Francesco Calzona (born 24 October 1968) is 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 ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

coach, currently managing the

Slovakia national football team The Slovakia national football team ( sk, Slovenská futbalová reprezentácia) represents Slovakia in men's international football competition and it is governed by the Slovak Football Association (SFZ), the governing body for football in Slo ...

Playing career

Calzona had a very short career as a player, appearing three times with Arezzo in the

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 ...

division, and also making a single

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 ...

appearance.

Coaching career

Calzona worked as an amateur coach and coffee dealer during the 1990s; during the course of the 1999–2000 season, while in charge of Tuscan amateurs Tegoleto, he opted to resign and instead suggest to hire up-and-coming amateur coach

Maurizio Sarri Maurizio Sarri (; born 10 January 1959) is an Italian professional football manager who is the current manager of club Lazio. Sarri did not play football professionally, taking part as an amateur centre back and coach while working as a banker. ...

as his replacement. Since then, he became part of Sarri's coaching staff, being his main assistant in all of his managerial jobs until

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 ...

. In 2020, he joined

Eusebio Di Francesco Eusebio Di Francesco (; born 8 September 1969) is an Italian manager, and former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Di Francesco started his career with Tuscan teams Empoli and Lucchese. In 1995, he joined Piacenza ...

's coaching staff at Cagliari, then returning to Napoli the following year to work alongside new head coach Luciano Spalletti.

Slovak national team

On 30 August 2022, Calzona was hired as the new head coach of the

. Following

Pavel Hapal Pavel Hapal (born 27 July 1969) is a Czech former football player and current manager of Baník Ostrava. Playing career Hapal's professional career began at SK Sigma Olomouc. After the club's successful season when they reached the quarter-fin ...

, Calzona became the second non-native coach of the team and first of non-

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) **Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...

origin.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calzona, Francesco Living people 1968 births Italian footballers Italian football managers Slovakia national football team managers