Rosario Pergolizzi (born 7 October 1968) 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 ...

coach and former player.

Playing career

Pergolizzi, a defender, made his professional debut with

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 team

Olbia Calcio Olbia Calcio 1905 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Olbia, is a football club based in the city of Olbia, in the province of Sassari. It plays in Serie C, the third division of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1906 (although its bi ...

; he then moved to

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, where he made a single appearance in the Serie A 1987-88. Pergolizzi then played for several minor

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 ...

and B clubs, including

Ascoli Ascoli may refer to: Places in Italy *Ascoli Satriano, a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region *Province of Ascoli Piceno, a province of the Marche region **Ascoli Piceno, a city which is the seat of the province above ...

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 ...

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

Padova Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

and

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...

. He retired in 2001–2002, after a single appearance with Olbia, then in

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 ...

Coaching career

Pergolizzi started his coaching career in 2002 as

Giuseppe Pillon Giuseppe "Bepi" Pillon (born 8 February 1956) is an Italian football manager and former player. Career Player Born in Preganziol, Province of Treviso, Pillon moved his first footsteps into football with hometown team Pro Mogliano, before to jo ...

's assistant coach at

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 ...

. The same year the club immediately gained promotion to

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 2003–2004 he followed Pillon at

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

. From 2004 to 2005 he coached

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 ...

club

Olbia Olbia (, ; sc, Terranoa; sdn, Tarranoa) is a city and commune of 60,346 inhabitants (May 2018) in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called ''Olbia'' in the Roman age, ...

, the same team in which he started and ended his playing career. In 2005, he was appointed to coach

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

's youth squad. In his first season, he reached the semifinals of both the

Campionato Nazionale Primavera The Campionato Nazionale Primavera – Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti, was an Italian football youth competition. It is organised by the Lega Serie A and the participating teams that take part in Serie A and Serie B: the first edition was held in th ...

and the

Coppa Italia Primavera The Coppa Italia Primavera (Italian for Spring Italian Cup) is an Italian football competition played by youth teams from Campionato Primavera. All players are under 20 of age. The first edition was held in the 1972–73 season. Due to sponsorshi ...

. In 2006–2007, he reached again the Coppa Italia Primavera semifinals, where his team was defeated by

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 ...

. On 23 April 2007, following the firing of head coach

Francesco Guidolin Francesco Guidolin (; born 3 October 1955) is an Italian football manager and former player, most recently the manager of Premier League team Swansea City. He has coached various Italian club sides in Serie A, winning the 1996–97 Coppa Italia ...

, Pergolizzi was appointed alongside first-team assistant manager

Renzo Gobbo Renzo Gobbo (born January 13, 1961, in Castelfranco Veneto) is the Italy, Italian association football former manager of A.C. Sambonifacese, Sambonifacese and former player. Career Playing Gobbo, a midfielder, made his playing debut with Calcio ...

to coach Palermo for the five remaining

league matches. He served for only three matches before being sacked himself and replaced by his predecessor Guidolin. After a year without a job, in the summer of 2008 Pergolizzi took back his previous role as Palermo youth team coach. In his first season back with the Palermo youngsters, he guided the ''under-19'' team to win the

for a historical first time, after defeating tipped favourites

in the quarter finals,

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 ...

in the semi-final, and

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 ...

in the league final. He left Palermo in June 2010 to get back into first-team coaching. In June 2011 he was unveiled as new head coach of

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 ...

, who will take part to the 2011–12

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest 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. Before the 1978� ...

after being relegated from Serie B. On 18 July 2011 he was forced, in agreement with the company, to leave his post due to serious family problems. On 26 October 2011, he was named head coach of

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...

. He resigned a few weeks later, on 5 December, due to poor results. On 20 March 2013, he was named new manager of

, but he was relieved of his duties again on 13 April 2013. He was successively reappointed at the helm of Ascoli in July 2013 after the club's relegation to

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 ...

, but resigned on 27 October 2013 after a 2–5 home loss to

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 ...

. On 27 November 2014, he was named new head coach of

Eccellenza Sicily Eccellenza Sicily ( it, Eccellenza Sicilia) is the regional Eccellenza football division for clubs in Sicily, Italy. It is competed amongst 32 teams, in two different groups (A and B). The winners of the Groups are promoted to Serie D. The clubs w ...

amateurs

Marsala Marsala (, local ; la, Lilybaeum) is an Italian town located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth in Sicily. The town is famous for the docking of Gius ...

. guiding them to promotion to

by the end of the season. However, on the following

2015–16 Serie D The 2015–16 Serie D was the sixty-eighth edition of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represents the fourth tier in the Italian football league system. The phoenix club of Parma Calcio was added to this league. P ...

season, he suffered immediate relegation on the final matchday of the season. On 30 July 2018, he was named new Under-17 coach of

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

for the 2018–19 season. On 3 August 2019, he was unveiled as the new head coach of the refounded

, that played

in 2019–20. Palermo was promoted to

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 ...

at the end of the season as Pergolizzi left the club.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pergolizzi, Rosario Living people 1968 births Italian footballers Italian football managers Serie A players Serie B players S.S.C. Napoli players Reggina 1914 players Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C. players Bologna F.C. 1909 players Brescia Calcio players Calcio Padova players Ravenna F.C. players Footballers from Palermo Olbia Calcio 1905 players Palermo F.C. managers Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C. managers Association football defenders