Piero Braglia (born 10 January 1955) is an Italian

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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and former player, currently in charge of

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 ...

club

Gubbio Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines. History The city's origins are very ancient. ...

Career

Playing

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 ...

, Braglia started his professional career with

team

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 ...

, then making his debut 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 ...

in 1976 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 fo ...

. He then spent six seasons with

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 ...

, five of them being in the Italian top flight. He then retired in 1987 after spells with

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 ...

teams

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to as Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Originally founded in 1918, the club has been re-established several times in its history. As of the ...

and

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 ...

Coaching

In 1989 Braglia accepted his first managerial job, at the helm of amateur Tuscan team Bibbienese. He then coached a number of Tuscan teams in the lower ranks of Italian football with some success, including a

Serie C2 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 ...

title with

in 1995. In 1999, he accepted his first coaching job outside of Tuscany, becoming head coach of

Foggia Foggia (, , ; nap, label= Foggiano, Fògge ) is a city and former ''comune'' of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere, also known ...

in the Serie C2, obtaining a fourth place in the final table. He then returned to Tuscany, again to Montevarchi, before to join

Chieti Chieti (, ; , nap, label= Abruzzese, Chjïétë, ; gr, Θεάτη, Theátē; lat, Theate, ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Central Italy, east by northeast of Rome. It is the capital of the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region. ...

, which he led for 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 ...

league. In 2003–04 he returned to

, this time as a head coach, and led the ''giallorossi'' to win the Serie C1 title and establish them back in

after over a decade in the lower tiers. He was however sacked during the club's following

campaign due to poor results. He then returned in Tuscany, joining Sangiovannese, a team he already twice in the

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

during his early coaching years, and achieving an impressive third place in their Serie C1 campaign. In 2006, he accepted an offer from

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

, with the aim to lead the ''nerazzurri'' back to

; a third place in the regular season, followed by a successful campaign in the promotion playoffs, assured Pisa and Braglia a place in the second-highest Italian league for the next season. However, after discussions with the club management, Braglia opted to leave Pisa and accept an offer from Lucchese, another Tuscan Serie C1 team with aims of promotions. However, despite this, Lucchese ended only in eighth place and failed to qualify to the promotion playoffs. In June 2008 Braglia was unveiled as head coach of

team

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 Va ...

, replacing

Alberto Cavasin Alberto Cavasin (born 9 January 1956) is an Italian football manager and former player. Playing career Cavasin, a right back, started his professional career in 1973 for Treviso; he then played for a number of Serie A, B and C clubs, with s ...

. In June 2009 Piero Braglia went to

Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...

, but was removed weeks later due to poor results. In June 2010 he was announced as new head coach of Juve Stabia, which he led to a surprise promotion to

via the playoffs. He was then confirmed as Juve Stabia boss for the 2011–12 second division campaign, where he guided his small club to an impressive first season half and a good ninth place by the end of the season. Another safe season followed, with Juve Stabia keeping its Serie B status for one more year. These fortunes did not repeat in the 2013–14 season, as Juve Stabia immediately appeared unable to escape relegation and Braglia was fired in November 2013 to be replaced with

Fulvio Pea Fulvio Pea (born 10 February 1967) is an Italian football coach. Career Coaching The first experiences Pea has no playing experience whatsoever, as he entered directly into coaching in 1989 as youth coach of Fanfulla, when aged 22. He then t ...

; after Pea's failure to improve results, Braglia was however called back at Juve Stabia, but could not do anything to avoid

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 ...

relegation to his club. In July 2014, Braglia agreed a comeback at the helm of

, seven years after he guided them to what was the last Serie B promotion to date for the ''Nerazzurri'' of Tuscany. On 12 October 2015 he became the head coach of

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 ...

. He led the club to the third place and thus entered the play-off round, where Lecce lost in the semifinal. On 15 June 2016 he was appointed new manager of

Alessandria Alessandria (; pms, Lissandria ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about east of Turin. Alessandria ...

. He was exonerated on 15 April 2017, three days before the end, due to the sudden collapse of results that led to overtaking the

Cremonese Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' (Po Valley). It is the capital of the ...

at the top of Group A Lega Pro, after a long domination of the piedmont team. On 27 September 2017 he was hired as the head coach of

Cosenza Cosenza (; local dialect: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000; the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza, which has a populati ...

in the

. With the calabrian club, on 16 June 2018, he won the final of the

playoffs against

Robur Siena Associazione Calcio Robur Siena 1904, commonly referred to as Siena, is an Italian football club based in Siena, Tuscany. The club was re-incorporated in 2020 after the bankruptcy of the previous legal entity Robur Siena, which itself was the r ...

, with a score of 3–1 at the Stadio Adriatico in Pescara. Thus,

returns to

after 15 years. On his first season in charge at the club in Serie B, he comfortably succeeded in keeping Cosenza into the safer spots of the league table, ending in tenth place, just four points shy of a promotion playoff spot. However, the

2019–20 Serie B The 2019–20 Serie B (known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons) was the 88th season since its establishment in 1929. The 20-team format returned after 16 years, the last time being in the 2002–03 season. The season was scheduled to run from ...

campaign did not prove to be as successful, and Braglia was sacked on 10 February 2020 following a 0–1 home loss to

Benevento Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...

which left Cosenza in deep relegation zone (18th place). In July 2020 he was appointed at the helm of Serie C club

Avellino Avellino () is a town and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

. Braglia served in charge of the ''Biancoverdi'' until 16 February 2022, when he was dismissed, together with director of football Salvatore Di Somma, following a 0–1 defeat to Virtus Francavilla. On 17 June 2022, Braglia was announced as the new head coach of Serie C club

References

External links

Piero Braglia
at Soccerway {{DEFAULTSORT:Braglia, Piero Living people 1955 births People from Grosseto Association football midfielders Italian footballers Italian football managers Serie A players Serie B players U.S. Cremonese players ACF Fiorentina players U.S. Catanzaro 1929 players U.S. Triestina Calcio 1918 players Catania S.S.D. players Calcio Foggia 1920 managers U.S. Catanzaro 1929 managers Pisa S.C. managers Frosinone Calcio managers S.S. Juve Stabia managers Cosenza Calcio managers A.S. Gubbio 1910 managers Sportspeople from the Province of Grosseto Footballers from Tuscany