Fabio Liverani (; born 29 April 1976) is an Italian football manager and former

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 ...

, who was most recently in charge of Cagliari. He made 288

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 ...

appearances across 12 seasons, representing

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 pa ...

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

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 ...

and Palermo. He was the first black player for the Italy national team, playing three matches from 2001 to 2006. In 2013, Liverani began his managerial career with a brief spell at top-flight club

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 ...

. He also managed English club

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profession ...

and

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

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A (in the 1972–73 and 1974–75 seas ...

before taking Lecce to two consecutive promotions to the top flight.

Club career

Liverani was born in Rome, Italy to a Somali mother and an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

father. He made his professional footballing debut with Viterbese of

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 ...

2 in 1996–97. He transferred to

in the 2000–01 season. From 2001 to 2006, Liverani played for

in Italy's

. He was part of their team that won the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

in 2004, defeating Juventus 4–2 on aggregate. The 2006 season saw Liverani move to

. He played a total of two seasons with the team, including the ''Viola team's 2007–08 Serie A campaign, which ended with Fiorentina securing fourth place and a spot in the third qualifying round of the

UEFA Champions League 2008-09 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

. Fiorentina and Liverani parted company the following season. In May 2008, Liverani signed a three-year contract with Palermo, being also appointed team captain. Liverani was forced to miss the first three months of the 2009–10 season due to a serious injury that he had sustained on May, and broke back into the first team only on November, then being replaced as permanent team captain by

Fabrizio Miccoli Fabrizio Miccoli (; born on 27 June 1979) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He scored 103 goals in 259 matches in Serie A across nine seasons, representing Perugia, Juventus, Fiorentina and Palermo, also spen ...

. In his first game as a regular, against Chievo, the first game of new head coach

Delio Rossi Delio Rossi (born 26 January 1960) is an Italian football manager and former footballer who played as a midfielder. He was most recently in charge as head coach of Serie B club Ascoli. Playing career Rossi was born in Rimini. His playing career ...

in charge of the team, Liverani went on to be sent off during the game. On 30 August 2011, he moved to

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

, signing a two-year contract. Liverani never played for the Swiss, and rescinded his contract by mutual consent later on November.

International career

On 25 April 2001, Liverani became the first black Italian footballer to play internationally with the senior Italian national team, making his debut with the ''Azzurri'' in a friendly match against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

in Perugia, under the management of

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), sometimes popularly known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football. A former defensive midfielder, as a p ...

; the match ended in a 1–0 victory for the Italians. On 16 August 2006, he was again summoned to start for the Italian national team in a friendly in Livorno against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

by the team's new coach,

Roberto Donadoni Roberto Donadoni (; born 9 September 1963) is an Italian football manager and former midfielder. Donadoni was capable of playing on either flank, or in the centre. He began his career with Atalanta, and he later became a pillar of the powerhous ...

; the match ended in a 2–0 loss. In total he made three appearances for Italy.

Style of play

In spite of his lack of pace, agility, stamina, or defensive skills, Liverani was a highly creative, reliable, and quick-thinking player, who was known in particular for his technique, vision, range of distribution, and precise passing with his left foot, which enabled him to create chances for teammates, and made him an excellent

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

provider. Due to his skills and ability to set the tempo of his team's play in midfield, he usually operated in the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

or in front of the back-line, where he functioned as a deep-lying playmaker in midfield. In addition to his playmaking abilities as a footballer, he also stood out for his mentality and leadership, both on and off the pitch.

Managerial career

Genoa

Following his retirement, Liverani was offered a position as youth coach at

, in charge of the ''Allievi Regionali B'' squad, which he accepted on 15 November 2011. On 7 June 2013, Genoa president Enrico Preziosi announced the appointment of Liverani as new first team manager in place of

Davide Ballardini Davide Ballardini (born 6 January 1964) is an Italian football manager. He formerly played professionally for Cesena as a midfielder. He is currently the head coach of club Cremonese. Playing career A former midfielder, Ballardini spent seve ...

. He was sacked on 29 September after one win in his seven Serie A games in charge, and replaced by Gian Piero Gasperini.

Leyton Orient

On 8 December 2014, Liverani was appointed as manager of English

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

team,

on a -year contract replacing Mauro Milanese who returned to his role as Sporting Director after 8 matches in charge. Following their relegation to

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

, Liverani left the club by mutual consent in May 2015.

Ternana

On 6 March 2017, Liverani was appointed as manager of

team,

Ternana Calcio Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A (in the 1972–73 and 1974–75 seas ...

replacing Carmine Gautieri who was sacked after gaining only 3 points in 7 matches. Ternana was last with only 23 points in 29 matches, but he gained 26 points in 13 games to avoid direct relegation as well as play-outs. At the end of the season, with the club under new ownership, Liverani's contract was not renewed.

Lecce

On 17 September 2017, Liverani was appointed manager of Lecce, with whom he achieved two direct promotions from Serie C to Serie A, thus bringing the Salento club back to the Italian top-tier league after seven years. Lecce made it to the last day of the 2019–20 season before being relegated with a 4–3 home loss to Parma. On 19 August 2020, Liverani was sacked.

Parma

On 28 August 2020, Liverani was appointed manager of

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 ...

on a two-year contract, after the dismissal of

Roberto D'Aversa Roberto D'Aversa (born 12 August 1975) is an Italian association football, football manager and former player, who played as a midfielder and most recently . Playing career A A.C. Milan, Milan youth product, D'Aversa spent most of his playing ca ...

. On 7 January 2021, after four straight losses, Liverani was sacked.

Cagliari

On 8 June 2022, Liverani was unveiled as the new head coach of Cagliari, following the club's relegation to Serie B. On 20 December 2022, following a 1–2 loss at Palermo and a disappointing first half of the season with Cagliari in fourteenth place in the league table, Liverani was dismissed from his coaching duties.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Lazio *

: 2003–04

References

External links

Sky Sports , Football , Serie A , Palermo , Fabio Liverani
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liverani, Fabio 1976 births Living people Italian footballers Italian expatriate footballers Italian people of Somali descent Italian sportspeople of African descent Italy international footballers Footballers from Rome Serie A players Serie C players Swiss Challenge League players A.C. Perugia Calcio players Cagliari Calcio players S.S. Lazio players ACF Fiorentina players Palermo F.C. players FC Lugano players Expatriate footballers in Switzerland A.S.G. Nocerina players Leyton Orient F.C. managers English Football League managers Italian football managers Expatriate football managers in England Italian expatriate football managers Association football midfielders Serie A managers Serie B managers Serie C managers U.S. Lecce managers Parma Calcio 1913 managers Ternana Calcio managers Cagliari Calcio managers