Pantaleo Corvino (born 12 December 1949) is an Italian

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

, currently working for

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 ...

. After his father's death, he was forced to interrupt his career as a player and became

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...

. His early career in management started in his town, Vernole. He then worked for Scorrano before moving to 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 ...

side

Casarano Casarano (Salentino: ) is a town and sixth most populous ''comune'' in the Italian province of Lecce, in the Apulia region of South-East Italy. The town's economy is mostly agriculture-based, with olive oil being the main product. The Church of San ...

, thus turning to professional football. During his 10-year spell there, he signed

Fabrizio Miccoli Fabrizio Miccoli (; born on 27 June 1979) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He scored 103 goals in 259 matches in Serie A across nine seasons, representing Perugia, Juventus, Fiorentina and Palermo, also spen ...

. He was sporting director of

from 1998 to 2005, gaining a reputation for scouting and signing new talents such as

strikers Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

Javier Chevantón Ernesto Javier Chevantón Espinosa (born 12 August 1980) is a Uruguayan former footballer, who played as a forward. He obtained a Spanish passport after playing a few years in Spain. Chevantón has been described as a player who possesses exp ...

Valeri Bojinov Valeri Emilov Bojinov ( bg, Валери Емилов Божинов, ; born 15 February 1986) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays as a striker. Throughout his career, Bojinov has played for seventeen different clubs during his ...

(whom he discovered at the age of 14 while playing for

Pietà Hotspurs The Pietà (; meaning "pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific form o ...

Mirko Vučinić Mirko Vučinić (, ; born 1 October 1983) is a Montenegrin former professional footballer who played as a forward. Having caught the attention of Pantaleo Corvino, the sporting director of the Italian club Lecce, he transferred there in the s ...

and

midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Cristian Ledesma. In June 2000, he was about to sign

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n player

Dimitar Berbatov Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov ( bg, Димитър Иванов Бербатов; born 30 January 1981) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer. A striker, he captained the Bulgaria national team from 2006 to 2010, and is the country's all-ti ...

, who would later enjoy successful career. Corvino said in an interview that Berbatov had already underwent a medical, but when it came to signing the contract, the move collapsed, probably due to another request by the player himself. He has been in the books of Fiorentina since 2005. At Fiorentina, he most notably signed

Zdravko Kuzmanović Zdravko Kuzmanović ( sr-Cyrl, Здравко Кузмановић, ; born 22 September 1987) is a Serbian footballer who plays as a defensive or central midfielder. He last played for FC Basel. He represented Serbia in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. ...

, Stevan Jovetić, Pablo Daniel Osvaldo,

Felipe Melo Felipe Melo de Carvalho (born 26 June 1983), known as Felipe Melo, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Fluminense. He began his career with Campeonato Brasileiro Série A teams Flamengo, Cruzeiro a ...

Juan Manuel Vargas Juan Manuel Vargas Risco (; born 5 October 1983) is a Peruvian retired Association football, footballer that played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, left back. Vargas' previous clubs include Club Universitario de Deportes, Univer ...

Artur Boruc Artur Boruc (; born 20 February 1980) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He began his career in the Polish third division with hometown club Pogoń Siedlce. He joined Ekstraklasa team Legia Warsaw in 1999 a ...

Luca Toni Luca Toni (; born 26 May 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer, Toni scored over 300 goals throughout his career, and is one of the top-five highest scoring Italians in all competition ...

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 ...

Adrian Mutu Adrian Mutu (; born 8 January 1979) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is in charge of Liga I club Rapid București. During his playing career, he was deployed as a forward or an attacking midfielder. Mutu star ...

and many other players . In March, 2012, Fiorentina officially declared that Corvino's contract would not be renewed. He was replaced by former AS Roma Director, Daniele Pradè.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corvino, Pantaleo 1950 births Living people People from the Province of Lecce ACF Fiorentina U.S. Lecce Italian sports directors