Leonardo Semplici (born 18 July 1967) 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 who was most recently manager of Spezia.

Playing career

His playing career mostly consisted of amateur and minor league players with Tuscan teams such as Lucchese.

Coaching career

In 2004 Semplici took over from Eccellenza Tuscany club Sangimignano, bringing them back to Serie D. He successively took over at Figline, bringing the Eccellenza amateurs all the way up to Lega Pro Prima Divisione in his four years at the helm of the team. He then had two short stints as head coach of two more Tuscan teams,

Arezzo Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...

and

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 ...

, before Fiorentina decided to appoint him as their new youth coach. In December 2014 he took over at SPAL, guiding the Lega Pro club to Serie B promotion in 2016 and then to a surprising run for a Serie A promotion spot in his first Serie B season. On 13 May 2017, SPAL became the first team to win promotion from the

2016–17 Serie B The 2016–17 Serie B (known as the Serie B ConTe.it for sponsorship reasons) was the 85th season since its establishment in 1929. A total of 22 teams were contesting the league: 15 returning from the 2015–16 season, 4 promoted from Lega Pro, ...

, thus ensuring a spot in the

2017–18 Serie A The 2017–18 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 116th season of top-tier Italian football, the 86th in a round-robin tournament and the 8th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. ...

, the first time in the top flight since 49 years for the small

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

-based club. The club remained in Serie A for the 2018-19 season, finishing in 13th position with 42 points. The following season proved difficult for the club, however, and after achieving just 15 points after twenty-three Serie A matches, Semplici was sacked as SPAL coach on 10 February 2020. On 22 February 2021, Semplici was appointed manager of

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

. Appointed to replace

Eusebio Di Francesco Eusebio Di Francesco (; born 8 September 1969) is an Italian manager, and former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Di Francesco started his career with Tuscan teams Empoli and Lucchese. In 1995, he joined Piacenza ...

following a dismal first half of the season, Semplici succeeded to turn the Sardinians' fortunes and save Cagliari from relegation, being then confirmed in charge for the

2021–22 Serie A The 2021–22 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 120th season of top-tier Italian football, the 90th in a round-robin tournament, and the 12th since its organization under an own league committee, the Lega Serie ...

season. However, after achieving one point in the first three games of the season and following a 2–3 home loss to Genoa, Semplici was relieved from managerial duties on 14 September 2021.

Managerial statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Semplici, Leonardo 1967 births Footballers from Florence Italian men's footballers Living people Italian football managers Serie A managers SPAL managers Cagliari Calcio managers Spezia Calcio managers Men's association football defenders