Luigi De Canio (born 26 September 1957) 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 a former player who played as a full-back.

Career

Player

De Canio, a full back, played mostly with

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 ...

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 ...

teams, his lone season 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 ...

being 1979–80 with

Matera Matera (, ; Materano: ) is a city in the region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy. As the capital of the province of Matera, its original settlement lies in two canyons carved by the Gravina River. This area, the Sassi di Matera, is a comple ...

, marking his debut in the division on 16 September 1979 against

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 ...

. He retired in 1989 with amateur team Pisticci, of which he successively became head coach.

Coach

De Canio started his coaching career in 1988 with ''

Promozione The Promozione (, "promotion") is the sixth level in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Promozione level progresses to their closest regional league in the Eccellenza level. Depending on each league's lo ...

'' team Pisticci, immediately winning the league, being thus promoted to

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 ...

. He served as Pisticci boss for four more seasons before joining

team Savoia during the 1993–94 season, and winning the promotion playoffs the following season. In 1995–96 he coached

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

, leading the ''Robur'' to an eighth place. In 1996–97 he signed for Serie C1 minnows

Carpi Carpi may refer to: Places * Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, a large town in the province of Modena, central Italy * Carpi (Africa), a city and former diocese of Roman Africa, now a Latin Catholic titular bishopric People * Carpi (people), an ancie ...

, a team which featured a young

Marco Materazzi Marco Materazzi (; born 19 August 1973) is an Italian former professional footballer and manager. Early in his career, Materazzi played with various Italian teams in Serie B and Serie C, and with Everton in the Premier League. He spent two per ...

among their players, and led the Emilia-Romagna side to a surprising fourth place which allowed them to play the promotion playoffs. In 1997–98 he moved to

club Lucchese, hardly saving them from relegation with a final 16th place. Initially with no club for the following season, De Canio was then signed by

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 ...

, where he narrowly missed a surprising promotion to the top flight. De Canio took charge of a Pescara side that had slumped to 13th place in 1997–98 and lost two of its opening three matches in 1998–99. He guided ''i biancoazzuri'' to 63 points, finishing fifth, just one point from fourth, and only missed out on promotion due to the incredible, much-discussed victory of Reggina at Torino on the last day of the season (13 June 1999), which was called a few minutes early due to a pitch invasion. Following his departure from Pescara, it finished 13th again the next season. His impressive coaching performance with Pescara caused interest by

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 ...

club Udinese, which appointed him for the 1999–2000 season. His first

campaign ended in an eighth place for the ''bianconeri'' and a place in the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

, which they successively won, thus ensuring a place in the

UEFA Cup 2000–01 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

. In 2000–01, after a very impressive start, Udinese entered into a long result crisis which brought to De Canio being sacked on 19 March 2001 following a home loss to

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 ...

and his replacement with

Luciano Spalletti Luciano Spalletti (; born 7 March 1959) is an Italian football manager and a former player. He is currently the manager of Italian Serie A club Napoli. Playing career Born in Certaldo, Metropolitan City of Florence, Spalletti started his career ...

, who managed to save the club from relegation. In 2001–02, De Canio was appointed as Napoli boss with the goal to lead the ''azzurri'' back to

; however he failed to do so, as Napoli ended their Serie B campaign in fifth place, six points shy of the fourth Serie A spot. He consequently left Napoli and was appointed at the helm of

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 nic ...

during the 2002–03 season replacing sacked Bortolo Mutti, maintaining their place in the Italian top flight after winning a tie-breaking playoff to

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 ...

. During the 2003–04, De Canio was called to replace Roberto Donadoni at the helm of Serie B club

, which were fighting to escape relegation despite their initial promotion claims, leading the club to a final 16th place in the league table. He was later sacked by Genoa only a handful days before their Serie B 2004–05 debut to appoint

Serse Cosmi Serse Cosmi (born 5 May 1958) is an Italian football coach, most recently in charge of Rijeka. Career Early career Cosmi was born in 1958 in Ponte San Giovanni, a Perugia ''frazione''. His father, a cycling fan, called him Serse after Faust ...

at his place. He was then appointed in January 2005 by Serie A minnows

, a team which he already coached some years earlier, to replace Luigi Simoni, leading his side to escape relegation for two consecutive seasons.

Queens Park Rangers

De Canio was announced as first team coach of English Championship team Queens Park Rangers on 29 October 2007, succeeding the recently sacked John Gregory. He started his QPR experience with a 2–0 home win to Hull City on 3 November. Rangers signed several players during the January

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

Ákos Buzsáky Ákos Buzsáky (born 7 May 1982) is a Hungarian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played in the Nemzeti Bajnokság for MTK Budapest and Ferencváros, the Primeira Liga for Porto, the Premier League for Queens Park R ...

who had previously been on loan from

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

Hogan Ephraim Hogan Phillip Ephraim (born 31 March 1988) is an English footballer who last played for National League South Whitehawk. He is a graduate of the West Ham United Academy, a former England Under-19 international, and made over 100 appearances for ...

from

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

, Kieran Lee on loan from

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Gavin Mahon Gavin Andrew Mahon (born 2 January 1977) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Mahon started his career as a trainee at Wolverhampton Wanderers, although he did not make any first-team appearances f ...

on loan from

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

Matthew Connolly Matthew Thomas Martin Connolly (born 24 September 1987) is an English professional footballer who last played as a defender for club Cardiff City. Having started his career at Arsenal he went moved to Queens Park Rangers, going on to win the ...

from

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Patrick Agyemang Patrick Agyemang (born 29 September 1980) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Agyemang began his career at Wimbledon, progressing through the club's youth system. He was loaned out to Brentford in October 1999 for th ...

from

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

and

Fitz Hall Fitz Benjamin Hall (born 20 December 1980) is an English former professional footballer and current football agent. He played as a defender in his professional career, and as a striker in amateur football. Club career Early career Hall began h ...

from

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

. Early in January QPR also managed to secure striker

Rowan Vine Rowan Lewis Vine (born 21 September 1982) is an English former footballer. A striker, Vine previously played League football for Portsmouth, Brentford, Colchester United, Luton Town, Birmingham City, Queens Park Rangers (QPR), Hull City, Milton ...

in a permanent move following his brief loan spell which had ended in December. During his period in charge of the club, De Canio became a very popular figure among the QPR faithful, due to the style and flair he brought back to their game. As a result, he was, along with the club's owners, immortalised in the supporters' song "''Gigi De Canio, Bernie and

Flavio ''Flavio, re de' Longobardi'' ("Flavio, King of the Lombards", HWV 16) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian-language libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Matteo Noris's ''Flavio Cuniberto''. It was Hand ...

''" (to the tune of '' La donna è mobile''). De Canio left the club by "mutual consent" after the end of the season in May 2008, having guided them to fourteenth place in the Championship. His record at the club comprised 12 wins, 12 losses and 11 draws in 35 games. It has reported that his return to Italy was partly due to a bid to save his marriage.

Back to Italy

On 9 March 2009 De Canio signed a contract to become head coach of

relegation battlers

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 ...

, replacing

Mario Beretta Mario Beretta (born 30 October 1959 in Milan) is an Italian association football manager and former football player. He most recently served as head coach of Serie B club Latina. Career Playing career Beretta had a short career as footballer, p ...

at the helm of the ''

salentini The Messapians ( grc, Μεσσάπιοι, Messápioi; la, Messapii) were a Iapygians, Iapygian tribe who inhabited Salento in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Daunians, inhabited central and northern Apulia ...

'', but did not manage to save the side from relegation. On 31 May 2009 US Lecce announced De Canio had refused to extend his contract with the club; however, on 6 June the club officially confirmed to have reached an agreement with the former QPR manager, who guided the ''giallorossi'' back to the top flight, as league runners-up, in their 2009–10 Serie B campaign. He was sacked on 22 May 2011 as Lecce finished 17th at the end of the 2010–11 season. On 22 April 2012 he was hired again as Genoa head coach, in a desperate attempt to save the team from relegation, until 22 October 2012 when he was sacked. On 20 October 2013, De Canio returned into management as he accepted to take over from

Rolando Maran Rolando Maran (born 14 July 1963) is an Italian Association football, football coach (sport), manager who was most recently the head coach of Pisa S.C., Pisa. His playing career as a Defender (association football), defender was spent mostly wit ...

at the head of endangered Serie A club

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 ...

. On 15 March 2016, he was appointed manager of Udinese. He was let go at the end of the season on 19 May. On 21 February 2018, he was appointed manager of

club

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A (in the 1972–73 and 1974–75 seas ...

. In April 2018 he was one of 77 applicants for the vacant Cameroon national team job. He was fired by

on 19 January 2019.

Managerial statistics

Name spelling

Some sections of the media, particularly the English language media commonly misspell his surname as ''Di'' Canio, instead of the correct ''De'' Canio.

References

External links

De Canio's coaching profile
at Gazzetta.it (updated as of 2006)

at FootballPlus.com {{DEFAULTSORT:De Canio, Luigi 1957 births Living people People from Matera Sportspeople from the Province of Matera Association football fullbacks Serie A managers Italian footballers Italian football managers Expatriate football managers in England Serie C players F.C. Matera players U.S. Livorno 1915 players S.S. Chieti Calcio players U.S. Salernitana 1919 players A.C.N. Siena 1904 managers Delfino Pescara 1936 managers Udinese Calcio managers S.S.C. Napoli managers Reggina 1914 managers Genoa C.F.C. managers Queens Park Rangers F.C. managers U.S. Lecce managers Catania S.S.D. managers A.C. Carpi managers Ternana Calcio managers Italian expatriate football managers Footballers from Calabria