Massimo Brambilla (born 4 March 1973) is an Italian professional

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 former player who is the head coach of club

Juventus Next Gen Juventus Next Gen (), also known as Juve Next Gen or Juve NG (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, which acts as the reserve team of club Juventus. They compete in , and play their home games at the Stadio Gius ...

. As a player, he played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

Club career

Brambilla grew up in the football youth academy of

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

, and he was promoted to the first team for the 1990–91 season, taking part in the

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 ...

championship that season, and conquering

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 ...

promotion the year after. He stayed at

for two and a half more seasons, two of which were in Serie B, and a half season in C1, when in January 1995, he was acquired by Reggiana (then in

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 ...

), deciding to leave his hometown club, in order to play football in the top Italian division. With Reggiana, Brambilla played half of the

1994–95 Serie A The 1994–95 Serie A was won by Juventus, who finished 10 points ahead of their nearest rivals Parma and Lazio. Two pieces of silverware were seized by Juventus, who won the Coppa Italia against Parma but were beaten by the same opponents in t ...

season, as the team was relegated to the lower divisions, and he was subsequently purchased by

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 the

1995–96 Serie A The 1995–96 Serie A title was won by Milan (15th title for the Milan-based club), with Juventus finishing as runners-up. Fourth placed Fiorentina tasted glory in the Coppa Italia, while seventh-placed Internazionale only narrowly managed to qu ...

season, he made 26 league appearances, and the next season he initially remained at

, but in January, after having spent much time on the bench, and only making 9 appearances, he was purchased outright by Serie A newcomers

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= 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 150 different nat ...

, with whom he played an excellent second half of season, collecting 14 appearances, and managing a 7th-place finish in

. In the summer of 1997, Italian star

Roberto Baggio Roberto Baggio (; born 18 February 1967) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a second striker, or as an attacking midfielder, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. He is the former pre ...

transferred to

, and Brambilla remained somewhat on the sidelines, collecting only 2 full appearances during the start of the

1997–98 Serie A The 1997–98 Serie A saw Juventus win their 25th national title, with Internazionale placing second; both teams qualified for the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League. Udinese, Roma, Fiorentina, Parma qualified for the 1998–99 UEFA Cup. Lazio qualif ...

season. In October, he moved to a

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

side that had strong ambitions to obtain promotion to

, and in his first season with the club, Brambilla made 26 appearances, scoring 2 goals. On the final matchday of the Serie B championship, however, he suffered a serious accident which also affected him the following season, as he only took part in the club's last 11 fixtures of the

1998–99 Serie B The Serie B 1998–99 was the sixty-seventh tournament of this competition played in Italy since its creation. Teams Cesena, Cremonese, Cosenza and Ternana had been promoted from Serie C, while Brescia, Atalanta, Lecce and Napoli had been rel ...

season, but still contributing to help Torino obtain Serie A promotion after 3 years in Serie B. The following season, he obtained 28 appearances in the top flight, failing however to avoid the immediate relegation of his team to Serie B. The following year, the team is entrusted to Luigi Simoni, who often left the midfielder on the bench, only using him in the final minutes of matches. The team struggled to take off, and Simoni's position was increasingly at risk, resulting in his dismissal. The team was subsequently entrusted to Camolese, who made Brambilla a key member of the starting line-up, as Torino won the

2000–01 Serie B The Serie B 2000–01 was the sixty-ninth tournament of this competition played in Italy since its creation. Teams Siena, Crotone, Cittadella and Ancona had been promoted from Serie C, while Torino, Venezia FC, Cagliari and Piacenza had been ...

title, also obtaining

promotion once again. The following year, despite wearing the number-10 shirt, his relationship with Camolese deteriorates, and he is not played with continuity throughout the

2001–02 Serie A The 2001–02 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 100th season of top-tier Italian football, the 70th in a round-robin tournament. It was composed by 18 teams, for the 14th consecutive time from season 1988–89. ...

season, only making 8 appearances, although he still contributed to helping the club avoid relegation, and achieve a

2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Málaga, Fulham, and Stuttgart. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. First round First leg ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- - ...

spot. At the end of the season, he joined an ambitious

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 ...

side in

, as the Tuscan club won an historic first promotion to

that

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

. Despite his fine season, he was later sold to

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

, collecting 40 appearances in his first season with the club, helping

to obtain Serie A promotion for the first time in 4 years. The next season began way, and saw Brambilla in excellent form, as he was deployed regularly under manager Arrigoni, but from January he was used less frequently, collecting a total of only 17 appearances in Serie A that season. His final match in Serie A coincided with that of club legend

Gianfranco Zola Gianfranco Zola (; born 5 July 1966) is an Italian football manager and former footballer who played predominantly as a forward. He was most recently the assistant manager of Chelsea. He spent the first decade of his playing career playing in ...

, in a 4–2 loss to

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

. At the end of the season, he decided to move closer to home by accepting a contract from the newly promoted

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

side in

, a club with lofty ambitions. Although the club was expected to aim for a mid-table finish, they surprised everyone by remaining at the top of the table until the Christmas break. The team subsequently suffered poor results, but before the end of the championship, the team managed to improve and obtain a place in the play-offs, although they were defeated in the final against Torino, missing the opportunity to obtain Serie A promotion. Brambilla's last season with

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 ...

was rather mixed, as he collected 25 appearances, but failed to achieve a play-off spot, due to the 10-point difference between the third and fourth placed sides. In June 2007 his contract expired with

, and on 9 July 2007, he signed a contract to return to end his career with his first club,

, in Serie C1. The following summer, Brambilla signed a contract with Serie C side U. S. Pergocrema 1932, spending 4 seasons with the club before retiring at the end of the 2011–12 Serie C1 season.

International career

Although he was never capped at senior level, Brambilla played for the Italy Under-21 national football team on 17 occasions between 1993 and 1996, under manager

Cesare Maldini Cesare Maldini (; 5 February 1932 – 3 April 2016) was an Italian professional football manager and player who played as a defender. Father to Paolo Maldini and grandfather to Daniel Maldini, Cesare began his career with Italian side Triestin ...

. He was notably a member of the squad which won the

1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years (1994–96), had 44 entrants. After the quarter-finals stage, Spain were chosen as the hosts of the final stages, consisting of four matches in total. Italy U-21s won the compe ...

, and he also took part in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, making 2 appearances.

Managerial career

In 2011, he obtained a UEFA A coaching license, made him eligible to coach

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 ...

teams or below. In the 2010–11 season he was the coach of the ''Giovanissimi ''national under-16 team of Pergocrema. Following

Valter Bonacina Valter Bonacina (born 30 July 1964) is an Italian association football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. Career Playing career He spent the majority of his career playing for Atalanta (10 seasons, 7 of which in Serie A) and A.S ...

's departure as

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 ...

''Primavera'' coach, Brambilla was appointed his successor to the job. Prior to his appointment as under-19 coach, Brambilla had served as Atalanta's ''Allievi'' (under-17 coach). After seven years as coach in Atalanta's youth sector, on 28 June 2022, Brambilla was appointed head coach of

Juventus U23 Juventus Next Gen (), also known as Juve Next Gen or Juve NG (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, which acts as the reserve team of club Juventus. They compete in , and play their home games at the Stadio Giusepp ...

, the reserve team of Juventus playing in the Serie C.

Managerial stats

Honours

Player

Monza *

Coppa Italia Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C ( it, Serie C Italian Cup), formerly named Coppa Italia Lega Pro, is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie C in Italian football first held in 1972. Format There are a total of six rounds in the c ...

: 1990–91 Parma *

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 ...

runner-up:

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 ...

Siena *

: 2002–03 Italy U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

Manager

Atalanta Youth * Campionato Primavera 1: 2018–19, 2019–20 *

Supercoppa Primavera The Supercoppa Primavera is an Italian youth teams football match played by the winners of the Campionato Primavera championship and the winners of the Coppa Italia Primavera at the beginning of the season. The competition has been held since 200 ...

: 2019, 2020

References

External links

2006–07 Profile at gazzetta.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brambilla, Massimo 1973 births Living people People from Vimercate Footballers from the Province of Monza e Brianza Italian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders AC Monza players AC Reggiana 1919 players Parma Calcio 1913 players Bologna FC 1909 players Torino FC players ACR Siena 1904 players Cagliari Calcio players Mantova 1911 players US Pergolettese 1932 players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Italy men's under-21 international footballers Olympic footballers for Italy Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Italian football managers Association football coaches Atalanta BC non-playing staff Juventus Next Gen managers