Franco Lerda (born 19 August 1967) is an Italian football manager and a former player who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Club career

Lerda began his career with the

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 ...

youth system, at the age of 16, joining the first team during the 1985–86 season. He made his professional debut with the club on 6 November 1985, coming on for Júnior in Torino's 3–1 defeat to

Hajduk A hajduk ( hu, hajdúk, plural of ) is a type of irregular infantry found in Central and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries. They have reputations ranging from bandits to freedom fighters depending on time, p ...

in the return leg of the round of 16 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 Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. He made his

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 Coppa ...

debut on 24 November, in a 4–1 home win over

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

, coming on for Schachner. He remained with the club for two seasons, collecting 19 appearances, and scoring 1 goal. He subsequently played in the lower divisions with

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to as Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Originally founded in 1918, the club has been re-established several times in its history. As of the ...

(in

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, 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 ...

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

(in

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), 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 ...

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and ''comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. History Cesena was o ...

, and

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. ...

(in

once again). He helped Brescia to earn

promotion during the

1993–94 Serie B The Serie B 1993–94 was the sixty-second tournament of this competition played in Italy since its creation. Teams Ravenna, Vicenza, Palermo and Acireale had been promoted from Serie C, while Brescia, Fiorentina, Ancona and Pescara had been r ...

season, also winning the

Anglo-Italian Cup The Anglo-Italian Cup ( it, Coppa Anglo-Italiana, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition and from 1976 to 1986 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) is a defunct European football c ...

with the club in 1994. The following season, after making 2 appearances with Brescia, he moved to

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 ...

, without being able to find the net, and subsequently returning to Brescia for the

1995–96 Serie B The Serie B 1995–96 was the sixty-fourth tournament of this competition played in Italy since its creation. Teams Bologna, Pistoiese, Reggina and Avellino had been promoted from Serie C, while Genoa, Foggia, Reggiana and Brescia had been r ...

season. He later spent a season and a half with

side

Atletico Catania Unione Sportiva Dilettantistica Atletico Catania is an Italian association football club founded in 1967 and based in Catania, Sicily. Throughout its history, the club played extensively at Serie C1 and Serie C2 professional level, almost gaini ...

, narrowly missing out on Serie B promotion. He ended his career after playing with

Alessandria Alessandria (; pms, Lissandria ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about east of Turin. Alessandria ...

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 2 ...

Cuneo Cuneo (; pms, Coni ; oc, Coni/Couni ; french: Coni ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in ...

and

Canavese Canavese ( French: ''Canavais''; Piedmontese: ''Canavèis'') is a subalpine geographical and historical area of North-West Italy which lies today within the Metropolitan City of Turin in Piedmont. Its main town is Ivrea and it is famous for its ca ...

, in

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 ...

, and finally, with

Saluzzo Saluzzo (; pms, Salusse ) is a town and former principality in the province of Cuneo, in the Piedmont region, Italy. The city of Saluzzo is built on a hill overlooking a vast, well-cultivated plain. Iron, lead, silver, marble, slate etc. are fo ...

, in the Piedmont Eccellenza League, retiring at the conclusion of the 2003–04 season.

International career

On 19 November 1986, Lerda made his debut for the Italy national under-21 football team, in a 1–1 home draw against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. He scored his first goal for the Italy under-21 side on 11 February 1987, in a 2–1 away win over

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

; these were his only two appearances for the under-21 side.

Managerial career

Lerda had been manager of a few clubs in lower divisions. In June 2010, he became manager of

. On 9 March 2011, he was sacked by the Torino board and replaced by

Giuseppe Papadopulo Giuseppe Papadopulo (born 2 February 1948) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a defender. He was last in charge as head coach of Torino. Career Papadopulo was born in Casale Marittimo, Pisa. He played for Livorno, La ...

. However, eleven days later Papadopulo was sacked and Lerda was reinstated as manager. On 29 May 2011, he was once again sacked following the club's failure to secure a spot in the

-playoffs. In June 2012, he became new manager of

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 province ...

. On 21 January 2013, he was sacked following a 3–1 defeat against

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

despite the team being in 2nd place in 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� ...

. He was reinstated as Lecce head coach on 24 September 2013, after the dismissal of

Francesco Moriero Francesco "Checco" Moriero (; born 31 March 1969) is an Italian football former player and current manager, who played as a midfielder, usually as a winger on the right flank. He is the current head coach of the Maldives national football team ...

. He was sacked on 27 December 2014 and replaced by

Dino Pagliari Dino Pagliari (born 27 January 1957) is an Italian professional former footballer and manager. Career Footballer As a footballer, he played several seasons in Serie A like his younger brother Giovanni. He played for Fiorentina in the late 1970 ...

. On 15 March 2016, he became new manager of

side

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 th ...

. He was dismissed in October 2016. On 26 March 2018, he returned to

, this time in the

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 ...

. On 17 June 2019, he became new manager of

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

club Partizani. He was sacked on 15 December 2019 following two consecutive defeats. On 7 December 2021, he was hired by

Pro Vercelli Football Club Pro Vercelli 1892, commonly referred to as Pro Vercelli, is an Italian football club based in Vercelli, Piedmont. The club is mostly renowned as one of the most successful teams in the early football era of Italy, with seven natio ...

. He left the club on 25 May 2022 by mutual consent, after completing the season in seventh place and being successively eliminated by Juventus U23 in the second round of the promotion playoffs. On 30 May 2022,

Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until ...

announced to have hired Lerda, who had already coached the Calabrians during the 2009–10 season, as their new head coach on a one-year deal, following the club's relegation to Serie C. He was dismissed on 13 February 2023, leaving Crotone in second place in the league table.

Honours

Player

;Brescia *

: 1993–94

Manager

;Partizani *

Albanian Supercup The Albanian Supercup is a single match usually at the beginning of the season between the winners of the Kategoria Superiore and Albanian Cup. Supercup final was not played in the occasions when the champion team won the Double. However, after ...

: 2018–19

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lerda, Franco 1967 births People from Fossano Living people Italian men's footballers Italian football managers AC Cuneo 1905 players Torino FC players ACR Messina players Taranto FC 1927 players US Triestina Calcio 1918 players AC ChievoVerona players AC Cesena players Brescia Calcio players SSC Napoli players US Alessandria Calcio 1912 players FC Canavese players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players Italy men's under-21 international footballers Casale FBC managers Delfino Pescara 1936 managers Aurora Pro Patria 1919 managers FC Crotone managers Torino FC managers US Lecce managers LR Vicenza managers Men's association football forwards Italian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Albania Italian expatriate sportspeople in Albania FC Pro Vercelli 1892 managers Kategoria Superiore managers Serie B managers Serie C managers Footballers from Piedmont Sportspeople from the Province of Cuneo