFA World Cup players
Expatriate football managers in San Marino
A.S.D. Victor San Marino managers
Sportspeople from the Province of Massa-Carrara
Footballers from Tuscany