Davide Possanzini (born 9 February 1976 in Loreto) 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 ...

coach and former

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

. He is currently in charge as the head coach of club

Mantova Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Europ ...

Playing career

Possanzini started his career with amateur team Recanatese in 1992. He was signed by

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 ...

in 1994 but never made a first-team appearance and was later sold to

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 ...

side

Lecco Lecco (, , ; lmo, label=Lecchese, Lècch ) is a city of 48,131 inhabitants in Lombardy, northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). ...

. He left Lecco after two seasons to join

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

, another Serie C2 club, helping the ''biancorossi'' to ensure promotion to Serie C1. Signed by

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, 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 ...

club

Reggina Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are nic ...

in September 1998, he immediately won a personal second promotion, scoring nine goals in his first season with the ''amaranto''. He made his

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 Coppa ...

debut on 29 August 1999 in a 1–1 tie at

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

's home. In January 2001, after two and a half seasons with Reggina, he signed for

fallen giants

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, ...

, but failed to make a breakthrough during his stay with the ''blucerchiati''. After an unimpressive season with

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

in 2002–03, Possanzini was signed by Serie B minnows AlbinoLeffe, where he quickly regained his best form and proved himself as a key player for his new club. In January 2005, Possanzini signed for

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , 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 ...

and marked his return to Serie A. Still, several injuries prevented him from being actively part of the Sicilian side; he eventually played only twice with the ''rosanero'' before being sold again during the summer market, this time to

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

as partial compensation in the deal that brought

Andrea Caracciolo Andrea Caracciolo (; born 18 September 1981) is an Italian football director and former player, currently director of football of Lumezzane. A striker, Caracciolo was also a full Italy international, having made two senior appearances between ...

to Palermo. He is currently a mainstay for the ''rondinelle'', and scored 24 goals in his first two seasons with Brescia, both played in the Serie B. In January 2009, Possanzini was banned for a year, along with Daniele Mannini, by the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...

, under request from the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...

, for being late at the anti-doping controls after Brescia's game with

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona, which competes in the second ...

in December 2007. Both players were initially acquitted by the Italian Football Federation and successively condemned to a 15-day ban by

CONI The Italian National Olympic Committee ( it, Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano, CONI), founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the development and management of sports activity in Italy. ...

. The ban was successively suspended by the Court of Arbitration for Sport itself later in March and cancelled on 27 July 2009 after being proved there was no real intention to avoid the controls from Possanzini and Mannini.

Coaching career

In 2013, Possanzini moved back to

as a youth coach in charge of the ''Allievi Nazionali'' and then the ''Primavera'' (Under-19 squad). He subsequently joined the coaching staff of

Roberto De Zerbi Roberto De Zerbi (; born 6 June 1979) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of club Brighton & Hove Albion. Playing career De Zerbi started his professional career at AC Milan. He spent four season ...

, following him during his tenures at

Foggia Foggia (, , ; nap, label= Foggiano, Fògge ) is a city and former ''comune'' of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere, also known ...

Benevento Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; egl, label=Modenese dialect, Modenese, Sasól ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town ...

and

FC Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was ...

. In February 2022, together with De Zerbi and his coaching staff, he harrowingly fled from Ukraine in the aftermath of the Russian invasion. On 16 June 2022, Possanzini agreed to return to Brescia as the club's ''Primavera'' youth coach. On 7 January 2023, he was named new head coach in charge of the first team following the dismissal of

Pep Clotet Josep Clotet Ruiz (born 28 April 1977) is a Spanish football coach, currently in charge of Italian Serie B club Brescia. As well as working as assistant at several clubs, he managed Cornellà, Figueres, Espanyol B, Halmstad, Málaga B, Oxfor ...

, being however sacked just thirteen days later after suffering two defeats in both games in charge of the team. On 16 June 2023, Possanzini was announced as the new head coach of Serie C club

. Under his guidance, Mantova surprisingly topped the league table from the very beginning of the season despite the presence of other more ambitious teams in the league such as Padova and Vicenza, while playing an attacking football style reminiscent of his mentor De Zerbi that quickly won Possanzini national coverage. On 7 April 2024, Mantova mathematically won promotion to Serie B.

Coaching statistics

Honours

Managerial

;Mantova *

Serie C The Serie C () 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 body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

: 2023–24 (Group A)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Possanzini, Davide 1976 births Living people Footballers from the Province of Ancona Men's association football forwards Italian men's footballers Italian expatriate men's footballers Italian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Ukraine Italian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Torino FC players SSD Varese Calcio players LFA Reggio Calabria players UC Sampdoria players Catania FC players Brescia Calcio players Palermo FC players UC AlbinoLeffe players FC Lugano players US Cremonese players Calcio Lecco 1912 players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players FC Shakhtar Donetsk non-playing staff Italian football managers Brescia Calcio managers Serie B managers