Marco Baroni (born 11 September 1963) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a defender. He is current manager of

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 Cop ...

club Lecce.

Playing career

Baroni started his career with

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 fol ...

, and reached his football peaks during his time at

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, where he played his first seasons as a

regular, winning an Italian championship title (scoring the title-clinching goal on the last day of the season against

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

) and a Supercoppa Italiana title in 1990. He left Napoli in 1991 to join

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

, and then left the club due to its financial issues; after a short spell at Serie C2 club

Poggibonsi Poggibonsi is a town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, central Italy. It is located on the river Elsa and is the main centre of the Valdelsa Valley. History The area around Poggibonsi was already settled in the Neolithic age, although the firs ...

, he then joined

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie 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 season. It had been ...

side

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

, and moved to

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

in 1996, where he enjoyed his last appearances in the Italian top flight. He retired in 2000 after two seasons with hometown Serie C2 club

Rondinella Rondinella is an Italian wine grape variety. Almost all of the total global growing area of is in the Veneto region of northern Italy, and the grapes are used in wines from the Valpolicella and Bardolino wine regions. Rondinella always appear ...

Coaching career

After his retired from playing football, Baroni was immediately appointed head coach of

in 2000, and then served with a handful of other Serie C2 clubs such as

Montevarchi Montevarchi is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy. History The town of Montevarchi sprang up around 1100, near to a fortified Benedictine monastery, founded by bishop Elempert (986–1010) of Arezzo. At first the cas ...

Carrarese Carrarese Calcio 1908, commonly referred to as Carrarese, is an Italian football club based in Carrara, Tuscany. It currently plays in Serie C, having last been in Serie B in 1948. History The club was founded in 1908. In the season 2010–1 ...

and

F.C. Südtirol Fußball Club Südtirol is an Italian association football club, based in the city of Bolzano, in the autonomous province South Tyrol. The club was formerly known as its bilingual name F.C. Südtirol – Alto Adige. They will play in Serie B f ...

. In 2007, he was appointed as new head coach of Serie C1 club

, but failed to complete his season with the ''biancorossi'', and later accepted a youth coach offer from Serie A club

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 centur ...

. During the 2008–09 season, Baroni guided the Siena ''Primavera'' (under-19) team to the Campionato Nazionale Primavera final, which they eventually lost to Palermo. On 29 October 2009, Siena appointed Baroni as new head coach in order to replace dismissed boss Marco Giampaolo. His reign as first team coach however lasted only three weeks, as he was stripped of his managerial duties on 23 November following a home defeat 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 (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

, with

Alberto Malesani Alberto Malesani (; born 5 June 1954) is an Italian football manager and former player. As a manager, he is mostly remembered for his successful spell with Parma during the late 1990s, where he won the Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup, and the Superco ...

being appointed at his place, and Baroni being re-appointed back at his previous role of under-19 team coach. In June 2010, he was announced as new head coach of

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 ...

club Cremonese. In July 2011, he was appointed as youth team coach for Juventus. He left the role in July 2013 to become new head coach of

club

Virtus Lanciano S.S. Virtus Lanciano 1924 is an Italian association football club, based in Lanciano, Abruzzo. It last played in Serie B in 2015–16 as Virtus Lanciano. Virtus Lanciano now competes in youth football only. History The club was founded in ...

. After an impressive start and a less successful end of season with the club ending in tenth place, Baroni and Virtus Lanciano mutually parted ways. He was successively named new head coach of another Serie B team,

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 ...

, for the 2014–15 season. After a lacklustre season, with Pescara on ninth place and one point out of the promotion playoff zone, Baroni was sacked on 16 May 2015 with one game remaining, being replaced by youth coach

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 thro ...

. On 23 June, Baroni became the head coach of

Novara Calcio Novara Football Club, commonly referred to as Novara, is an Italian football club based in Novara, Piedmont. The club was founded in 2021 by the City of Novara to replace old Novara Calcio that lost its professional status. History In Decembe ...

. He guided the club to a promotion playoff spot, but was not confirmed by the club for the new season and was successively appointed as new head coach of freshly-promoted Serie B club Benevento. In his first season in charge, he led Benevento to fourth place in the regular season and to ultimately win the promotion playoffs after winning a two-legged final against Carpi, thus bringing the Campanian club to Serie A for its first time ever. He was confirmed as Benevento head coach for the

2017–18 Serie A The 2017–18 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 116th season of top-tier Italian football, the 86th in a round-robin tournament and the 8th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B ...

season. He was sacked on 23 October 2017. On 19 December 2018, Baroni was appointed the head coach of

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the ...

. After Frosinone was relegated from the 2018–19 Serie A season, Baroni's contract was terminated by mutual consent on 2 June 2019. On 8 October 2019, he was appointed head coach of

club Cremonese. In January 2020 he was however sacked due to poor results. On 15 December 2020, he was appointed head coach of newly promoted Serie B club

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 ...

. After guiding Reggina to safety, he left the Calabrians to accept an offer from Serie B promotion hopefuls Lecce for the 2021–22 season. Lecce was promoted to

at the end of the season, and the contract with Baroni was renewed for the 2022–23 season.

Personal life

His son Riccardo Baroni is a professional footballer.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Napoli *

: 1989–90

Manager

Lecce *

: 2021–22

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baroni, Marco Living people 1963 births Footballers from Florence Italian footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Italian football managers Association football defenders Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players Serie A managers ACF Fiorentina players A.C. Monza players Calcio Padova players Udinese Calcio players A.S. Roma players U.S. Lecce players S.S.C. Napoli players Bologna F.C. 1909 players A.C. Ancona players Hellas Verona F.C. players A.C. Ancona managers A.C.N. Siena 1904 managers Delfino Pescara 1936 managers F.C. Südtirol managers Frosinone Calcio managers U.S. Cremonese managers S.S. Virtus Lanciano 1924 managers Reggina 1914 managers U.S. Lecce managers Serie B managers Serie C managers