Edoardo Reja (born 10 October 1945) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who last manages the

Albania national football team The Albania national football team ( sq, Kombëtarja e futbollit të Shqipërisë) represents Albania in men's international association football, football, and is governed by the Albanian Football Association, the governing body for football in ...

. After a career as a

midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

spent mostly with SPAL and

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 it ...

, he began working as a manager. He won four promotions 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 ...

, including as champions with

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 Ise ...

(1997) and

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the '' Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a t ...

(2000), as well as

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitan ...

(2004) and

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

(2007). Reja managed Vicenza, Napoli,

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

and

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

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 Copp ...

Playing career

Reja began his career with the SPAL 1907 youth squad, coached by Paolo Mazza, playing in midfield alongside lifelong friend Fabio Capello, and other notable players such as Louis Pasetti and Adriano Zanier. Together, they helped the team win the 1963–64 Campionato Nazionale Primavera. In 1965, Reja joined Capello in

, in the SPAL 1907 first team, earning an appearance with the Italian U-23 squad. Reja played for two more teams, U.S. Città di Palermo and Alessandria in a long career that lasted until 1975, playing a total of 124

matches.

Coaching career

Early career

Reja started his coaching career in 1979 serving as boss of

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

team Molinella. Next year he then coached Monselice of

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 ...

. In 1989, he coached his first

team,

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated ci ...

, of which he was previously the youth squad boss. He successively gained good successes in the same league with Cosenza,

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the provinc ...

and

, where he won the championship. In fact, he launched the career of notable footballer Andrea Pirlo at Brescia, where Pirlo was a regular member of the squad. However, Reja opted to give up the opportunity to coach Brescia in

, preferring to accept an offer from Torino, another Serie B team, where he then missed promotion defeated in the promotion playoffs to

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and par ...

after a penalty shootout.

Serie A debut at Vicenza, Genoa, Catania and Cagliari

During the 1998–1999 season, he was appointed coach of

club

, thus making his debut in a top division team, but was unable to save the team from relegation. Next year he remained at Vicenza and led his team back to Serie A, but promptly relegated one more time in 2001. In 2001–2002, he replaced Franco Scoglio at the helm of

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

(Serie B), but to be fired himself only three months later. On 2002–2003, he was appointed in the mid-season by Catania boss

Luciano Gaucci Luciano Gaucci (December 28, 1938 – February 1, 2020) was an Italian entrepreneur and sportsman. He was the owner of various clubs: * Perugia Calcio, a football club based in Perugia, Umbria. * Viterbese Calcio, a football club based in Vite ...

to replace John Toshack. In November 2003, he replaced

Gian Piero Ventura Gian Piero Ventura (; born 14 January 1948) is an Italian football manager. His playing career as a midfielder was spent in the lower leagues, having not made the grade at Sampdoria, where he began his coaching career with the youth team in 197 ...

and guided the ''rossoblu'' to second place in the

and promotion to

, but was not confirmed.

Napoli

In January 2005, Reja was appointed as the manager of

, again after Ventura's dismissal. He led Napoli to win

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 ...

, obtaining promotion to Serie B in 2006, then a second consecutive promotion to

in 2007 – returning the

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

team to the top flight for the first time since 2001. In his first Serie A campaign with Napoli, Reja guided them to an Intertoto Cup qualification spot, and was confirmed at the helm of Napoli in the 2008–09 Serie A season. He managed to lead the ''Partenopei'' to the second qualification round of 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, cla ...

, where they were defeated by S.L. Benfica. Napoli rose up to first place in the

table in the first half of the season. After two points in nine games caused the team to fall into the bottom half, Reja was sacked on 10 March 2009, following a 0–2 home loss to

, and replaced by former Italian team boss Roberto Donadoni.

Lazio

After a short successful spell as head coach of Croatian side

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979 ...

from August 2009 to February 2010, Reja opted to quit his job in Split in order to become the new manager of S.S. Lazio. He was unveiled as the new Lazio head coach the following day, replacing Davide Ballardini. He turned the fortunes of a club in dismay, guiding it out of the relegation zone and into a mid-table finish in the season. The 2010–11 season for Lazio started in an astonishing way, with the team surprisingly heading Serie A with a four-point advantage to runners-up Inter after nine games, thanks to Reja's abilities in relaunching players such as Mauro Zárate, Cristian Ledesma and

Stefano Mauri Stefano Mauri (; born 8 January 1980) is an Italian former footballer, who spent most of his career with Lazio, also serving as the club's captain. A versatile midfielder, he was capable of playing as an attacking midfielder, as a central midfie ...

, as well as introducing new key signings such as Brazilian international Hernanes. On 17 May 2012 he resigned from the job, despite the president's pleas for him to stay on. After the sacking of Vladimir Petković, Reja returned to Lazio for a second spell on 4 January 2014, completing the season in ninth place. On 12 June 2014, he resigned from his role, with

Stefano Pioli Stefano Pioli (; born 20 October 1965) is an Italian football manager and a former footballer who played as a defender. He is the head coach at Serie A club AC Milan, whom he led to the Serie A title in 2022. Playing career Pioli, a native of ...

appointed as his replacement the same day.

Atalanta

Reja was appointed trainer of

on 4 March 2015 with the team three points above the relegation zone after the dismissal of Stefano Colantuono. His time at the club ended in May 2016, having saved them twice from relegation.

Albania

On 17 April 2019,

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...

signed Reja to a seven-month contract after fellow Italian Christian Panucci was dismissed the previous month. He made a huge contribution to the Albania national team giving the chance to many young players.

Personal life

Reja was born in the village of Lucinico ( sl, Ločnik), now a suburb of Gorizia ( sl, Gorica), near the border between

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

. His father was a Slovenian from the village of Vipolže in Brda, Slovenia, while his mother was Friulian. He is fluent in Italian, Slovenian, and Friulan. However, his levels of fluency vary: while he is able to speak the standard form of Italian, he only speaks a regional variety of Slovenian, strongly influenced by his native Brda dialect. He is close friends with Fabio Capello. Reja has been married to his wife Livia since 1969; he met his wife while rooming with Capello in Ferrara, at the time playing for SPAL 1907.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

SPAL 1907 * Campionato Nazionale Primavera (1): 1964–65 U.S. Alessandria Calcio 1912 *

(1): 1973–74

Manager

Brescia *

(1): 1996–97 Vicenza *

(1): 1999–2000 Napoli *

(1): 2005–06

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reja, Edoardo 1945 births Living people People from Gorizia Footballers from Friuli Venezia Giulia Italian Slovenes Italian people of Slovene descent Italian footballers Association football midfielders Serie A players Serie B players S.P.A.L. players Palermo F.C. players U.S. Alessandria Calcio 1912 players Benevento Calcio players Italian football managers Serie A managers A.C.D. Treviso managers Delfino Pescara 1936 managers Hellas Verona F.C. managers Bologna F.C. 1909 managers U.S. Lecce managers Brescia Calcio managers Torino F.C. managers L.R. Vicenza managers Genoa C.F.C. managers Catania S.S.D. managers Cagliari Calcio managers S.S.C. Napoli managers HNK Hajduk Split managers S.S. Lazio managers Atalanta B.C. managers Albania national football team managers Italian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Croatia Expatriate football managers in Albania Italian expatriate sportspeople in Albania A.S. Pro Gorizia managers