Mario Beretta (born 30 October 1959) is an Italian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player. He most recently served as head coach of

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as 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 b ...

club Latina.

Playing career

Beretta was born in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. He had a short career as footballer, playing only in the 1976–77 season for Pro Sesto and in that 1978–79 for ''Rovellasca'' in

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

Coaching career

In 1982, aged 23, he became a coach for amateur team ''Abbiategrassos youth squad, and 1984 for

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

's. He was also a successful School Teacher in the mid eighties for Istituto Gonzaga and Istituto Leopardi in Milan. His first team role came in 1994 for amateur side ''Corsico'', whereas his first professional appearance came the next year for Pro Patria, followed by

Saronno Saronno (; ) is a ''comune'' of Lombardy, Italy, in the province of Varese. It received the honorary title of city with a presidential decree in 1960. With an estimated population of inhabitants, it is the most densely populated among the big m ...

Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...

and

Lumezzane Lumezzane (, locally ) is a town and (municipality) in the province of Brescia, in the Italian region of Lombardy. With a population of 22,255 (), it is one of the largest towns in its province. It is situated in the Gobbia Valley, which is a s ...

. After three successful seasons with

Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

, Beretta was signed by

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria and currently compete in the Serie C. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A ...

. An exciting debut in 2002–03 was followed by a sacking the next season. In 2004–05,

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club Chievo Verona called him to replace

Luigi Delneri Luigi Delneri (born 23 August 1950), often incorrectly written as Del Neri, is an Italian football manager and a former player. After a playing career as a midfielder including for several Serie A clubs, he began managing in the lower leagues, a ...

. Despite a strong starting, Beretta's Chievo slowly but continuously fell down the table, and he was fired three matchdays to the end of the season, with Chievo fully involved in a tough relegation battle, to be replaced by caretaker Maurizio D'Angelo. In 2005–06 he coached successfully

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

, ending in tenth place, then turned out to be seventh following the

2006 Serie A scandal ''Calciopoli'' () was a sports scandal in Italy's top professional association football league Serie A, and to a lesser extent, Serie B. The scandal centered on the manipulation of referee appointments to favor certain clubs during the 2004- ...

which consequently led Parma to a

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

qualifying. Then he coached

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

for the 2006–07 season, but he suffered in the relegation fight until the last matchday. Siena kept its place in Serie A after a dramatic win over

S.S. Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club'') is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian footba ...

. Some days later he agreed to leave the club, being replaced by

Andrea Mandorlini Andrea Mandorlini (born 17 July 1960) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. Playing career Mandorlini made his playing debut on 4 February 1979 with Torino. He left Torino in 1980 to join then-Serie B team Atalanta. Aft ...

; however he was reappointed at the helm of the Tuscan side after Mandorlini was sacked on 12 November 2007 following a 3–2 home loss to

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

. On 18 May 2008, after Siena's 2–2 draw against

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , 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 province. The ...

in the final matchday, Beretta said in his press conference that he was quitting Siena. This was confirmed by the club a few days later; he left Siena after a very impressive season ended with a record 44 points, the best result in ''Roburs time in the Italian top flight. He was successively announced on 23 June as new head coach of

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

, newly promoted in the

2008–09 Serie A The 2008–09 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 107th season of top-tier Italian football, the 77th in a round-robin tournament. It began on 30 August 2008 and ended on 31 May 2009, with the announcement of the ...

. He was sacked on 9 March after a 0–0 home draw against bottom-placed Reggina in the Week 27 of Serie A that left Lecce in second-last place. On 29 November 2009, Beretta agreed to replace

Stefano Colantuono Stefano Colantuono (born 23 October 1962) is an Italian football professional football manager and former player, who played as a defender. Playing career Colantuono, a centre back, started his playing career for Serie D side Velletri in 1981. ...

at the helm of

outfit

Torino F.C. Torino Football Club (), colloquially referred to as Toro, is an Italian professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont that currently plays in the Serie A, the highest football league of Italy. Founded in 1906 as ''Foot-Ball Club Torin ...

and in January 2010

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) 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. The city is main ...

have fired the coach, who was replaced by his predecessor

. In June 2010, Beretta signed a two-year contract with Greek side Paok Salonicco, with this being his first experience outside his homeland. However, on 22 July 2010, just a month after his appointment at the helm of the squad, Paok chairman Thodoris Zagorakis decided to sack him due to poor pre-season results and rumoured complaints from some players. Mario Beretta was immediately replaced by

Pavlos Dermitzakis Pavlos Dermitzakis (; born 29 June 1969) is a Greek professional football manager and former player. Playing career Dermitzakis began his football career in Kavala, playing for amateur local side Vyron Kavala. In 1987, he was acquired by the ...

. On 6 December 2010, Beretta was announced as new head coach of Serie A relegation-threatened Lombardians

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

, replacing

Giuseppe Iachini Giuseppe 'Beppe' Iachini (; born 7 May 1964) is an Italian professional football manager and former player in the role of midfielder. Club career Iachini was born in Ascoli Piceno. He started his playing career at Ascoli and made his Serie A an ...

at the helm of the ''Rondinelle''. His tenure as Brescia boss lasted less than two months, as he was dismissed on 30 January 2011 after a 3–0 home loss to relegation-battling rivals

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. History The name came from t ...

. Since 21 February 2012 to the end of the season he has been the coach of

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

. He successively served as head coach of financially stricken Serie B club

, narrowly missing, in the last minutes of the season, despite eight points of penalization, on a promotion playoff spot only to oversee the club being excluded from professional football for good by the end of the season. After Siena, he agreed upon a contract with Latina of Serie B in July 2014, only to mutually end his deal just in October due to what the club considered poor results (seven pts in seven matches).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beretta, Mario 1959 births Living people Footballers from Milan Parma Calcio 1913 managers Ternana Calcio managers AC ChievoVerona managers Siena FC SSD managers US Lecce managers Torino FC managers PAOK FC managers Brescia Calcio managers Serie A managers Italian football managers Pro Sesto 1913 players AC Cesena managers People from Brianza Men's association football midfielders Italian men's footballers Latina Calcio 1932 managers 20th-century Italian sportsmen