Christian Damiano (born 9 March 1950) is a French former professional football player and manager.

Playing career

As a player, Damiano was a defender. Early in his youth career, he played for , but he would then join the youth academy of

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

. He played for the B team of the club in the early 1970s.

Managerial career

Damiano stopped playing football in 1974, at the age of 24. From 1974 to 1983, he was simultaneously head of the youth academy and assistant manager of the first team of Nice. From 1983 to 1986, he would then coach Stade Raphaëlois. He would also have various roles at the French Football Federation in this time period. In 1986, Damiano became a coach at INF Vichy, a

football academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

. However, after it closed in 1990, he went to work as a coach for its counterpart

INF Clairefontaine The INF Clairefontaine (""), INF, or simply Clairefontaine, is the national football centre that specialises in training French football players. The INF Clairefontaine is a section of the CNF Clairefontaine. The academy is one of thirteen ''� ...

for two years. From 1992 to 1999, Damiano was a coach at several youth teams of France. In 1999, he was the first-team manager of Nice, and also the assistant manager until 2000. Damiano first moved to England in 2000 when he was appointed assistant to

Jean Tigana Amadou Jean Tigana (born 23 June 1955) is a French former footballer and coach. He has played in midfield and managed professional football extensively throughout France, including 52 appearances and one goal for the France national football team ...

at Fulham, and remained at the club until Tigana's departure in 2003. He then returned to work alongside

Gérard Houllier Gérard Paul Francis Houllier (; 3 September 194714 December 2020) was a French professional football manager and player. Clubs he managed include Paris Saint-Germain, Lens and Liverpool, where he won the FA Cup, League Cup, FA Charity Shield, U ...

again (as they had crossed paths as coaches in France youth teams), this time as an assistant coach at

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, although he departed along with the manager in 2004. He was soon appointed to assist Steve Wigley at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. He was briefly linked with the manager's job of the Australian national team, although he ultimately lost out to Guus Hiddink. Damiano would then go on to work as assistant manager under

Claudio Ranieri Claudio Ranieri Grande Ufficiale OMRI (; born 20 October 1951) is an Italian football manager and former player. He will be the new head coach of club Cagliari from 1 January 2023. Ranieri began his managerial career in the lower leagues in ...

from 2007 to 2012: he followed him at

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

, Juventus, Roma, and

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

References

External links

Profile at Liverpool FC website

Profile at Southampton FC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Damiano, Christian 1950 births Living people People from Antibes French footballers Association football defenders OGC Nice players French football managers OGC Nice non-playing staff INF Vichy managers INF Clairefontaine managers OGC Nice managers Fulham F.C. non-playing staff Liverpool F.C. non-playing staff Southampton F.C. non-playing staff Juventus F.C. non-playing staff A.S. Roma non-playing staff Inter Milan non-playing staff French expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in England Expatriate football managers in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Italy Sportspeople from Alpes-Maritimes Footballers from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur