Antonio Conte will be vacating his position as the coach of Italy after Euro 2016 and he will relocate to English giants Chelsea, following in the footsteps of compatriot Carlo Ancelotti, who won a double with the west London side.
Recently Italian coaches have been hired by foreign clubs and national teams and usually the results are positive. Not only is there a demand for tacticians from Italy but the supply is available too.
Footballing nations have their own styles and philosophies so what makes Italian coaches more appealing than the others?
Italian coaches were known for implementing the infamous catenaccio tactic from the 1960s until the 1980s and the stereotype still lingers on today. Despite this, most Italian teams do not over-emphasise on defending or play for 0-0 draws or 1-0 victories like in the past.
Pragmatism still exists in calcio but the emphasis is on being intelligent as opposed to being purely defensive and being reckless and naïve is hugely frowned upon. Some of the hallmarks of Italian tacticians are attention to detail, ability to organise a team, implementation of a system and creation of specific roles or tasks for players.
Producing great coaches is not a recent phenomenon though as there have been many of them in Italian football history such as Vittorio Pozzo, Nereo Rocco, Fulvio Bernardini and Arrigo Sacchi just to name a few. In recent decades though, coaches from Italy have decided to try their luck outside of their homeland.
Giovanni Trapattoni was not the first Italian to coach overseas but he was one of the first big names to be employed overseas when German giants Bayern Munich hired him for the 1994-95 season.
He left after his first season there but coached Die Roten again from 1996-98 and won the German league and cup. Trapattoni also won league titles in Portugal and Austria, becoming one of a few men to have won league titles in four different countries.
Fabio Capello won trophies aplenty with AC Milan before moving to Spanish giants Real Madrid in 1996. He won a Spanish league title in his first spell with the Merengues and he added another La Liga title when he returned for the second time in 2006-07.
After coaching at AC Milan for nearly a decade, Carlo Ancelotti has won domestic trophies in England, France and Spain, and he lead Real Madrid to their 10th European Cup/Champions League title in 2013-14. From 2016-17 he will coach Bayern Munich, following in the footsteps of Trapattoni.
Inter coach Roberto Mancini has had his spells overseas too, winning an FA Cup and Premier League title with Manchester City and a Turkish Cup with Galatasaray.
Marcello Lippi won numerous trophies with Juventus and took Italy to World Cup glory in 2006. He also coached in Asia and won the 2013 Asian Champions League with Chinese team Guangzhou Evergrande.
Leicester City are leading the title chase in the English Premier League and coach Claudio Ranieri has bounced back after a disappointing international spell with Greece. A league title with Leicester would be a great achievement for ‘The Tinkerman’ after years of near misses at Chelsea, Juventus and Roma.
At international level, Trapattoni struggled with the Republic of Ireland despite achieving qualification for Euro 2012 and Capello flopped with England and Russia.
Alberto Zaccheroni and Gianni De Biasi have had more positive coaching spells with ‘Zac’ winning the 2011 Asian Cup with Japan and the latter has taken Albania to a major tournament for the first time in their history by achieving qualification for Euro 2016.
Although Malta are not expected to qualify for a major tournament any time soon, former Italy assistant coach Pietro Ghedin has won six out of 29 matches with the European minnows, more than any other coach in history.
Exporting coaches overseas has become a common thing for Italy recently and Conte’s move to Chelsea represents an ongoing trend.
