Francesco Cozza (born 19 January 1974) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a playmaker in the role of

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 ...

, currently in charge as head coach 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 ...

club San Luca.

Playing career

Born in

Cariati Cariati () is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Cariati is divided into two parts: Cariati Superiore, situated on top of a hill, and Cariati Marina, which is stretched along the Ionian c ...

, Calabria, Cozza started his career at

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

. He first signed for Reggiana in 1994, and in November left for

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 thr ...

. Cozza signed for Genoa C.F.C. at summer 2004, but left for A.C. Siena in January 2005. He returned to Reggina on loan for the 2005–06 season. Cozza returned to Siena in summer 2006, but left for Reggina again in summer 2007, in exchange with

Alessandro Lucarelli Alessandro Lucarelli ( born 22 July 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who last played for Parma as a defender. Playing career Alessandro Lucarelli started his professional career at Piacenza, whose youth sides he also represent ...

Coaching career

On 29 June 2010, he signed a one-year contract with his former 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 n ...

, but as one of the coach assistant of youth team. On 2 July 2011, it was confirmed Cozza had accepted an offer to become new head coach of

Catanzaro Catanzaro (, or ; scn, label= Catanzarese, Catanzaru ; , or , ''Katastaríoi Lokrói''; ; la, Catacium), also known as the "City of the two Seas", is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its p ...

in the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione (fourth division), he recently passed the coach exam. After guiding Calabrian

amateurs San Luca during the 2020–21 season, on 25 September 2021 Cozza was hired by Biancavilla, another Serie D club. He was fired by Biancavilla on 5 November 2021 after gaining 4 points in 7 games under his helm. On 8 July 2022, Cozza agreed to return to guide San Luca for the

2022–23 Serie D The 2022–23 Serie D is the seventy-third season of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represents the fourth tier in the Italian football league system. Rules The season will provide a total nine promotions to Se ...

season.

References

External links

lega-calcio.itgazzetta.it
* Living people 1974 births Footballers from Calabria Sportspeople from the Province of Cosenza Association football midfielders Italian footballers Italy under-21 international footballers A.C. Milan players A.C. Reggiana 1919 players L.R. Vicenza players S.S.D. Lucchese 1905 players Cagliari Calcio players U.S. Lecce players Reggina 1914 players Genoa C.F.C. players A.C.N. Siena 1904 players Serie A players Serie B players Italian football managers U.S. Catanzaro 1929 managers Serie C managers Serie D managers {{Italy-footy-midfielder-1970s-stub