Paolo Bianco (born 20 August 1977) is an Italian football coach and former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a defender.

Career

U.S. Foggia

Bianco started his career within the junior ranks of

U.S. Foggia Calcio Foggia 1920, commonly referred to as Foggia, is an Italian football club based in Foggia, Apulia. It currently plays in Serie C, having last been in the top level Serie A in 1995. The team gained nationwide popularity as Foggia Calcio ...

, in the Italian

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 ...

. In 1994, the player was promoted to the first team and began to make official league appearances for his hometown club. The player did not manage to break into the club's starting line-up in his first season, making just 13 appearances, but eventually earned well over 100 caps for the club in all competitions also netting 2 official goals. The central defender was then transferred to Serie B side

Treviso F.B.C. 1993 Treviso Foot Ball Club 1993, commonly known as Treviso, is an Italian association football, football club based in Treviso, Veneto, which competes in Eccellenza, the fifth tier of Football in Italy, Italian football. ''Football Club Treviso'' w ...

, in the summer of 1999, for an undisclosed transfer fee.

Treviso

Bianco's transfer to the northern club was a big step in the players career, as he instantly became a key member in the team, and eventually earned the captain's armband for his club. In his first season in

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

, Bianco made 16 appearances, and followed that up with 22 starts the following season. His efforts were not enough to save his club from relegation, however, and he spent the next two seasons 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 ...

. After 60 Serie C1 appearances, Bianco captained his team to promotion back into the Italian second division, and made 44 appearances for the club that season, more than any other player in the team. After five seasons, with the club, Bianco made 148 league appearances alone, and scored 6 goals, while making over 160 appearances for his club in all competitions. His good form led to a 2004 transfer to

rivals

Calcio Catania Catania S.S.D., commonly known as Catania, is an Italian football club based in the city of Catania, Sicily, that plays in . Originally founded in 1908 as ''Associazione Sportiva pro Educazione Fisica'', the club boasts 17 appearances in the ...

Catania

The player arrived at the Sicilian club in the summer of 2004. He became a regular fixture in the club's line-up and made 37 league appearances in his first season in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. His impressive displays continued the following season as he made an additional 35 league appearances and helped guide the club to a second-place finish in the

table, and hence,

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 ...

promotion. Despite helping to lead the club into the Serie A, the player was loaned to fellow Serie A side

Cagliari Calcio Cagliari Calcio, commonly referred to as Cagliari (), is an Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia. In the 2022-23 season, they compete in Serie B. As of 2021–22, the team is temporarily playing their home games at the 16,416-seat ...

in August 2006.

Cagliari

Following his transfer from one Italian island to the other, the defender instantly was inserted into the

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

n club's starting eleven as well. His

debut came against former side,

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 ...

. In his first season in the top flight, Bianco made a total of 35 league appearances and also scored a solo goal. In June 2007, the club excised the rights to buy him. His second season, proved to be much of the same as the player made 31 appearances as both a central defender and a right back. Bianco entered the 2008–09 Serie A campaign with just one year left on his contract. In January 2010 he signed a pre-contract with Atalanta.

Atalanta

Bianco made the move to

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...

following the expiration of his contract with

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 ...

on 1 July 2009. In his first season with Atalanta, Bianco made 21 league appearances, with 20 of them coming from the starting XI. Despite a close relegation battle towards the end of the 2009–10 campaign, between

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

, and

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 ...

, his club failed in their efforts to avoid the bad fate. On 19 July 2010, his contract was terminated in mutual consent.

Sassuolo

Bianco made his debut on

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; egl, label=Modenese dialect, Modenese, Sasól ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town ...

's defeat against

Portogruaro Portogruaro ( vec, Porto, fur, Puart) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, northern Italy. The city is the centre of a district, made up of 11 ''comuni'', which form the Venezia Orientale with the San Donà di Piav ...

. Bianco was re-signed by Sassuolo in a one-year contract on 17 July 2014.

Coaching career

He was appointed head coach of Sicula Leonzio in

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 ...

on 18 June 2018. On 9 December 2018, he resigned from Sicula Leonzio, with the club in 10th place in the table. In October 2019, Bianco was hired as a part of

Roberto De Zerbi Roberto De Zerbi (; born 6 June 1979) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of club Brighton & Hove Albion. Playing career De Zerbi started his professional career at AC Milan. He spent four season ...

's first team technical staff at

.Con Paolo Bianco si amplia lo staff tecnico di mister De Zerbi
sassuolocalcio.it, 11 October 2019

References

External links

Gazzetta dello Sport player profile

Bianco in Sassuolo

Bianco in Sassuolo website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bianco, Paolo 1977 births Living people Italian footballers Calcio Foggia 1920 players Treviso F.B.C. 1993 players Catania S.S.D. players Cagliari Calcio players Atalanta B.C. players U.S. Sassuolo Calcio players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Association football defenders Italian football managers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine FC Shakhtar Donetsk non-playing staff