Eugenio Corini (born 30 July 1970) is an Italian professional football coach and former player, currently in charge of

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 ...

club Palermo. A talented, dynamic, and hard-working playmaker, known for his precise long passing, flair, and his ability to orchestrate his team's attacking moves or provide assists for teammates, Corini usually played either as an

attacking 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 ...

or as a deep lying playmaker in

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

. A set-piece specialist, he was also known for his accuracy from free kicks, corners, and penalty kicks.

Club career

Corini began his career in the

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 ...

youth squad, but by age 16 was called-up to be included in the first-team,, making his debut the following season. He became a regular for Lombardian in 1988–89 and 1989–90 seasons, before being signed by Juventus. In his first season with Juventus, at 20, Corini played 25 times and scored one goal. In

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

, Corini was sold to

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, ...

, where he made 24 appearances, and had several injury problems. In the next few years, Corini moved from team to team almost every season (

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 ...

, Brescia again, and

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

) without being able to show his full potential. In October 1998, Verona loaned him to city rivals

Chievo Verona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo , is a former professional Italian football club named after and based in Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto, and owned by Paluani, a ...

, in

. Corini soon became a mainstay of the team, leading his team as captain to an extraordinary

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

for

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 ...

in 2001, and 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA), after having been first-placed at the winter break. Corini joined Palermo in 2003, helping them win the

2003–04 Serie B The 2003–04 Serie B is the 72nd season since its establishment in 1929. It is the second highest football league in Italy. This 46 matchdays championship was the longest tournament in all the history of the Italian football. Teams Treviso, ...

league title, followed by 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA). He later served as the

club captain The team captain of an association football team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavi ...

. In June 2007, he announced he would not renew his contract with Palermo, and a few days later 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 ...

, age 37. He was confirmed with the ''granata'' also for the 2008–09 season, which he stated it would be his final one as a footballer. In May 2009 Corini confirmed his retirement as a player, after he failed to recover from a recurring

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus ( ...

injury which forced him to have surgery, which caused him to miss the final part of the season which saw Torino being relegated to Serie B. He also stated his intention to try himself as a head coach in the next future.

International career

Corini became a regular also in the Italy u21 team of the early 1990s, winning a

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

, and representing Italy in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

held in

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 ci ...

. Despite his success for Italy at the youth levels and for various teams at club level, he has never been capped for the full national team in a career spanning almost two decades. However, he did receive call-ups during the 1992–93 season, and more recently in November 2002.

Managerial career

After announcing his retirement, Corini confirmed his interest in becoming a coach, being successively linked on a number of vacancies in the Italian football panorama. On 5 July 2010 Eugenio Corini was unveiled as the new head coach of Portosummaga, a newly promoted 2010–11 Serie B club; he agreed to become the club's new head coach despite not having the required coaching badge qualification at the time of the appointment. He had only a UEFA A License, so UEFA Pro graduate Salvatore Giunta would work alongside him. Unexpectedly, Corini left the club twelve days later, together with director of football Giuseppe Magalini, due to disagreements with the board regarding the transfer market policy and the future plans for the team. On 27 November 2010 he was appointed head coach of Serie B club Crotone, replacing Leonardo Menichini. His experience with the Calabrian club turned out to be short-lived, as he was dismissed later on 20 February 2011 following a string of poor results that left Crotone in danger of relegation. From 30 November 2011 through the end of the season he coached

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the ...

Lega Pro Prima Divisione 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 ...

in place of the resigned Carlo Sabatini. On 2 October 2012 he was named new head coach of

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 place of

Domenico Di Carlo Domenico "Mimmo" Di Carlo (born 23 March 1964) is an Italian football coach and a former player, currently in charge of Pordenone. Career Player Di Carlo started his playing career in his native city, playing for the local Serie C2 team Real ...

, after the team suffered five consecutive defeats in the first six games of the season. Corini and Chievo parted ways on 29 May 2013 by mutual consent; only for Corini to return to Chievo 4 months later, appointed on 12 November 2013 to replace Giuseppe Sannino. He guided Chievo to maintain Serie A status by the end of the season and was thus confirmed as head coach, but was successively sacked on 19 October following a 0–3 defeat to Roma that left his club with four points in seven games. On 30 November 2016, Corini was appointed manager of Palermo. He resigned on 24 January 2017. On 4 February 2018, he was fired as manager of

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

. He returned into management on 18 September 2018, by being named new head coach of

, his first club as a player, in place of

David Suazo Óscar David Suazo Velázquez (born 5 November 1979) is a Honduran retired professional footballer turned coach who played as a striker. Suazo played more than 300 league games and scored over 980 league goals in Italy during a span of 7 yea ...

. He was sacked on 3 November 2019. He was rehired by Brescia on 2 December 2019. On 5 February 2020, he was dismissed by Brescia once more. He became head coach of

club Lecce on 22 August 2020. After Lecce failed to gain promotion to

at the end of the 2020–21 season by losing in the promotion play-offs, he was dismissed on 22 May 2021. On 23 March 2022, Corini was announced as the new head coach of Serie B club Brescia, thus marking his return with the ''Rondinelle'' two years after his last stint in charge of the club. He guided Brescia to the promotion playoffs, where they were defeated by eventual winners Monza in the semifinals; on 14 June 2022, Corini parted ways with Brescia by mutual consent. On 7 August 2022, Corini agreed to return to Palermo as head coach, signing a two-year contract with the newly-promoted Serie B club.

Career statistics

Club

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Palermo *

: 2003–04 Individual *Serie A Top Assist-provider: 2001–02 (11 assists)

Manager

Brescia *

: 2018–19

References

External links

Player profile (from US Palermo official website)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corini, Eugenio Living people 1970 births Sportspeople from the Province of Brescia Association football midfielders Italian footballers Italian football managers Brescia Calcio players Juventus F.C. players U.C. Sampdoria players S.S.C. Napoli players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players Hellas Verona F.C. players A.C. ChievoVerona players Palermo F.C. players Torino F.C. players F.C. Crotone managers Frosinone Calcio managers A.C. ChievoVerona managers Palermo F.C. managers Novara F.C. managers Brescia Calcio managers U.S. Lecce managers Olympic footballers of Italy Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Serie A players Serie B players Italy under-21 international footballers Serie A managers Serie B managers Footballers from Lombardy