Luciano Zauri (; born 20 January 1978) 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 ...

coach and a former player who played as a full-back or

wide 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 ...

on either flank. He is in charge as head coach of

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

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 ...

Club career

Atalanta

Zauri made his debut in Serie A in the 1996–97 season with

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

in a 4–0 loss at home to

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 ...

. He spent the following season with

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 ...

before returning to

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...

with Atalanta in the 1998–99 season. Zauri then spent the following five seasons with Atalanta, three of which were in Serie A and two 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 ...

Lazio

In 2003, following Atalanta's relegation, Zauri, along with teammate

Ousmane Dabo El Hadji Ousmane Dabo (born 8 February 1977) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Dabo played for Rennes, Inter Milan, Vicenza, Parma, Monaco, Atalanta, Lazio, Manchester City and New England Revolution. He ...

, was sold to

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, Lazio paid €5.65 million to acquire Zauri. With Lazio, Zauri won the 2003–04 edition of the

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 ...

. He became a regular at Lazio and evolved into a leader on the pitch. In January 2007, following the sale of

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

winner and captain

Massimo Oddo Massimo Oddo (; born 14 June 1976) is an Italian professional football manager and a former player who played as a full-back. He was most recently in charge as the head coach of Serie C club Padova. Oddo played for several Italian clubs throug ...

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 ...

, Zauri was chosen as the new

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. Zauri played a pivotal role in helping the club reach the

2007–08 UEFA Champions League The 2007–08 UEFA Champions League was the 16th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded in 1992, and the 53rd tournament overall. The final was played on 21 May 2008 at the L ...

and scored his first goal in the competition in the 1–1 draw to

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

. His contract with Lazio expired in the summer of 2007, and then he was offered a new five-year contract and eventually re-signed with the club. In the summer of 2008, he was loaned to

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

with the option to buy out the player. He played all 10 European matches for ''Viola''.

Sampdoria

On 10 July 2009, Zauri moved to

U.C. 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, S ...

on a loan deal with the option to buy out the player. He played in the right-back position ahead of Marius Stankevičius but sometimes moved to left-back, such as in a 2–0 loss to

in September, ahead of

Reto Ziegler Reto Pirmin Ziegler (born 16 January 1986) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Swiss Super League club Sion. Ziegler has played top-flight football in seven different countries. He earned 35 international caps for ...

as left-back and Stankevičius as starting right-back. Zauri returned to Lazio on 1 July 2010 and played a few

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

for the club, as full-back

Aleksandar Kolarov Aleksandar Kolarov (; born 10 November 1985) is a Serbian former professional footballer. Although primarily a left-back, Kolarov could also operate as a centre-back and anywhere along the left flank and was known for his overlapping attacking ru ...

was sold. Sampdora loaned him in again on 19 August. As a consequence Stankevičius was loaned to

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

from

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

Pescara

During the 2013 winter transfer window, Zauri joined

. At the end of the 2013–14 season, he retired from professional football. In total he 432 appearances throughout his career, including 301 in Serie A, scoring seven goals.

International career

Zauri made five appearances with the Italy national team. He made his ''Azzurri'' debut on 5 September 2001 against

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

. He then played the first match after the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, a friendly match against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. He also played twice at

UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying Qualification for the 2004 UEFA European Championship took place between September 2002 and November 2003. Fifty teams were divided into ten groups, with each team playing the others in their group twice, once at home and once away. The top te ...

matches as a starter in October 2002. However, after he played the friendly match against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

on 20 November 2002, he never played for ''Azzurri'' again, although he was called up to the first match after the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, a friendly match against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, by new coach

Roberto Donadoni Roberto Donadoni (; born 9 September 1963) is an Italian football manager and former midfielder. Donadoni was capable of playing on either flank, or in the centre. He began his career with Atalanta, and he later became a pillar of the powerhous ...

Coaching career

After retirement, Zauri entered into coaching as assistant to

. After Oddo's dismissal from the club in February 2017, he served as caretaker manager for three days as the club searched for a replacement, without taking charge of any games during this period. He left Pescara on 17 February 2017, following the appointment of Zdeněk Zeman as new head coach. He successively returned to Pescara, serving as Under-19 coach in the 2018–19 season. On 5 June 2019, Zauri was announced to have been promoted as the new head coach of Pescara, taking over from

Giuseppe Pillon Giuseppe "Bepi" Pillon (born 8 February 1956) is an Italian football manager and former player. Career Player Born in Preganziol, Province of Treviso, Pillon moved his first footsteps into football with hometown team Pro Mogliano, before to jo ...

. He resigned as head coach on 20 January 2020, following a loss to

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, commonly referred to as Salernitana, is an Italian football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recentl ...

. On 6 April 2022, Zauri returned to Pescara, this time in

, replacing outgoing manager

Gaetano Auteri Gaetano (anglicized '' Cajetan'') is an Italian masculine given name. It is also used as a surname. It is derived from the Latin ''Caietanus'', meaning "from ''Caieta''" (the modern Gaeta). The given name has been in use in Italy since medieval ...

Honours

Lazio *

: 2003–04

References

External links

FIGC National Team Statistic Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zauri, Luciano Living people 1978 births People from Pescina Sportspeople from the Province of L'Aquila Italian footballers Footballers from Abruzzo Association football fullbacks Association football utility players Italy international footballers Italy youth international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Atalanta B.C. players A.C. ChievoVerona players S.S. Lazio players ACF Fiorentina players U.C. Sampdoria players Delfino Pescara 1936 players Italian football managers Serie B managers Delfino Pescara 1936 managers