Marco Simone (; born 7 January 1969) 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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

. As a player, he was a striker and winger. He most prominently played for

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 ...

, with whom he won four

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 Cop ...

championships and two

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

titles, as well as in France's

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. ...

for

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

and

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

. At international level, Simone played four games for the Italian national team. As a manager, Simone has coached Monaco,

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

, Laval and Châteauroux. He also had brief spells in Switzerland, Tunisia, Thailand and Morocco.

Club career

Early career

Simone was born in Castellanza. He debuted in

for

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps ...

on 11 January 1987. After a few appearances in the top-flight Serie A, he was put on loan at

Virescit Boccaleone Virtus Bergamo Alzano Seriate 1909 was an Italian association football club from Alzano Lombardo, Lombardy. In 2019 it was bought by Ciserano Calcio. History Alzano Seriate FC AlzanoCene officially merged with fellow Lombardy and Serie ...

in the secondary

Serie C1 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 ...

league. He scored 15 goals for Virescit in the 1987–88 season, and finished as top scorer of the Serie C1 league. He returned to Como for the 1988–89 Serie A season, in which he scored 6 goals. Como finished dead last in the tournament, and was

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie 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 season. It had been ...

AC Milan

In the summer of 1989, Simone was brought into the squad of third-place finishers

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seaso ...

by manager

Arrigo Sacchi Arrigo Sacchi (born 1 April 1946) is an Italian former professional football coach. He has twice managed AC Milan (1987–1991, 1996–1997), with great success. He won the Serie A title in his 1987–88 debut season and then dominated European ...

. His stay at Milan would be long and successful, as he won the 1990

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

under manager Sacchi, as well as four Serie A titles in five years from 1992 to 1996 and the 1994

under the management of

Fabio Capello Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional football manager and player. As a player, Capello represented SPAL 1907, Roma, Milan and Juventus. He played as a midfielder and won several trophies during his career whi ...

. His best season for AC Milan came during the 1994–95 Serie A season, where he scored 17 goals in 30 games, as well as 4 in the Champions League, for a total of 21 goals in all competitions, as Milan reached the

1995 UEFA Champions League Final The 1995 UEFA Champions League Final was the 40th edition and took place in Vienna between Ajax and Milan. It was a rematch of the 1969 European Cup final and Milan's third consecutive UEFA Champions League final, a feat which has since been match ...

, only to be defeated by

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

. He also managed 11 goals in all competitions during the 1995–96 season, 8 of which came in

, finishing as the club's second highest goalscorer behind George Weah as Milan won the Serie A title. Despite competing for the attacking spots at Milan with the three

FIFA World Player of the Year The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, between 1991 and 2015 at the FIFA World Player Gala. Coaches and captains of international teams and media representati ...

award winners

Marco van Basten Marcel "Marco" van Basten (; born 31 October 1964) is a Dutch football manager and retired professional player, who played for Ajax and AC Milan, as well as the Netherlands national team, as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the greatest ...

(1992),

Roberto Baggio Roberto Baggio (; born 18 February 1967) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a second striker, or as an attacking midfielder, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. He is the former pr ...

(1993) and George Weah (1995) (as well as the presence of Ruud Gullit, Dejan Savićević, Daniele Massaro,

Paolo Di Canio Paolo Di Canio (born 9 July 1968) is an Italian former professional footballer and manager. During his playing career he made over 500 league appearances and scored over one hundred goals as a forward. He primarily played as a deep-lying forward ...

Jean-Pierre Papin Jean-Pierre Roger Guillaume Papin (born 5 November 1963) is a French football manager and former professional player who played as a forward. He was named the Ballon d'Or and IFFHS World's Top Goal Scorer of the Year in 1991. Papin was known fo ...

, Christophe Dugarry, and Brian Laudrup), he scored a total of 74 goals in 245 games in all competitions for Milan.

Later career in France, Monaco and return to Italy

In 1997, Simone moved abroad to play for French club

, with whom he won both domestic cups in his first season. He scored in both the

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

final and the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

final against

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectu ...

and

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements ...

respectively. He transferred to

in 1999. He scored 21 goals and made 15 assists in 34 games during the 1999–2000 season, and helped Monaco win the

championship in 2000. He returned to Milan for parts of the 2001–02 Serie A season, scoring his last goal with the Rossoneri in Coppa Italia against Lazio in 2002. He returned to Monaco, but rarely played during the

2002–03 Ligue 1 For the 2002–03 season, the French Division 1 was renamed as Ligue 1 and was expanded to contain 20 clubs, which played 38 matches against each other, rather than the 34 matches in previous seasons. Lyon won the 2002–03 Ligue 1 season of the ...

season. Following an unsuccessful

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

playing for

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...

, he retired from football in 2004, at the age of 35. He made a short come-back as he played a single game for

Serie C2 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...

club

Legnano Legnano (; or ''Lignàn'') is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the north-westernmost part of the Metropolitan City of Milan, Province of Milan, about from central Milan. With 60,259, it is the thirteenth-most populous township in Lombardy. Le ...

in 2005.

International career

During his time with Milan, Simone also made his senior debut for the Italian national team on 19 December 1992, under then national team manager Arrigo Sacchi, in a 2–1 away win in a 1994 World Cup qualifier against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. He would go on to play four games in total for the national team between 1992 and 1996, but did not score any goals for Italy.

Style of play

Simone was a diminutive forward, gifted with pace, good movement, an eye for goal, and excellent technique. He was capable of playing in several attacking positions, and was best used as a second striker, due to his small stature and slender physical build, although he was also capable of playing in a central role as a main striker, or even as a winger.

Managerial career

Monaco

On 12 September 2011, Simone got his first managerial job at former club Monaco, succeeding Laurent Banide at a club 17th in

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to 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 making up the Ligue ...

. He was fired at the end of the season with the club having finished 8th and not met their aim of instant promotion, despite the investment of billionaire new owner Dmitry Rybolovlev.

Lausanne-Sport

Simone became Technical Director at Lausanne-Sport of the

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the winners of the league are promoted to the Super League, while th ...

in November 2013, and 11 months later he replaced Francesco Gabriele as manager. He was sacked on 24 March 2015 with the team in seventh having earned one point from six games in the calendar year.

Tours and Laval

On 25 June 2015, Simone returned to France's second tier with Tours FC. He finished the season in 9th, and quit despite having a year left on his contract, due to disputes with the board. Still in the same league, Simone was hired at 18th-placed Laval on 8 November 2016. The following 11 April he was dismissed, with the team in last position.

Club Africain

In July 2017, Simone joined

Club Africain Club Africain ( ar, النادي الإفريقي) is a Tunisian football club based in Tunis that competes in the Tunisian Championship. It fields several sports teams, including football, handball, basketball, swimming and volleyball. The foot ...

in Tunisia. Four months into a two-year contract, he quit the 12th-placed club. Through

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

, he sued the club for the remainder of his salary, and won €630,000 in July 2019. In April 2018 he was one of 77 applicants for the vacant Cameroon national team job.

Ratchaburi Mitr Phol and Mohammédia

Simone became manager of the

Thai Premier League The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from Augu ...

's Ratchaburi Mitr Phol F.C. on 25 March 2019. He left in July, with a record of eight wins from 18 games, as he said he had an offer from a European club. He instead joined SCC Mohammédia in Morocco's

Botola 2 Botola Pro 2, commonly known as Botola 2 (formerly known before as the ''Groupement National de Football 2''), is the second division of the Moroccan football league, behind the Botola, the highest football league in Morocco. It features 16 teams ...

. Within another four months, he was dismissed despite the team leading the league, and refused a backroom job with the club.

Châteauroux

On 10 March 2021, Simone became the manager of

club Châteauroux. He was appointed following the takeover by Saudi prince

Abdullah bin Musa'ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud ( ar, عبد الله بن مساعد بن عبد العزيز آل سعود; born 19 February 1965) is the son of Prince Mosaad bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud. Prince Abdulla is a former general president of ...

and his United World Group. Châteauroux was in last place at the time he was hired, and remained in that position until the end of the season, getting relegated to the third-tier

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, ...

. He was fired by Châteauroux on 11 October 2021, following a home loss to

Concarneau Concarneau (, meaning ''Bay of Cornouaille'') is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. Concarneau is bordered to the west by the Baie de La Forêt. The town has two distinct areas: the modern town on the ...

, with the club in the middle of the table.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

AC Milan *

: 1991–92,

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

, 1993–94, 1995–96 *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual association football, football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles ...

: 1993,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

* European Cup/UEFA Champions League: 1989–90, 1993–94 *

European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

Paris Saint-Germain *

: 1997–98 *

: 1997–98 * Trophée des Champions:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

Monaco *

French Division 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. ...

: 1999–2000 *Trophée des Champions:

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

Individual *Serie C1 top-scorer: 1987–88 (15 goals) *

Ligue 1 Player of the Year The Ligue 1 Player of the Year, is an award given to the player whose performances are considered to be the best, playing in Ligue 1. The award has been presented since the 1993–94 season and the first winner of the award was Paris Saint-Germain ...

: 1998 *''

France Football ''France Football'' is a French weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclusi ...

''s Best Foreign Player in France: 1997–98, 1999–2000 *AC Milan Hall of Fame

References

External links

* *
Profile at FIGC.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simone, Marco 1969 births Living people Italian footballers Italy international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Italian expatriate footballers Como 1907 players A.C. Legnano players A.C. Milan players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Monaco AS Monaco FC players OGC Nice players Serie A players Serie C players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 managers Italian football chairmen and investors Sportspeople from the Province of Varese Italian expatriate sportspeople in France Italian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Italian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Virtus Bergamo Alzano Seriate 1909 players Expatriate football managers in Monaco Expatriate football managers in Switzerland Italian football managers AS Monaco FC managers FC Lausanne-Sport managers Tours FC managers Stade Lavallois managers LB Châteauroux managers Association football forwards Association football midfielders Association football wingers Italy B international footballers UEFA Champions League winning players Footballers from Lombardy