Luigi Apolloni (; born 2 May 1967) 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 Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and former player, who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. At club level, Apolloni is mainly remembered for his time with Italian side

Parma Calcio 1913 Parma Calcio 1913 (), commonly known as Parma, is an Italian professional football club based in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, which competes in the Serie B, the second tier of Italian football. ''Parma Football Club'' was originally founded in Decembe ...

, where he won several titles during his 13 seasons with the club. At international level, he was a member of the

Italy national football team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

that reached the final of the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

Club career

Born in Frascati, Apolloni started his career with Lodigiani in 1983–84 in

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 ...

, without ever get off the field in the first team to advance to

Pistoiese Unione Sportiva Pistoiese 1921 is an Italian association football club, based in Pistoia, Tuscany. Currently, Pistoiese plays in Serie D. Originally founded on 21 April 1921 and later restored after bankruptcy, the team plays their home games ...

within two years, where he debuted in professional football. After another year 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 ...

to Reggiana, he joined

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 ...

in 1987, became a key member of the squad and a mainstay in the team's defensive lineup alongside Lorenzo Minotti; the two players formed a notable central defensive partnership at the club, helping to guide the team from the

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 ...

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 ...

, and eventually, to the top levels of European football. Their time at the club included triumphs in the 1991–92 Coppa Italia, a Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Super Cup in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, a runners-up medal in their 1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign, and two UEFA Cups in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

and

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, as well as the

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

and another Coppa Italia in 1999, a runners-up medal in the

, and third and second-place finishes in Serie A in

and

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

respectively. In 1996 a serious injury forced him out, and Apolloni did not manage to win back a place in the starting lineup, ultimately leaving Parma in 1999 to join Hellas Verona, and later ending his career in 2001 with a total of 255 appearances and 7 goals in the Italian top flight.

International career

Following his successes with Parma, Apolloni gained a spot in the Italian squad under head coach Arrigo Sacchi, making his international debut on 27 May 1994, in a 2–0 home win against Finland, coincidentally in Parma. Overall, he made 15 appearances for Italy between 1994 and 1996, and was a member of the ''azzurri'' squad that took part at the

, where they reached the final, in which he appeared, only to lose to Brazil on penalties. He was also a part of their less successful

Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

campaign, appearing in Italy's opening two group matches, a 2–1 win over a Russia, and a 2–1 defeat to eventual runners-up the Czech Republic, in which he was sent off; the Italians were eliminated in the first round of the tournament.

Managerial career

In 2006 Apolloni accepted to follow former Parma teammate

Daniele Zoratto Daniele Zoratto (; born 15 November 1961) is an Italian association football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. Personal life Zoratto was born in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg as a son of Italian immigrants; his father worked the ...

, serving as his aide at

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

. He was later sacked together with head coach Zoratto in February 2007, only to return at Modena in April 2008. In January 2009, Apolloni was appointed as caretaker manager of the ''canarini'' after Zoratto left the club by mutual consent. He was then permanently appointed to the role after he managed to guide Modena to escape relegation at the final day of the season. In his first full season in charge of the club, Apolloni guided Modena to a mid-table place in the league despite severe financial issues within the club. In July 2010 he left Modena to join ambitious Serie B club Grosseto. He was however removed by the end of September due to poor results, and replaced by

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 ...

. On 2 April 2012, he was appointed as new head coach of Gubbio in the Italian Serie B league until the end of the season, thus becoming the fourth manager of the season for the small relegation-threatened Umbrian club (after

Fabio Pecchia Fabio Pecchia (; born 24 August 1973) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is head coach of club Parma. Throughout his playing career as a midfielder, he was also known as "l'avvocato" ("the lawyer," in Italian), ...

, Luigi Simoni and

Marco Alessandrini Marco Alessandrini (born 25 December 1970 in Pescara) is an Italian politician. He is a member of the Democratic Party and he was elected Mayor of Pescara on 8 June 2014. In 2019 he chose to not run for a second term. See also *2014 Italian lo ...

). On 31 May 2018, Apolloni was appointed as the manager of

. It lasted until 10 January 2019, where he was fired.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Parma * Coppa Italia: 1991–92, 1998–99 *

* UEFA Cup: 1994–95, 1998–99 * UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1992–93 * UEFA Super Cup:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Apolloni, Luigi 1967 births Living people People from Frascati Italian footballers Association football defenders A.S. Lodigiani players A.C. Reggiana 1919 players 1994 FIFA World Cup players Hellas Verona F.C. players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Parma Calcio 1913 players U.S. Pistoiese 1921 players Modena F.C. managers F.C. Grosseto S.S.D. managers UEFA Euro 1996 players Italy international footballers Italian football managers Italian expatriate football managers ND Gorica managers Parma Calcio 1913 managers Expatriate football managers in Slovenia Italian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia UEFA Cup winning players Footballers from Lazio Sportspeople from the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital