Alberto Zaccheroni (; born 1 April 1953) 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 ...

manager, formerly in charge of the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

national football teams. He has managed a number of top clubs in

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

, the high point of his career being his stint as manager of A.C. Milan (1998–2001), with whom he won a

scudetto The ''scudetto'' ( Italian for: "little shield") is a decoration having the colors of the flag of Italy which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in the previous sea ...

, in his first season in charge ( 1998–99). Other notable clubs coached by Zaccheroni include

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, Inter and

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

, all as interim coach for part of a season. He won the

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

in 2011 as manager of

. Zaccheroni is also renowned for his unconventional and trademark 3–4–3 tactical system.

Career

Zaccheroni played as a full-back on both the left and the right wing,LA STORIA, LA VITA E LA CARRIERA DI ALBERTO ZACCHERONI
''Inter.it'', 19 October 2003 without much success, and his playing career was cut short by injury. He therefore became a manager at the relatively young age of 30 with amateur club

Cesenatico Cesenatico ( rgn, Ziznàtic) is a port town with about 26,000 inhabitants on the Adriatic coast of Italy. It is located in the province of Forlì-Cesena in the region of Emilia-Romagna, about south of Ravenna. Cesenatico's port canal was surv ...

. He won the Serie C2 and Serie C1, the fourth and the third highest football leagues in Italy. His managerial career took off when he was in charge of

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a ...

Udinese

Zaccheroni was appointed manager of Udinese in 1995. The 1996–97 season saw Udinese qualify for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. In the following season, they managed a 3rd place finish behind champions

and runners-up Inter, largely thanks to

Oliver Bierhoff Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968) is a German football official and former player who played as a forward. He has previously served as the national team director of the German Football Association. A tall, strong and prolific goalscorer, Bierh ...

's 27 goals.

Milan

Zaccheroni's results at Udinese attracted the attention of

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

, owner of Italian giants A.C. Milan, who appointed him as manager after the San Siro club had endured two miserable seasons, despite their expensive, star-studded squad ( George Weah,

Leonardo Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard. People Notable people with the name include: * Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Italian Renaissance scientist ...

Paolo Maldini Paolo Cesare Maldini (; born 26 June 1968) is an Italian former professional footballer who played primarily as a left back and centre back for AC Milan and the Italy national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of a ...

etc.). Zaccheroni asked Berlusconi to sign two key players from Udinese to accompany him to Milan: German striker

and Danish right wing-back

Thomas Helveg Thomas Lund Helveg (; born 24 June 1971) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a right-back. He began and ended his career with Odense Boldklub in the Danish Superliga, with whom he won the 1989 Danish championship. The most p ...

. Berlusconi obliged, and both players joined Zaccheroni in his new club. Zaccheroni delivered instantly, as Milan conquered the Serie A in his first season in charge, overcoming

and

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

to the title, after seven straight wins in the last seven matches, with Zaccheroni employing an attacking 3–4–3 (or 3–4–1–2) formation that made good use of Milan's forwards, attacking midfielders and wing-backs.Provaci ancora, Milan: le grandi rimonte Scudetto
''Skysport.it'', 12 December 2016 The following season was less successful for Zaccheroni as Milan crashed out of the Champions League early, and, despite finishing 3rd in Serie A, were never really in the running for the title. The 2000–01 season was even worse for Zaccheroni and would be his last in charge, as Milan had a poor run in the Serie A, at one time finding themselves barely above the relegation zone (eventually they finished 6th); in the Champions League they had a good start in the First Group Stage, topping their group (which included

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

and

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, ...

), but were eventually eliminated in the Second Group Stage. As the Champions League Final was about to take place at the San Siro, the backlash was immense, and this led Berlusconi to sack Zaccheroni and replace him with caretaker manager

Cesare Maldini Cesare Maldini (; 5 February 1932 – 3 April 2016) was an Italian professional football manager and player who played as a defender. Father to Paolo Maldini and grandfather to Daniel Maldini, Cesare began his career with Italian side Tries ...

on 14 March 2001, one day after Milan's elimination from the Champions League. As manager of Milan, Zaccheroni was successful and prescient in some of his signings;

Kakha Kaladze Kakhaber "Kakha" Kaladze ( ka, კახაბერ (კახა) კალაძე, ; born 27 February 1978) is a Georgian politician and former footballer who serves as the Mayor of Tbilisi since November 2017. A versatile player, he was ...

Gennaro Gattuso Gennaro Ivan Gattuso (; born 9 January 1978) is an Italian professional football coach and former player, who currently serves as manager of La Liga club Valencia. He was born in Corigliano (Calabria). As a player, he mainly played in the cent ...

and, above all,

Andriy Shevchenko Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko, or Andrii Mykolaiovych Shevchenko ( uk, Андрій Миколайович Шевченко, ; born 29 September 1976) is a Ukrainian football manager, a former professional football player and a former politici ...

would become key players for the club. On the other hand however, transfers like those of José Mari were expensive flops, and he was also criticised for letting top centre-back

Roberto Ayala Roberto Fabián Ayala (; born 14 April 1973), nicknamed ''El Ratón'' ("The Mouse"), is an Argentine former footballer who played as a centre back for the Argentina national football team, as well as Valencia and Real Zaragoza in Spain, Milan a ...

leave Milan and move to

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

; Ayala was generally unhappy in his two seasons at Milan (making 13 appearances in 1998–99 and 22 in 1999–2000) as there was stiff competition in defence with established players like

and

Alessandro Costacurta Alessandro Costacurta (born 24 April 1966) is an Italian football pundit, manager and a former professional defender, who usually played as a centre back. Throughout his club career, Costacurta spent over twenty years with AC Milan between 19 ...

Lazio

Zaccheroni was without a job for a few months before

came calling, after

Dino Zoff Dino Zoff (; born 28 February 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the oldest ever winner of the World Cup, which he earned as captain of the Italian national team in the 1982 tournament, at th ...

had resigned. The Rome-based club had endured a terrible start to the 2001–02 season. He changed things around and managed to finish 6th in Serie A, thus earning Lazio a place in the

. Zaccheroni was not without his critics, though, as he played

Gaizka Mendieta Gaizka Mendieta Zabala (, ; born 27 March 1974) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. A versatile player, with good technique, offensive capabilities and tackling skills, who was capable of creating goals both ...

and

Stefano Fiore Stefano Fiore (; born 17 April 1975) is an Italian Association football, football manager and former player, who played as an attacking midfielder or on the winger (association football), right wing. He was in charge as manager technical area of ...

out of position, thus failing to get the best out of them. He was also held responsible by many for the humiliating 5–1 loss to Roma in the Rome derby that season. Despite Zaccheroni's efforts, he parted company with Lazio, to be replaced by

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Sam ...

Inter

Zaccheroni was again called upon in the mid-season of 2003–04, this time to try to save Inter after the departure of coach

Héctor Cúper Héctor Raúl Cúper (; born 16 November 1955) is an Argentine football manager and former player. As a player, he was a defender who spent most of his career at Club Ferro Carril Oeste, where played 463 games. His nickname was "Cabezón" ("Big ...

from the club. Despite crashing out of the Champions League after a humiliating 5–1 loss to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

at the San Siro, he managed to lift Inter to 4th place in Serie A, thus securing qualification to the Champions League for next season. However, Inter president

Massimo Moratti Massimo Moratti (born 16 May 1945) is an Italian billionaire petroleum businessman, the former owner of Inter Milan and chairman of the Saras Group, founded in 1962 by his father, industrialist Angelo Moratti. The main production site of the Sar ...

was not convinced of Zaccheroni's abilities, and he was again replaced by Roberto Mancini.

Torino

After two seasons without a job, he was linked with a move to England in the vacant manager's post at

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

. These rumors never came to fruition. He did, however, become the new head coach of

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

on 7 September 2006, the 100th anniversary of the team, replacing

Gianni De Biasi Giovanni "Gianni" De Biasi (, sq, Xhovani "Xhani" De Biazi), born 16 June 1956 is an Italian football coach and former player. He holds dual Italian and Albanian citizenship. De Biasi was the first coach of the Albania national team to lead th ...

, fired by chairman

Urbano Cairo Urbano Cairo (born 21 May 1957) is an Italian businessman and chairman of Torino F.C. Cairo is a native of Milan. His principal business interest is in Cairo Communication, a business which he founded. At as mid-2016, Cairo via U.T. Communica ...

three days before the start of the new season despite having led the team to instant promotion from

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named 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 been ...

. However, despite a good start, Zaccheroni was not able to bring Torino to the top positions in the league table and even suffered a worrying sequence of six consecutive defeats, which led chairman Cairo to sack him on 26 February 2007, and reinstate De Biasi at the helm of the ''granata''.

Juventus

On 29 January 2010 he was appointed to replace

Ciro Ferrara Ciro Ferrara (; born 11 February 1967) is an Italian former footballer and manager. His most recent position was as manager of Wuhan Zall. He had also previously coached Juventus and the Italy national under-21 team. As an assistant coach to M ...

as head coach of under-crisis

. He signed a four-month contract. On 14 February 2010, Zaccheroni achieved his first win as a Juventus manager, defeating

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

3–2. His first loss in charge of the team arrived two weeks later, a 0–2 home defeat to

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

. He also guided Juventus through the newly established

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

campaign, after the club failed to qualify to the first knockout round of the

UEFA Champions League 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 competi ...

. In his first game at European level with Juventus, his side defeated 2–1

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

(the return leg then ended 0–0), and then went on to play English opponents

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

. The first leg ended in a 3–1 win, but in

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

his side suffered a 4–1 defeat, sending Juventus out of the competition on a 5–4 aggregate scoreline. After a good start, results fell down again, similarly to the way they did during Ferrara's tenure, and Juventus ended the season in seventh place, thus concluding what was remembered as one of the most troubled Serie A seasons for the ''bianconeri''.

Japan

On 30 August 2010, it was revealed via an announcement from the

Japan Football Association The Japan Football Association (JFA, ) is the governing body responsible for the administration of football, futsal, beach soccer and efootball in Japan. It is responsible for the national team, as well as club competitions. History The organi ...

that Zaccheroni would become the new manager of the

Japan national football team The , nicknamed the , represents Japan in men's international football. It is controlled by the Japan Football Association (JFA), the governing body for football in Japan. Japan was not a major football force until the end of the 1980s, wi ...

. However, due to a visa problem, he was not able to take charge in the first two matches against Paraguay (1–0) and Guatemala (2–1), in which former Japan striker and JFA technical director

Hiromi Hara is a former Japanese football player and manager. He played for Japan national team. He also managed Japan national team as caretaker. Club career Hara was born in Nasushiobara on October 19, 1958. After graduating from Waseda University, he j ...

took charge. The first match he took charge, Japan had a historic 1–0 win over

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. His first major competition with Japan was the

2011 AFC Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the fifte ...

, hosted in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

. He led the team to their record fourth Asian Cup title, winning 1–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. He led Japan to become the first nation to qualify for the World Cup finals in Brazil after their

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from ...

qualifying football match against Australia in Saitama on 4 June 2013. Japan opened their campaign at the World Cup with a 2–1 defeat to

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre i ...

, where they led the match until 64 minutes. In the next match, Japan faced

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

, which ended 0–0. They were eliminated in the group stages after a 4–1 defeat to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

and finished fourth with one point. At the end of the tournament, Zaccheroni resigned as the manager of Japan.

Beijing Guoan

On 19 January 2016, Zaccheroni was appointed manager of

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

club

Beijing Guoan Beijing Guoan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in the Chaoyang District in Beijing and their hom ...

on a two-year contract. But after a dismal start to the season in which Guoan picked up just nine points in their first nine games of the season, combined with the team scoring just seven goals in their first nine games and growing discontent among fans, Zaccheroni was fired.

United Arab Emirates

On 16 October 2017, Zaccheroni took over the United Arab Emirates national football team. The team in January 2018 finished as the runner-up in the 23rd Gulf Cup. In January 2019, Zaccheroni led the national team to the semi-final of the

which was hosted by the United Arab Emirates. After the 4–0 defeat against

in semi-final, Zaccheroni left his position as UAE head coach as his contract with the UAE was set to expire at the end of the

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 F ...

Italian Non Profit National Team

Since April 2022 he is the technical commissioner of the "Italian Non Profit National Team", a Third Sector Entity (ETS) that promotes the values of solidarity through the sharing of a sporting experience involving non-profit associations.

FIFA

In 2022 he is member of FIFA's Technical Study Group (TSG) during the World Cup in Qatar.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Club

;

Riccione Riccione (; rgn, Arciôn ) is a ''comune'' in the Province of Rimini, Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. As of 2018, Riccione had an estimated population of 35,003. History The oldest archaeological findings in Riccione's area date to the 2nd ce ...

* Campionato Interregionale: 1986–87 ;Baracca Lugo * Campionato Interregionale: 1988–89 *

Serie C2 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 ...

: 1989–90 ;

Venezia Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest 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. Before the 1978 ...

: 1990–91 ;

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

: 1998–99

International

;

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

EAFF East Asian Cup EAFF E-1 Football Championship, known as the East Asian Football Championship from 2003 to 2010, and the EAFF East Asian Cup for the 2013 and 2015 editions, is a men's international football competition in East Asia for member nations of the East ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

Individual

* Albo Panchina d'Oro (2): 1996–97, 1998–99 * Serie A Coach of the Year: 1999

References

External links

Alberto Zaccheroni's record of achievement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaccheroni, Alberto 1953 births Living people People from Meldola Footballers from Emilia-Romagna Italian football managers Venezia F.C. managers Bologna F.C. 1909 managers Udinese Calcio managers A.C. Milan managers S.S. Lazio managers Inter Milan managers Torino F.C. managers Juventus F.C. managers Japan national football team managers Beijing Guoan F.C. managers United Arab Emirates national football team managers Serie C managers Serie B managers Serie A managers 2011 AFC Asian Cup managers 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup managers 2014 FIFA World Cup managers 2019 AFC Asian Cup managers AFC Asian Cup-winning managers Italian expatriate football managers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Italian expatriate sportspeople in China Italian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate football managers in China Expatriate football managers in Japan Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Sportspeople from the Province of Forlì-Cesena