Gianluca Atzori (born 6 March 1971) 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 ...

manager and former player, current coach of

Floriana Floriana ( mt, Il-Furjana or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a fortified town in the South Eastern Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014. Floriana i ...

Career

Playing

Atzori started his professional playing career with Rome-based Serie C side Lodigiani in 1988, then playing mostly at Serie B level with several teams, including

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 part o ...

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 ...

and most notably

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...

, where he spent a total four season. In 2001, he joined

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

, being protagonist of the Tuscans' successful

2001–02 Serie B The 2001–02 Serie B is the 70th season since its establishment in 1929. It is the second highest football league in Italy. Teams Modena, Palermo, Como and Messina had been promoted from Serie C, while Reggina, Vicenza, Napoli and Bari had bee ...

campaign which saw the team being crowned league winners under head coach

Silvio Baldini Silvio Baldini (born 11 September 1958 in Massa) is an Italian association football manager, last in charge of Serie B club Perugia. Career Early years Born in Massa but hailing from nearby Carrara, Baldini started his coaching career in 1984 ...

. He then played another season with Empoli, in his personal first (and only) Serie A season. In 2003, he followed Silvio Baldini at

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 ...

, who later won the Serie B title in 2003–04; he played only 17 league games out of 46 with the ''rosanero'', being relegated to the bench after Silvio Baldini's dismissal from the head coaching post.

Coaching

After being released by Palermo in June 2004, Atzori chose to retire from football and instead focus in a management career, becoming

's assistant at

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

. He then followed again Baldini also in his unsuccessful stints at

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 ...

(2005–06) and

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

(2007–08), both ended in his boss and mentor being sacked in mid-season. However, after Baldini was sacked from Catania in April 2008, Atzori decided instead to stay under new boss

Walter Zenga Walter Zenga (; born 28 April 1960) is an Italian manager (association football), football manager and former player who last managed Serie A club Cagliari Calcio, Cagliari. He was a long-time Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for In ...

. In June 2008 Atzori left Catania to accept a head coaching offer from

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� ...

side

, a team where he had already spent four seasons as a player. He guided Ravenna through a very impressive season and qualification into promotion playoffs, where Ravenna was defeated by

Padova Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

in the semi-finals. On 10 June 2009 Atzori accepted to return at Catania, this time as head coach, for the upcoming 2009–10 season, thus replacing his former head coach Walter Zenga at the helm of the ''rossoazzurri''. However, his time back at Catania lasted only fifteen games, as he was dismissed on 8 December due to poor results. On 16 June 2010

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

announced Gianluca Atzori as the club's new head coach, replacing

Roberto Breda Roberto Breda (born 21 October 1969) is an Italian football coach and former player. He was most recently the manager of Serie B club Pescara. Playing career A midfielder, Breda made his Serie A debut with Sampdoria and later played with sever ...

. On 9 June 2011 Atzori was named as the new head coach of

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

have been relegated to

, signing a two-year contract. After a disappointing start of season, with Sampdoria in seventh place despite being tipped as one of the main direct promotion candidates during pre-season, Atzori was ultimately sacked on 13 November 2011. On 4 January 2013 he was named new coach of

Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest cit ...

en place of the sacked

Michele Serena Michele Serena (; born 10 March 1970) is an Italian football manager, and former football defender, most recently in charge as manager of Serie C club Legnago. He usually played as a right-back, although he was capable of playing on either fla ...

. His stint was however short-lived as he was sacked weeks later due to poor results and replaced by

Luigi Cagni Luigi "Gigi" Cagni (born 14 June 1950 in Brescia) is an Italian former football player, who played as a defender. He most recently served head coach of Brescia in the Serie B league in the final weeks of the 2016–17 Serie B season. Playing ...

. In June 2013 he was named as the new head coach of Serie B club

, thus marking a personal second stint of his at the Calabrian club. He was sacked in October 2013 and replaced by

Fabrizio Castori Fabrizio Castori (born 11 July 1954) is an Italian football coach. He is currently in charge of club Perugia. Career Castori was born in San Severino Marche, but grew up in Tolentino. He started his coaching career in 1980 at the age of 26 ...

, but reinstated in December 2013. He successively served as head coach of

club

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 ...

from December 2017 to January 2018, in a short but unsuccessful stint in charge of the ''Bianche Casacche''. On 27 September 2019 he was hired by

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 ...

club Imolese. He left Imolese at the end of the 2019–20 season. On 17 June 2021 Atzori has been appointed as head coach of the

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as BOV Premier League for sponsorship reasons with Bank of Valletta (colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Football Associa ...

side Floriana F.C.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atzori, Gianluca 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from the Province of Frosinone Italian footballers Italian football managers Serie A players Serie B players Ternana Calcio players A.C. Perugia Calcio players Reggina 1914 players Ravenna F.C. players Empoli F.C. players Palermo F.C. players Ravenna F.C. managers Catania S.S.D. managers Reggina 1914 managers U.C. Sampdoria managers Serie A managers Association football defenders F.C. Pro Vercelli 1892 managers Serie C managers Floriana F.C. managers Footballers from Lazio