Maurizio Pellegrino (born 1 March 1966) is a retired

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

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 ...

player and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. He is currently in charge as youth system chief of

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 ...

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 ...

Career

Player

Pellegrino mostly played at lower league levels with a number of teams, most notably

Catanzaro Catanzaro (, or ; scn, label= Catanzarese, Catanzaru ; , or , ''Katastaríoi Lokrói''; ; la, Catacium), also known as the "City of the two Seas", is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its p ...

in the

Coach

Pellegrino began his coaching career in 1999 as assistant at Viterbese during the Gaucci years (Viterbese and Catania sharing the same ownership during these years). As such, he was named new

head coach together with

Francesco Graziani Francesco "Ciccio" Graziani (; born 16 December 1952) is an Italian football manager and former football player who played as a forward. He began his career with Arezzo in 1970, and later joined Torino in 1973, where he remained until 1981, win ...

in 2001, guiding the then-

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 ...

club for the final two games of the season, plus the subsequent promotion playoffs, and obtaining promotion to Serie B in the end. Confirmed as co-coach of Catania together with Graziani for the successive Serie B campaign, both were fired during the season due to poor results. He then led Serie C1 club Paternò, failing to save it from relegation. This was followed by more experiences as Serie C1 level with a number of teams (Lanciano, Padova, Martina Franca and Lecco), and

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 ...

at Cassino. He returned to Catania in September 2013 as youth system coordinator, and was then appointed caretaker coach on April 6, 2014, as the Sicilians were last-placed in the

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 ...

league. Despite a late surge in results, Catania did not ultimately succeed to avoid relegation to Serie B, but this was enough to ensure Pellegrino a new contract as full-time coach for the

2014–15 Serie B The 2014–15 Serie B was the 83rd season since its establishment in 1929. A total of 22 teams contested the league: 14 of which returning from the 2013–14 season, 5 of which promoted from Prima Divisione, and three relegated from Serie A. T ...

season, with the goal to promptly bring the club back into the top flight. He was however removed from his managerial duties on 14 September 2014, after achieving only two losses and a draw in the inaugural three league games. He was reappointed at the helm of the Sicilian club on 19 December 2014, following the resignation of Giuseppe Sannino as head coach. He was removed once again from his role on 3 January 2015 due to poor results, leaving Catania in nineteenth place in the Serie B league, being also moved back to his previous job as youth system chief for the club.

References

External links

LegaSerieA.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pellegrino, Maurizio 1966 births Italian footballers Serie B players Catania S.S.D. players U.S. Catanzaro 1929 players Italian football managers Living people Calcio Padova managers Catania S.S.D. managers Footballers from Sicily Association football midfielders People from Syracuse, Sicily Sportspeople from the Province of Syracuse