Christian Bracconi (born 25 November 1960) is a French-Italian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, and a current manager of

R.E. Virton Royal Excelsior Virton is a Belgian football club, based in the city of Virton, in Luxembourg province. The club will participate in Belgian National Division 1 from 2023–24 after relegation from Challenger Pro League in 2022–23. They were p ...

. During his playing days, Bracconi played for

SC Bastia Sporting Club Bastiais ( co, Sporting Club di Bastia, commonly referred to as SC Bastia or simply Bastia) is a Corsican association football club based in Bastia on the island of Corsica. The club plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of Football ...

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

and

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

Playing career

Bracconi started his career in

with

, whom he played for from 1980 to 1983. After spending three seasons with Bastia, Bracconi signed for

Racing Besançon Racing Besançon is a French association football, football club based in Besançon. It was founded in 1904. They play at the Stade Léo Lagrange. The club currently competes in the Championnat National 2 the fourth tier of France Football. Histo ...

. While at Besançon Bracconi enjoyed the best time of his career in which he scored 20 goals in his three seasons with the club in the second division. He then made the move back to Ligue 1 with

FC Metz Football Club de Metz, commonly referred to as FC Metz or simply Metz (), is a French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 2, the second division in the French football league sys ...

where he stayed for two seasons before moving back to Ligue 2 with former club SC Bastia. In 1991, after spending three seasons with Bastia, Bracconi retired from professional football.

Coaching career

On 4 November 2013, after

club

AC Ajaccio Athletic Club Ajaccio ( co, Athletic Club Aiacciu), commonly referred to as AC Ajaccio, ''ACA'' or simply Ajaccio, is a French association football club based in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The club was founded in 1910 and ...

sacked

Fabrizio Ravanelli Fabrizio Ravanelli (; born 11 December 1968) is an Italian football manager and former international player. A former striker, Ravanelli started and ended his playing career at hometown club Perugia Calcio, and also played for Middlesbrough, J ...

, Bracconi was made interim manager of the club. His first match in charge was on 9 November 2013 against

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

in which his side took the lead early in the 7th minute through

Paul Lasne Paul Bastien Lasne (born 16 January 1989) is a French professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 2 club Paris FC. Career Born in Saint-Cloud, Lasne broke into the first team squad at Bordeaux in 2009. He was loaned out to Ch� ...

before giving away the equaliser in the 42nd minute as the match ended 1–1. His first league victory as manager of the club eventually came on 8 February 2014 against

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

in which his side won 3–1. In October 2014, Bracconi was dismissed. On 13 June 2015, Bracconi was appointed as manager of

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, t ...

club

CA Bastia Cercle Athlétique Bastiais or CA Bastia was a French football club from Bastia, Corsica. The team's highest point was playing in Ligue 2, the second tier of the French football league system, in 2013–14. Their historic home stadium was the ...

. He was dismissed in November, with the club in last place. In May 2016, he became assistant to his former Metz teammate

Albert Cartier Albert Cartier (born 22 November 1960) is a French professional football manager and former player. Coaching career Cartier was fired by FC Brussels in January 2008 for bad results and did not reach a new agreement with RAEC Mons. On 12 January ...

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy Soc ...

, and left a year later at the end of his contract. In November 2017, Bracconi moved abroad to

Tubize Tubize (; nl, Tubeke ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. On January 1, 2006 Tubize had a total population of 22,335. The total area is 32.66 km2 which gives a population density of 6 ...

in the

Belgian First Division B The Challenger Pro League (previously known as ''1B Pro League'') is the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First Division A. It was created by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 201 ...

, as assistant to

Sadio Demba Sadio Demba is a Senegalese former Association football, football manager. Career In 2014, Demba became the first Senegalese to earn the UEFA Pro License. In 2016, he was appointed manager of Belgian third tier side RWS Bruxelles, White Star. In ...

, and became manager days later. He suffered relegation in his first year but the club were reinstated due to the administrative relegation of

Lierse Koninklijke Lierse Sportkring (), often simply known as Lierse, was a Belgian professional football club from the city of Lier in the Antwerp province. Lierse have won four championship titles and two Belgian Cups. Lierse was one of the six Be ...

, and his contract was renewed. He resigned in June 2019 after another descent. On 5 December 2019, Bracconi returned to Belgium's second tier with

, succeeding the German

Dino Toppmöller Dino Nicolas Toppmöller (born 23 November 1980) is a German football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of German Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt. Managerial career In June 2016, Toppmöller became manager of F91 Dude ...

Managerial statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bracconi, Christian 1960 births Living people Footballers from Constantine, Algeria SC Bastia players FC Metz players Association football forwards Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players French footballers French football managers AC Ajaccio managers Racing Besançon players Pieds-Noirs French expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Ligue 1 managers Ligue 2 managers INF Vichy players FC Metz non-playing staff