The AIC Serie A Coach of the Year ( it, Migliore allenatore AIC) is a yearly award organized by the

Italian Footballers' Association The Italian Footballers' Association (Italian: ''Associazione Italiana Calciatori''), also referred to by the acronym AIC, is the association for footballers in Italy. It was established in 1968 and currently has 4,500 members, of which 2,500 ar ...

(AIC) given to the

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 ...

who has been considered to have performed the best over the previous

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 ...

season. The award is part of the

Gran Galà del Calcio The Gran Galà del Calcio AIC is an event organised by the Italian Footballers' Association (AIC) in order to reward players, managers and referees who have been considered to have performed the best over the previous Serie A season. The winners o ...

(formerly known as the "Oscar del Calcio AIC") awards event. Juventus coaches have won the most awards, with eleven. Only two non-Italians have won the award:

Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; born 5 February 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player. After an unassuming playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 ...

of Sweden became the first in 2000 while

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...

of Portugal was the first foreign coach to win the award twice.

Massimiliano Allegri Massimiliano Allegri (; born 11 August 1967), also known as Max Allegri, is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Juventus. During his playing career, Allegri played in the Serie A as a midfielder ...

and

Antonio Conte Antonio Conte (; born 31 July 1969) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Playing as a midfielder, Conte began his career at local club Lecce and later b ...

have each won the award a record four times.

History

The inaugural award, given at the "Oscar del Calcio AIC" ceremony, was presented after the conclusion of the 1996–97 Serie A season to Marcello Lippi who had led

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 ...

to the title, winning Serie A by two points ahead of

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

. Juventus also won the

1996 UEFA Champions League Final The 1996 UEFA Champions League Final was a football match played on 22 May 1996 between Ajax of the Netherlands and Juventus of Italy. The match ended in a 1–1 draw after extra time, forcing a penalty shoot-out, which Juventus won 4–2. It was ...

that year, against

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

. Lippi retained the Coach of the Year award the following season, when Juventus secured the domestic title again, yet lost the

Champions League Final The UEFA Champions League is a seasonal football competition established in 1955. Prior to the 1992–93 season, the tournament was named the European Cup. The UEFA Champions League is open to the league champions of all UEFA (Union of European ...

to "perennial German underdogs"

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, led by

Alberto Zaccheroni Alberto Zaccheroni (; born 1 April 1953) is an Italian football manager, formerly in charge of the United Arab Emirates and Japan national football teams. He has managed a number of top clubs in Serie A, the high point of his career being his s ...

, won the league in the 1998–99 season, and he became the second individual recipient of the Coach of the Year award. Sweden's

managed

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

to their first league title since 1974 when they topped the league in the 1999–2000 season. Further success in both the

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

and the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

ensured that Eriksson was named the first non-Italian Serie A Coach of the Year.

Carlo Ancelotti Carlo Ancelotti , (born 10 June 1959) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Real Madrid. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, Ancelotti is the most decorated manager ...

won the award with Juventus in the 2000–01 season, becoming the first coach to do so despite having not won the league, finishing runners-up behind

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

by two points. The following season, a fifth-place finish from newly promoted

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 ...

, and subsequent qualification for the

2002–03 UEFA Cup The 2002–03 UEFA Cup was the 32nd edition of the UEFA Cup, the second-tier European club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played between Portuguese side Porto and Scottish side Celtic at the Estadio Olímpico de Sevilla, Sev ...

, ensured the Coach of the Year was awarded to

Luigi Delneri Luigi Delneri (born 23 August 1950), often incorrectly written as Del Neri, is an Italian football manager and a former player. After a playing career as a midfielder including for several Serie A clubs, he began managing in the lower leagues, a ...

. Lippi became the first coach to win the award on three occasions following the 2002–03 season – he led Juventus to win Serie A, the Supercoppa and to a narrow defeat (on penalties) in the first all-Italian

. The 2003–04 season saw Milan claim their first Serie A title in five years, finishing eleven points ahead of nearest rivals Roma. Milan's coach, Ancelotti, was presented with his second Coach of the Year award in four seasons.

Fabio Capello Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional football manager and player. As a player, Capello represented SPAL 1907, Roma, Milan and Juventus. He played as a midfielder and won several trophies during his career which ...

won the award following the 2004–05 season in which he led Juventus to league success. He later resigned in the wake of the ''Calciopoli'' match-fixing scandal and Juventus were stripped of their title and relegated 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 ...

. Luciano Spalletti, the Roma coach, won the award for the next two seasons. Roma finished fifth in the 2005–06 season but were later elevated to second following the disqualification of clubs after the ''Calciopoli'' scandal. Roma also made it to the final of the

but were defeated 4–1 on aggregate by

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

. In the 2006–07 season, Spalletti led Roma to runners-up in Serie A and to win the

. A fourth place league finish for

ACF 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 ...

and an appearance in the semi-finals of the

2007–08 UEFA Cup The 2007–08 UEFA Cup was the 37th edition of the UEFA Cup, UEFA's second-tier club football tournament. The final was played at the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, England on 14 May 2008 between Rangers of Scotland and Zenit Saint Pet ...

saw

Cesare Prandelli Claudio Cesare Prandelli (; born 19 August 1957) is an Italian football coach and former player. He was most recently head coach of Fiorentina. Career Player Prandelli was a midfielder who moved from Atalanta to Juventus in 1979. His first game ...

as recipient of the Coach of the Year award in 2008. Portuguese coach

became the second non-Italian to win the award when he led Internazionale to the Serie A title in the 2008–09 season, along with victory in the 2008 Supercoppa Italiana. He retained the award after the following season in which Internazionale not only retained their domestic title but won the

and the Champions League. Milan appointed

as their new coach for the 2010–11 season. Having led the club to league success and the semi-finals of the

, he was awarded the Coach of the Year title, presented at the "Gran Galà del Calcio" which replaced the previous ceremony. The following season, another newly appointed manager won the award. Former player

succeeded Delneri as Juventus manager and led the club to their first league title in nine years, along with a losing appearance in the final of the

. Conte won the Coach of the Year award the following two seasons – Juventus defended their league title in the 2012–13 season along with winning the Supercoppa, and repeated that feat in the 2013–14 season. Leaving to manage the

Italian national team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

, Conte was replaced by Allegri who secured the league title, the

, and runners-up spots in both the Supercoppa and the Champions League. Allegri led Juventus to their fifth consecutive Serie A title in the 2015–16 season, also winning both the Supercoppa and the

, and retained the Coach of the Year trophy. In the

2016–17 Serie A The 2016–17 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 115th season of top-tier Italian football, the 85th in a round-robin tournament, and the 7th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. ...

Maurizio Sarri Maurizio Sarri (; born 10 January 1959) is an Italian professional football manager who is the current manager of club Lazio. Sarri did not play football professionally, taking part as an amateur centre back and coach while working as a banker. ...

led Napoli to a convincing third place, scoring the most goals in the league and obtaining the club's record points tally up to that point (83), which earned him the award. The following year, the Coach of the Year title went back to Allegri for a record fourth time, having won his fourth double (''

Scudetto The ''scudetto'' (Italian language, Italian for: "little shield") is a decoration having the colors of the flag of Italy which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in ...

'' and Coppa Italia) with Juventus. In the 2018–19 season, another non-title winner manager,

Gian Piero Gasperini Gian Piero Gasperini (born 26 January 1958) is an Italian football manager and former player, who is currently the manager of Italian side Atalanta. Playing career Gasperini entered the Juventus youth system at the age of 9; during his stay ...

, was awarded following a season where

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 ...

reached the

final after 23 years, though losing to Lazio, and qualified to the Champions League for the first time in their history. Gasperini won the award again the following season after having achieved Atalanta's highest points tally ever in Serie A (78). In the 2020–21 season,

won the award (his fourth in total) after having led Inter Milan to the ''

'' win, breaking an eleven-year draught of championships for Inter and ending a nine-year long streak by Juventus. In the 2021–22 season, Italian coach

Stefano Pioli Stefano Pioli (; born 20 October 1965) is an Italian football manager and a former footballer who played as a defender. He is the head coach at Serie A club AC Milan, whom he led to the Serie A title in 2022. Playing career Pioli, a native of ...

won his first award after leading AC Milan to their first Italian Serie A title in 11 years.