Luca Prina (born May 11, 1965) 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, last 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 ...

side Pro Patria.

Career

Prina started his career in 2006 as head coach of

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 ...

amateurs Pro Belvedere Vercelli, obtaining a ninth place by the end of the season. In 2008–09 he guided Serie D club

Biellese The Biellese is a breed of large domestic sheep indigenous to the province of Biella, in Piedmont in north-western Italy, from which it takes its name. It may also be known as the Razza d'Ivrea, after the town of Ivrea, or as the Piemontese ...

to promotion (then revoked due to financial issues involving the club). The following season, he took his first professional role as head coach at

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione 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 ...

club

Canavese Canavese ( French: ''Canavais''; Piedmontese: ''Canavèis'') is a subalpine geographical and historical area of North-West Italy which lies today within the Metropolitan City of Turin in Piedmont. Its main town is Ivrea and it is famous for its ca ...

. In April 2011 he took over at another Lega Pro Seconda Divisione club,

Virtus Entella Virtus Entella, commonly referred to as Entella, is an Italian professional football club based in Chiavari, Liguria. Founded in 1914, the club currently competes in the . History 1914: Foundation The club was founded in 1914 as Foot-Ball Club ...

. After saving the club from relegation, he guided Virtus Entella to promotion to

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� ...

in 2011–12. In 2012–13, Virtus Entella emerged as a promotion outsider, qualifying for the post-season playoffs thanks to an impressive fifth place and then being defeated by

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 ...

in a two-legged semi-final. This was followed by an even more successful finish in the 2013–14 Lega Pro Prima Divisione, as Virtus Entella managed to top the league for almost the full season and winning promotion to Serie B for its first time ever. As head coach of a newly promoted Serie B club, Prina was therefore successfully admitted to the yearly

UEFA Pro Licence UEFA, the governing body for football in Europe, mandates several coaching licences for professional managers, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro Licence, the UEFA A Licence, and the UEFA B Licence. They are iss ...

course to be held in Coverciano. He was removed from head coach on 12 April 2015, after a negative string of results led his club into relegation zone in the Serie B. On 14 March 2016, he was named new head coach of relegation-threatened

Lega Pro 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

Mantova Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Europ ...

, guiding the club to retaining their professional status after playoffs. On 28 November 2016, he was sacked after a negative start to the season, with the club bottom of the league. Prina returned to football in April 2018, as new Under-19 coach of

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona, which competes in the second ...

, following

Lorenzo D'Anna Lorenzo D'Anna (born 29 January 1972) is an Italian football manager and former player, last in charge as head coach of Serie C club Trento. Playing career D'Anna was a centre back, and was the captain of A.C. ChievoVerona of Serie A, with over ...

's promotion as head coach. He left the club in June 2018 to be replaced by Paolo Mandelli. On 7 October 2018 he joined

club Rezzato as new head coach, with

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 ...

winner

Alberto Gilardino Alberto Gilardino (; born 5 July 1982) is an Italian professional football manager and a former player who played as a striker. He is currently in charge as caretaker of Genoa, a club he was contracted with on July 2022 as a youth coach. A p ...

as his assistant. On 28 February 2019, Gilardino was promoted to head coach of Rezzato, with Prina demoted to the supervisory role. On 22 June 2021, Prina accepted to return into management as the new head coach of

club Pro Patria on a one-year contract. He was dismissed on 1 March 2022, leaving Pro Patria in relegation zone.

References

1965 births Living people People from Biella Italian football managers Virtus Entella managers Aurora Pro Patria 1919 managers ASD Biellese 1902 managers Serie B managers Serie C managers Sportspeople from the Province of Biella {{Italy-footy-bio-stub