Stefano Lucchini (born 2 October 1980) is an Italian professional

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 a former player who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Early career

Lucchini started his professional career at

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 ...

. He played three games in Serie B in the 1998–99 season, and 31 games in

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 ...

in the 1999–2000 season. After the 1999–2000 season, he was signed by

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A (in the 1972–73 and 1974–75 seas ...

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 ...

, where he made 43 appearances.

Empoli

Lucchini was signed by

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 ...

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 the summer of 2002, where he made his

debut on 3 November 2002 against

S.S. Lazio Società Sportiva Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club''), commonly referred to as Lazio, is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent ...

. He played with

for five seasons, following the club down to Serie B in the 2004–05 season, and subsequently helping the club win promotion back to Serie A in the summer of 2005. In the

, he helped the club reach a surprising 7th position in the 2006–07 season, which gave Empoli a place in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

first round.

Sampdoria

Lucchini signed a pre-contract agreement with

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, S ...

in March 2007. He moved to the

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

-based club in the summer after his contract with Empoli expired. Partnered with

Daniele Gastaldello Daniele Gastaldello (; born 25 June 1983) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Club career Gastaldello was bought by Juventus in 2002 from Serie C2 side Calcio Padova; in that season he played in the Primavera ...

, the club finished as the 4th in the

2009–10 Serie A The 2009–10 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 108th season of top-tier Italian football, the 78th in a round-robin tournament. There were three promoted teams from the Serie B, replacing the three teams that w ...

. In the 2010–11 season, he was rotated with

Massimo Volta Massimo Volta (born 14 May 1987) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Eccellenza amateurs Carpenedolo. Club career Volta started his career with minor league club Carpenedolo. Sampdoria In January 2007 Volta was s ...

, with Volta starting five out of six matches in the

2010–11 UEFA Europa League The 2010–11 UEFA Europa League was the second season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 40th edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 1 July 2010, with ...

. Following an injury on 6 March 2011 against

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and ''comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. History Cesena was o ...

, he rested two matches (13 and 20 March), although he had recovered by 18 March. On 13 July 2011, Lucchini left for the newly promoted

side

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 ...

Cesena

On 14 July 2014, Lucchini was signed by Serie A newcomers

A.C. Cesena A.C. Cesena, commonly referred to as Cesena (), was an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. The club spent most of its history in professional leagues such as Serie A and Serie B, but went bankrupt and folde ...

. In 2015 Cesena relegated back to Serie B.

Cremonese

On 8 July 2016, Lucchini returned to his first club

, playing in the Lega Pro.

International career

Lucchini was part of the Italy U21 national team squad that lost in the semi-finals of the

2002 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2002 was the 13th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Switzerland between 16 and 28 May 2002. Czech Republic U-21s won the competition for the first time. Qua ...

. Due to the strong performance of Sampdoria in the 2009–10 season, he received his first senior national team call-up in August, the first match coached by

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 ...

. However he never received another call-up after that match.

Coaching career

Before the 2021–22 season, he was hired by

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 Pergolettese for his first professional head coach appointment. He was dismissed on 3 March 2022 due to poor results.

References

External links

*
Profile
at FIGC *
Profile
at Gazzetta dello Sport {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucchini, Stefano 1980 births Living people People from Codogno Italian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers US Cremonese players Ternana Calcio players Empoli FC players UC Sampdoria players Atalanta BC players AC Cesena players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Italian football managers Serie C managers Footballers from Lombardy Sportspeople from the Province of Lodi