Frederic Massara (born 11 November 1968) is an Italian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

director, coach and former player. He is currently the director of football of

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons ...

Club career

A quick attacking forward, Massara started his career in the youth ranks of

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 ...

, but never managed to break through the first team and was eventually sold to

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 ...

club

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...

. In 1991 he joined

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...

, playing three years under head coach

Giovanni Galeone Giovanni Galeone (born 25 January 1941) is an Italian football manager and former player. Playing career Galeone, born in Naples, moved to Northern Italy in his youth years, and played as a midfielder for Ponziana Trieste, Monza and Udinese, whe ...

, being featured as a wing forward in an attacking 4–3–3 lineup that successfully won promotion to

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 ...

in 1992. He made his

debut in the 1992–93 season, in what would remain his lone top flight season as a player. After Pescara, he joined another

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 ...

club,

Fidelis Andria Fidelis Andria 2018 or simply Fidelis Andria is an Italian football club based in Andria, Apulia. The club was founded in 1971 and re-founded in 2005, 2013 and 2018. The team competes in . Fidelis Andria play their home matches at Stadio Deg ...

, with little success; following that, he played with several other teams at

and

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 ...

level before retiring in 2003.

Managerial career

Following his retirement as a player, Massara became a coach, working as an assistant for

Benevento Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...

(2006–07),

(2007) and Martina (2007–08). In July 2008 he joined

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

director of football

Walter Sabatini Walter Sabatini (born 2 May 1955) is an Italian former football player turned director of football, who last worked as sporting director at Serie A club Salernitana. Playing career Sabatini made his professional debut with Perugia in 1973, playin ...

as one of his collaborators for the Sicilians. He then followed Sabatini on the same role at

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

. In May 2011, he became a formally licensed director of football after passing the specific

Italian Football Federation The Italian Football Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio; FIGC), known colloquially as ''Federcalcio'', is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It ...

classes. He was successively named as director of football of Roma in October 2016, taking over from Sabatini himself; he however left the role soon later to re-join with Sabatini in his new role at

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

and

Jiangsu Suning Jiangsu Football Club (), later known as Jiangsu Sainty F.C. (2000–2016) and Jiangsu Suning F.C. (2016–2021), was a professional football club that participated in the Chinese Super League since 2009 until its dissolution in 2021. The tea ...

. On 1 June 2018, Massara returned to Roma as the club's general secretary, working alongside new director of football

Monchi Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo (born 20 September 1968), commonly known as Monchi, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper, currently director of football of Sevilla FC. Playing career Born in San Fernando, Cádiz, Andalusia, Mo ...

, and then replacing him after the latter's dismissal on 8 March 2019. On 5 June, Massara and Roma mutually parted ways. On 21 June 2019, he was named new sporting director of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. On 17 November 2022, he was recognised as Sporting Director of the Year alongside fellow Milan director

Paolo Maldini Paolo Cesare Maldini (; born 26 June 1968) is an Italian former professional footballer who played primarily as a left back and centre back for AC Milan and the Italy national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of a ...

at the 2022

Globe Soccer Awards The Globe Soccer Awards aka Dubai d'Or are football awards organised by the European Club Association (ECA) in conjunction with the European Association of Player's Agents (EFAA) and delivered by the organisation Globe Soccer. The award ceremony ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massara, Frederic Italian footballers Delfino Pescara 1936 players Serie B players Serie A players Association football forwards Footballers from Turin 1968 births Living people