Paolo Negro (; born 16 April 1972) is an Italian former professional

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 ...

and manager who played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

or as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. In an eighteen year professional career, Negro amassed

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 ...

totals of 362 games and 24 goals, mainly for

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, winning eight major titles with the club, including one national championship and the 1999 Cup Winners' Cup. He also appeared with

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

, where they finished in second place.

Club career

Early career: Brescia and Bologna

Negro was born in Arzignano,

Province of Vicenza The Province of Vicenza ( it, Provincia di Vicenza) is a province in the Veneto region in northern Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza. The province has an area of 2,722.53 km², and a total population of 865,082 (as of 2017). There are 1 ...

. A youth player at Brescia Calcio, he joined

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 ...

in 1990, and made his

debut against

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, on 28 October 1990, amassing over 50 overall appearances in his first two professional seasons, the latter spent in

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 ...

Brescia and Lazio

After a quick return to Brescia, he then moved to Rome's S.S. Lazio in the summer of 1993. Negro won the

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 ...

during the 1997–98 season, also reaching the UEFA Cup final that year with Lazio, losing out to

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a form ...

. The following season, Lazio won the Supercoppa Italiana, and placed second in

behind

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

, but won the 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, although he was an unused substitute in the club's 2–1 defeat of

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. These successes were immediately followed by the

UEFA 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 ...

in 1999, defeating UEFA Champions League winners

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in the final. During the 1999–2000 season, he helped Lazio win the Serie A title, with two goals in 26 appearances, also helping Lazio to capture the

and the Supercoppa Italiana over

, winning the first edition of the

Pallone d'Argento The Pallone d'Argento – Coppa Giaime Fiumanò ''(Silver Ball)'' was an annual award instituted by the Unione Stampa Sportiva Italiana (Italian Sports Press Association) or USSI. It was presented to Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie ...

in 2000. The prize is awarded to a player who has stood out during the course of a season, both for their discipline as well as for their footballing performances. Lazio also reached the quarter finals of the

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 competit ...

that season. The following season, however, on 17 December 2000, Negro scored an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

in a

derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

match against

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 ...

, who eventually lifted the ''scudetto'', while Lazio finished the season in third place. During the 2003–04 season, Negro was able to capture his third

title with Lazio, beating

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

in the

Siena

Having joined A.C. Siena in 2005, Negro scored a dramatic 85th-minute goal to defeat former side Lazio 2–1 on the final day of the 2006–07 season. Without it, Siena would have been relegated to the second division, instead of

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona, which competes in the second ...

. He appeared a further 50 times in the league in two campaigns, for a total of 363 official games. In August 2008, almost one year after retiring, 36-year-old Negro underwent a trial at Serie B club

Modena FC Modena Football Club 2018, commonly referred to as Modena, is an Italian football club based in Modena, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1912, and refounded in 2018, and had spent the majority of its existence playing in Serie B. They ar ...

, but nothing came of it.

International career

On 16 November 1994, Negro made his debut for

, in a 2–1 home loss against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

in a

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...

. He received a total of eight caps with the ''Azzurri'' between 1994 and 2000, and he was selected by manager

Dino Zoff Dino Zoff (; born 28 February 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the oldest ever winner of the World Cup, which he earned as captain of the Italian national team in the 1982 tournament, at th ...

to be a member of the Italian squad that took part at

tournament, where the national team reached the

, finishing the tournament in second place behind

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Previously, Negro was an essential member of the Italy U21 side under Cesare Maldini, as they defeated

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in the 1994 European Championship final, in

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

Style of play

Negro was a strong, aggressive, hard-tackling, physical player, who excelled in the air, and who possessed a powerful shot from distance. He was also a tactically intelligent, reliable, and versatile player, and disciplined defender, who excelled at zonal-marking. He was also an attentive man-marker, with reliable technique and distribution, as well as good pace and stamina, which allowed him to be effective when moving forward along the right flank after winning back possession.

Coaching career

In June 2011, he passed the category 2 coaching exams, which made him eligible to coach

Lega Pro The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

teams. On 30 December 2010, Negro took his first coaching job, becoming the boss of

Promozione The Promozione (, "promotion") is the sixth level in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Promozione level progresses to their closest regional league in the Eccellenza level. Depending on each league's lo ...

amateurs Cerveteri, a team from Lazio with former experiences in the professional tiers of Italian football. He left the club after only three months, resigning on 23 March 2011 due to poor results. On 26 January 2012, Negro accepted a job offer as head coach of

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 ...

amateurs

Zagarolo Zagarolo is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, in the region of Lazio of central Italy. It lies southeast of Rome, and it borders the municipalities of Colonna, Gallicano nel Lazio, Monte Compatri, Palestrina, Rome, San Cesar ...

. On 5 January 2015, after

Mark Iuliano Mark Iuliano (; born 12 August 1973) is an Italian football manager and a former professional footballer who played as a defender. Following his retirement he worked as a coach. He is currently working as Igor Tudor's assistant at Serie A clu ...

's promotion as new head coach of

Latina Latina or Latinas most often refers to: * Latinas, a demographic group in the United States * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America. *Latin Americans Latina and Latinas may also refer ...

, Negro was appointed as a new youth coach for the club. In 2017 he became a youth coach for Cragnotti FC, a youth-only club founded by Massimo Cragnotti, son of former Lazio owner

Sergio Cragnotti Sergio Cragnotti (; born 9 January 1940, in Rome, Italy) is an Italian entrepreneur and author. One of the most high-profile and wealthy business figures in Italy in recent times, Cragnotti is best known for having been President of S.S. Lazio. ...

. On 15 December 2021 he took on his first role as head coach in a professional club, joining

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 ...

, with Franco Paleari as his assistant. He left his role at Siena only two weeks later, on 29 December, following the appointment of Pasquale Padalino as new head coach.

Honours

Club

Lazio *

: 1999–2000 *

: 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2003–04 * Supercoppa Italiana: 1998,

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 ...

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: 1998–99 *

: 1999

International

Italy *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

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 Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

(Runner-up)

Individual

: 1999–2000

Orders

:* 5th Class / Knight: '' Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana'': 2000

References

External links

*
National team data
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Negro, Paolo 1972 births Living people People from Arzignano Italian footballers Italian football managers Association football defenders Serie A players Serie B players Brescia Calcio players Bologna F.C. 1909 players S.S. Lazio players A.C.N. Siena 1904 players Italy under-21 international footballers Italy international footballers UEFA Euro 2000 players Knights of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Serie C managers A.C.N. Siena 1904 managers Sportspeople from the Province of Vicenza Footballers from Veneto