Edoardo Reja (born 10 October 1945) 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 and former player who last manages the

Albania national football team The Albania national football team ( sq, Kombëtarja e futbollit të Shqipërisë) represents Albania in men's international football, and is governed by the Albanian Football Association, the governing body for football in Albania. Albania co ...

. After a career 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 ...

spent mostly with

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, sinc ...

and

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, he began working as a manager. He won four promotions from

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 ...

, including as champions with

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. ...

(1997) and

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

(2000), as well as

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 ...

(2004) and

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 ...

(2007). Reja managed Vicenza, Napoli,

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

and

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

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 ...

Playing career

Reja began his career with the

SPAL 1907 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, sinc ...

youth squad, coached by Paolo Mazza, playing in

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

alongside lifelong friend

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 which ...

, and other notable players such as Louis Pasetti and Adriano Zanier. Together, they helped the team win the 1963–64 Campionato Nazionale Primavera. In 1965, Reja joined Capello in

, in the SPAL 1907 first team, earning an appearance with the Italian U-23 squad. Reja played for two more teams,

U.S. Città di Palermo Palermo Football Club, more simply known as Palermo F.C. or Palermo (; scn, Paliemmu, link=no, ), is an Italian football club based in the Sicilian city of Palermo, conventionally founded for the first time on 1 November 1900. Among the club� ...

and

Alessandria Alessandria (; pms, Lissandria ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about east of Turin. Alessandria ...

in a long career that lasted until 1975, playing a total of 124

matches.

Coaching career

Early career

Reja started his coaching career in 1979 serving as boss 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 ...

team Molinella. Next year he then coached

Monselice Monselice (; vec, Monséłexe ) is a town and municipality (comune) located in northeastern Italy, in the Veneto region, in the province of Padua about southwest of the city of Padua, at the southern edge of the Euganean Hills (''Colli Euganei ...

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 ...

. In 1989, he coached his first

team,

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...

, of which he was previously the youth squad boss. He successively gained good successes in the same league with

Cosenza Cosenza (; local dialect: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000; the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza, which has a populati ...

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 ...

and

, where he won the championship. In fact, he launched the career of notable footballer

Andrea Pirlo Andrea Pirlo (; born 19 May 1979) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who is head coach of Süper Lig club Fatih Karagümrük. Considered one of the best deep-lying playmakers ever, Pirlo was renowned for his visio ...

at Brescia, where Pirlo was a regular member of the squad. However, Reja opted to give up the opportunity to coach Brescia in

, preferring to accept an offer from

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

, another Serie B team, where he then missed promotion defeated in the promotion playoffs to

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

after a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

Serie A debut at Vicenza, Genoa, Catania and Cagliari

During the 1998–1999 season, he was appointed coach of

club

, thus making his debut in a top division team, but was unable to save the team from relegation. Next year he remained at Vicenza and led his team back to Serie A, but promptly relegated one more time in 2001. In 2001–2002, he replaced

Franco Scoglio Francesco "Franco" Scoglio (; 2 May 1941 – 3 October 2005) was an Italian football manager who coached at both national and international level. Playing career Francesco Scoglio was born in Lipari, in the province of Messina, Italy. He ...

at the helm of

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 ...

(Serie B), but to be fired himself only three months later. On 2002–2003, he was appointed in the mid-season by

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 ...

boss

Luciano Gaucci Luciano Gaucci (December 28, 1938 – February 1, 2020) was an Italian entrepreneur and sportsman. He was the owner of various clubs: * Perugia Calcio, a football club based in Perugia, Umbria. * Viterbese Calcio, a football club based in Viterbo, ...

to replace

John Toshack John Benjamin Toshack (born 22 March 1949) is a Welsh former professional football player and manager. He began his playing career as a teenager with his hometown club Cardiff City, becoming the youngest player to make an appearance for the ...

. In November 2003, he replaced

Gian Piero Ventura Gian Piero Ventura (; born 14 January 1948) is an Italian football manager. His playing career as a midfielder was spent in the lower leagues, having not made the grade at Sampdoria, where he began his coaching career with the youth team in 1 ...

and guided the ''rossoblu'' to second place in the

and promotion to

, but was not confirmed.

Napoli

In January 2005, Reja was appointed as the manager of

, again after Ventura's dismissal. He led Napoli to win

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), 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 ...

, obtaining promotion to Serie B in 2006, then a second consecutive promotion to

in 2007 – returning the

Naples 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 ...

team to the top flight for the first time since 2001. In his first Serie A campaign with Napoli, Reja guided them to an

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

qualification spot, and was confirmed at the helm of Napoli in the 2008–09 Serie A season. He managed to lead the ''Partenopei'' to the second qualification round of the

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 ...

, where they were defeated by

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

. Napoli rose up to first place in the

table in the first half of the season. After two points in nine games caused the team to fall into the bottom half, Reja was sacked on 10 March 2009, following a 0–2 home loss to

, and replaced by former Italian team boss

Roberto Donadoni Roberto Donadoni (; born 9 September 1963) is an Italian football manager and former midfielder. Donadoni was capable of playing on either flank, or in the centre. He began his career with Atalanta, and he later became a pillar of the powerhous ...

Lazio

After a short successful spell as head coach of Croatian side

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

from August 2009 to February 2010, Reja opted to quit his job in Split in order to become the new manager of S.S. Lazio. He was unveiled as the new Lazio head coach the following day, replacing

Davide Ballardini Davide Ballardini (born 6 January 1964) is an Italian football manager. He formerly played professionally for Cesena as a midfielder. He is currently the head coach of club Cremonese. Playing career A former midfielder, Ballardini spent seve ...

. He turned the fortunes of a club in dismay, guiding it out of the relegation zone and into a mid-table finish in the season. The 2010–11 season for Lazio started in an astonishing way, with the team surprisingly heading Serie A with a four-point advantage to runners-up Inter after nine games, thanks to Reja's abilities in relaunching players such as

Mauro Zárate Mauro Matías Zárate (; born 13 March 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward Argentine Primera División club Club Atlético Platense Zárate started his career with Vélez Sarsfield in his native country, play ...

, Cristian Ledesma and Stefano Mauri, as well as introducing new key signings such as Brazilian international

Hernanes Anderson Hernanes de Carvalho Viana Lima (born 29 May 1985), known as Hernanes (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a central or attacking midfielder. Hernanes began his career with São Paulo, where he won the Ca ...

. On 17 May 2012 he resigned from the job, despite the president's pleas for him to stay on. After the sacking of

Vladimir Petković Vladimir Petković (; born 15 August 1963) is a Bosnian-born Swiss professional football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of French side Bordeaux, having previously managed the Switzerland national team, a string o ...

, Reja returned to Lazio for a second spell on 4 January 2014, completing the season in ninth place. On 12 June 2014, he resigned from his role, with

Stefano Pioli Stefano Pioli (; born 20 October 1965) is an Italian football manager and a former footballer who played as a defender. He is the head coach at Serie A club AC Milan, whom he led to the Serie A title in 2022. Playing career Pioli, a native of ...

appointed as his replacement the same day.

Atalanta

Reja was appointed trainer of

on 4 March 2015 with the team three points above the relegation zone after the dismissal of Stefano Colantuono. His time at the club ended in May 2016, having saved them twice from relegation.

Albania

On 17 April 2019,

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

signed Reja to a seven-month contract after fellow Italian Christian Panucci was dismissed the previous month. He made a huge contribution to the Albania national team giving the chance to many young players.

Personal life

Reja was born in the village of Lucinico ( sl, Ločnik), now a suburb of

Gorizia Gorizia (; sl, Gorica , colloquially 'old Gorizia' to distinguish it from Nova Gorica; fur, label= Standard Friulian, Gurize, fur, label= Southeastern Friulian, Guriza; vec, label= Bisiacco, Gorisia; german: Görz ; obsolete English ''Gorit ...

( sl, Gorica), near the border between

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 ...

and

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. His father was a Slovenian from the village of

Vipolže Vipolže () is a scattered village in the lower Municipality of Brda in the Littoral region of Slovenia on the border with Italy. The parish church in the settlement is dedicated to Saint Giles and belongs to the Koper Diocese In church g ...

in Brda, Slovenia, while his mother was

Friuli Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giulia ...

an. He is fluent in Italian,

Slovenian Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Sloven ...

, and

Friulan Friulian ( ) or Friulan (natively or ; it, friulano; de-AT, Furlanisch; sl, furlanščina) is a Romance language belonging to the Rhaeto-Romance family, spoken in the Friuli region of northeastern Italy. Friulian has around 600,000 speaker ...

. However, his levels of fluency vary: while he is able to speak the standard form of Italian, he only speaks a regional variety of Slovenian, strongly influenced by his native

Brda dialect This article uses Logar transcription. The Brda dialect ( , ), or Gorizia Hills dialect, is a Slovene dialect spoken in the Gorizia Hills in Slovenia and Italy. It is known for extreme vowel reduction in final position. It borders the Natis ...

. He is close friends with Fabio Capello. Reja has been married to his wife Livia since 1969; he met his wife while rooming with Capello in

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 ...

, at the time playing for SPAL 1907.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

SPAL 1907 *

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 ...

(1): 1964–65 U.S. Alessandria Calcio 1912 *

(1): 1973–74

Manager

Brescia *

(1): 1996–97 Vicenza *

(1): 1999–2000 Napoli *

(1): 2005–06

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reja, Edoardo 1945 births Living people People from Gorizia Footballers from Friuli Venezia Giulia Italian Slovenes Italian people of Slovene descent Italian footballers Association football midfielders Serie A players Serie B players S.P.A.L. players Palermo F.C. players U.S. Alessandria Calcio 1912 players Benevento Calcio players Italian football managers Serie A managers A.C.D. Treviso managers Delfino Pescara 1936 managers Hellas Verona F.C. managers Bologna F.C. 1909 managers U.S. Lecce managers Brescia Calcio managers Torino F.C. managers L.R. Vicenza managers Genoa C.F.C. managers Catania S.S.D. managers Cagliari Calcio managers S.S.C. Napoli managers HNK Hajduk Split managers S.S. Lazio managers Atalanta B.C. managers Albania national football team managers Italian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Croatia Expatriate football managers in Albania Italian expatriate sportspeople in Albania A.S. Pro Gorizia managers