Valter Bonacina (born 30 July 1964) is an Italian

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

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 ...

and former player who played as a

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 ...

Career

Playing career

He spent the majority of his career playing for

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 ...

(10 seasons, 7 of which in

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

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

(3 seasons), and retired in 2002.

Coaching career

From 2003 to 2007 he served as assistant manager of Atalanta. In July 2007 he was then moved in charge of the ''Allievi Regionali'' youth team, and was successively promoted at the helm of the ''Primavera'' under-19 team in July 2009. On 8 January 2010, he was then appointed head coach of Atalanta in a caretaker role, following

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 ...

's resignation from his managerial position at the club. He then guided Atalanta on a Serie A Week 19 game ended in a 0–1 away loss to

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 ...

on 10 January 2009 and returned to his previous role after Bortolo Mutti was appointed as head coach the very next day. On 10 June 2011 he was announced as new head coach of

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� ...

club

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 ...

. He coached the Under-19 squads in several clubs from 2012 to 2021. On 21 June 2021, he was hired as a head coach by

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 ...

club Villa Valle. He resigned on 3 November 2021, following a poor start to the season.

References

1964 births Living people Footballers from Bergamo Italian men's footballers Italian football managers AS Roma players Atalanta BC players AC Monza players Atalanta BC managers Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players AC Rodengo Saiano players Serie A managers Serie C managers Serie D managers Virtus Bergamo Alzano Seriate 1909 players Men's association football midfielders Atalanta BC non-playing staff {{Italy-footy-midfielder-1960s-stub