Attilio Tesser (born 10 June 1958) is an Italian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player, currently in charge of club

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to US Triestina or just Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, in the northern Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Originally established in 1918, Triestina was one of the fo ...

Playing career

A full-back, Tesser started his playing career with

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

. He moved to

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

in 1978, where he played two seasons. He then played for

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

from 1980 to 1985, and then for some lower league teams, including

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

and

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

. He was also capped for the Italian U-21 side.

Managerial career

After his retirement, Tesser began a coaching career in 1992 for

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

side Sevegliano, and successively became a coach at the youth level for Udinese and

Venezia Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. His first professional coaching job came in 2001, for

Serie C2 Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging t ...

side F.C. Südtirol. In 2003, he replaced Ezio Rossi at the helm of

U.S. Triestina Calcio Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to US Triestina or just Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, in the northern Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Originally established in 1918, Triestina was one of the ...

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

. After a very good season, followed by a poorer one, Tesser moved to

Cagliari Calcio Cagliari Calcio, commonly referred to as Cagliari (), is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia, that plays in Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. The club currently plays home matches at the 16,416-sea ...

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

in 2006, but was fired just after the first league match by team chairman

Massimo Cellino Massimo Cellino (; born 28 July 1956) is an Italian entrepreneur and football club owner. Through his family trust Eleonora Sport Ltd, he was the owner of Italian club Brescia Calcio, and is the former owner of Italian club Cagliari, and English ...

. In July 2006 he was named coach of Ascoli, replacing

Marco Giampaolo Marco Giampaolo (; born 2 August 1967) is an Italian football manager and former professional player who played as a midfielder. He was most recently the head coach of Serie A club Lecce. Playing career Although born in Bellinzona, Switzerland, ...

. However, after a serie of struggling results ended in a 1–0 home defeat to Empoli F.C. in the 11th matchday, Tesser was fired and replaced by

Nedo Sonetti Nedo Sonetti (born 25 February 1941) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a centre-back. Biography Sonetti was born in Piombino, southern Tuscany and lives now in Gorle. Playing career As a defender, Sonetti played i ...

. Tesser started the 2007–08 season at the helm of Serie B side Mantova, with the aim to fight for a promotion spot; however, results did not confirm the initial goals, and he was sacked on 24 February 2008, leaving Mantova in seventh place, seven points far from the fourth playoff spot. In January 2009 he accepted a coaching offer from

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into ...

club

Padova Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of ...

; however, his stint with the ''patavini'' lasted only one month, as he was sacked later on February. In June 2009 he was named

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

manager. His tenure proved to be highly successful, as he led his club to become

champions in his first season in charge. In the 2010–11 season, Tesser repeated himself as he guided Novara to third place in the final table, then winning a second consecutive promotion to

after defeating Reggina and

in the playoffs. The Serie A comeback however proved to be particularly difficult for Novara, who only won 12 points after the first 20 games: this cost Tesser the job, as he was removed from his managerial duties on 30 January 2012 following a 2–0 away loss against

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

; he was replaced by veteran coach

Emiliano Mondonico Emiliano Mondonico (9 March 1947 – 29 March 2018) was an Italian professional association football, footballer and Coach (sport), coach. He played as a winger (association football), winger. His playing career was spent mostly with U.S. Cremon ...

. On 6 March 2012, he was recalled by Novara as head coach, but on 31 October 2012 he was again sacked. On 13 June 2015, Tesser was appointed as the head coach of

Avellino Avellino () is a city and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

, replacing Massimo Rastelli. In the summer of 2016 he was hired by the

Cremonese Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

. He was dismissed from Cremonese on 23 April 2018. On 4 July 2018, Tesser has been appointed as the new head coach of Pordenone Calcio. On his first season as Pordenone boss, he guided the small Friuli club to direct promotion to Serie B (the first in club history) as Serie C/B champions. He was fired on 3 April 2021 after a 4–1 loss to

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

that left Pordenone two points shy of relegation. Tesser was subsequently named new head coach of ambitious Serie C club

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

for the 2021–22 season; under his guidance, the ''Canarini'' won the Group B title by the end of the campaign, thus ensuring themselves promotion to Serie B for the following season. After a mid-table finish in the 2022–23 Serie B campaign, Tesser was dismissed by the end of the season as Modena appointed

Paolo Bianco Paolo Bianco (born 20 August 1977) is an Italian football coach and former footballer who played as a defender. He currently manages Frosinone Calcio. Career Foggia Bianco started his career within the junior ranks of Foggia in the Italian ...

at his replacement; successively, Tesser was appointed in charge of Serie C club

. On 4 February 2024, following a home loss against Pro Patria, Tesser was dismissed from his coaching post with immediate effect. On 27 November 2024, he accepted to return in charge of Triestina, as the club was dead last in the league.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Managerial

; Novara *

: 2009–10 * Supercoppa Lega Pro: 2010 ; Cremonese *

Lega Pro The Lega Italiano Calcio Professionistico (Italian for Professional Football Italian League), commonly known as Lega Pro (Pro League), is the governing body that runs the third tier of professional football competitions in Italy, the Serie C. I ...

: 2016–17 ; Pordenone *

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

: 2018–19 *

Supercoppa di Serie C The Supercoppa di Serie C, formerly named Supercoppa di Lega Pro, is an Italian football competition played by the three group winners of Serie C. The competition was inaugurated in 2000. Forerunners The FIGC introduced a third-level national foo ...

: 2019 ; Modena * Serie C: 2021–22

Individual

* Panchina d'Argento: 2010–11

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tesser, Attilio 1958 births Living people Footballers from Montebelluna Italian men's footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Treviso FBC 1993 players SSC Napoli players Udinese Calcio players AC Perugia Calcio players Catania FC players Serie A managers Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC managers Cagliari Calcio managers Mantova 1911 managers US Triestina Calcio 1918 managers Calcio Padova managers Men's association football defenders Italian football managers Calcio Montebelluna players FC Südtirol managers US Avellino 1912 managers US Cremonese managers ASD Sevegliano managers 20th-century Italian sportsmen