Vincenzo Guerini (; born 30 October 1953) 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 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 ...

, currently in charge as the technical area chief of

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 ...

Playing career

Club

Guerini's playing career started at

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. ...

, playing as a regular in the

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 ...

division. In 1973, he was signed by Serie A club

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 ...

, where he emerged as a young but promising attacking midfielder and won the 1975

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 ...

thanks to a goal of his in the final against

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 ...

. His career was however cut short in 1976 after suffering a severe car accident that almost left him impaired.

International

Despite his short playing career, Guerini also had the chance to play as a full international in 1974, when he was lined up by the coaching duo

Fulvio Bernardini Fulvio Bernardini (; 28 December 1905 – 13 January 1984) was an Italian football player and coach, who played as a midfielder. He is regarded as one of Italy's greatest ever footballers and managers. Club career During his playing career, Be ...

Enzo Bearzot Enzo Bearzot (; 26 September 1927 – 21 December 2010) was an Italian professional football player and manager. A defender and midfielder, he led the Italy national team to victory in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Nicknamed ''Vecio'' (standard I ...

for a game against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

Managerial career

Early years

Despite being only aged 22, Guerini immediately entered into a non-playing career and became youth coach at his last club

, also winning a

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 ...

title in 1983. On that same year, Serie B club

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 ...

offered him their head coaching position, the first in Guerini's career. In 1985, he was then hired by another Tuscan club,

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 ...

, thus having the chance to make his coaching debut in the Serie A league; despite winning a

Mitropa Cup The Mitropa Cup, officially called the La Coupe de l'Europe Centrale or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the successor states of the former Austria-Hungar ...

on that same year, Guerini however failed to save the team from relegation. His following experience, at Serie B's

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 ...

, then ended with a dismissal before the end of the season. He then served as head coach of

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 ...

, narrowly missing a top flight promotion, and successively

Ancona and later career

In 1989 Guerini was appointed head coach of another Serie B club,

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...

. In what proved to be his most successful stint as a manager, Guerini led Ancona to a historical first promotion ever in the Serie A league (a stint that lasted only one season), then ending as

1993–94 Coppa Italia The 1993–94 Coppa Italia, the 47th Coppa Italia was an Italian Football Federation domestic cup competition won by Sampdoria, who defeated Ancona Calcio in the final 6–1 on aggregate. First round Second round ''p=after penalty shoot–o ...

runners-up in his final season at the club. He was then hired by

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 ...

, but dismissed after only eight games (including a

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 ...

elimination at the hands of Boavista). After that, Guerini had two short-lived coaching experiences in the minor leagues that turned out not to be particularly successful (

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, since ...

Reggina Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are n ...

) until 1997, when he was hired by

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

and saved the then-Serie A club from relegation in what is his most successful placement in the top flight to date. Guerini then had a handful of unsuccessful experiences, all them as a replacement coach or with him not completing the season (

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 ...

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 ...

, Greek side

Panachaiki Panachaiki G.E. (Greek: Παναχαϊκή Γυμναστική Ένωση, ''Panachaiki Gymnastiki Enosi'', "Pan- Achaean Gymnastic Union") is a Greek multi-sport club based in the city of Patras, Greece. The history of Panachaiki began in 1891, ...

, Catania again, and a second stint at Catanzaro). In 2011, he was hired by former club Fiorentina as "club manager". On 2 May 2012, he was then appointed caretaker coach after the club decided to remove

Delio Rossi Delio Rossi (born 26 January 1960) is an Italian football manager and former footballer who played as a midfielder. He was most recently in charge as head coach of Serie B club Ascoli. Playing career Rossi was born in Rimini. His playing career ...

from his managerial duties following a physical confrontation with the Serbian player

Adem Ljajić Adem Ljajić ( sr-cyr, Адем Љајић, ; born 29 September 1991) is a Serbian professional footballer who last played as an attacking midfielder for Beşiktaş and the Serbia national team. Ljajić began his career with FK Jošanica, and ...

during the home league game against the

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is ...

. In his first game in charge, he led Fiorentina to a 1–0 win at

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 ...

that mathematically guaranteed the club a place in the

2012–13 Serie A The 2012–13 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 111th season of top-tier Italian football, the 81st in a round-robin tournament, and the 3rd since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. ...

. He successively moved back to his previous role as club manager, which he held until 2016. In August 2020 he was named new technical area chief of

, following a club takeover.

Honours

As player

Fiorentina *

: 1974–75

As coach

Fiorentina *

: 1983 *

Torneo di Viareggio The Torneo di Viareggio ( en, Viareggio Tournament), officially named the Viareggio Cup World Football Tournament Coppa Carnevale, is a youth association football tournament held annually in the commune of Viareggio, Italy and its surrounding area ...

: 1982 Pisa *

: 1986

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guerini, Vincenzo Living people 1953 births Sportspeople from the Province of Brescia Association football midfielders Italian footballers Brescia Calcio players ACF Fiorentina players ACF Fiorentina managers Empoli F.C. managers Bologna F.C. 1909 managers Pisa S.C. managers Reggina 1914 managers Brescia Calcio managers Piacenza Calcio 1919 managers Ternana Calcio managers A.C.N. Siena 1904 managers U.S. Catanzaro 1929 managers S.S.C. Napoli managers Catania S.S.D. managers A.C. Ancona managers Serie A players Serie A managers Italy international footballers Italian football managers Serie B players Panachaiki F.C. managers Footballers from Lombardy