Luciano Spalletti Biography

Luciano Spalletti, born 7 March 1959 in Certaldo, is an Italian football coach and former footballer. In 2006 and 2007 Spalletti was elected Coach of the Year in Italy. Throughout his career as a footballer, Spalletti played for clubs in Serie C.

It started in 1985 with Entella, before leaving for Spezia a year later. There he played more than a hundred matches, most of his career. Spalletti also experienced his most productive period with Spezia, scoring seven goals. Then in 1990, after four years at Spezia, he left and was signed by Viareggio. Spalletti retired from playing football in 1993 from Empoli.

Spalletti started his professional coaching career in July 1994 at Empoli. He guided the club from Serie C1 to Serie A. He left for Sampdoria in June 1998. One year later, in July 1999, he joined Venezia but left in October 1999. Afterwards, he was head coach of Udinese twice, between March and June 2001 and between July 2002 and June 2005.

In between, he coached Ancona. Spalletti had some success at Udinese, leading the club to a sensational fourth place in the 2004/05 season, which secured Champions League football for the club. In June 2005 he was appointed head coach in the Italian capital, with AS Roma. Between 2005 and 2009 he was the coach in Rome and managed to win two cups (in 2007 and 2008) and a Super Cup. He joined

in December 2009 for three years.

There he replaced the Dutchman Dick Advocaat. In Russia, he won the national championship in 2010 and 2012, the cup in 2010 and the Supercup in 2011. He also made it to the eighth-finals of the Champions League with the club for the first time in club history, in the 2011/12 season. He was dismissed on 10 March 2014.

All You Need to Know About Luciano Spalletti Biography

It was announced on 13 January 2016 that Spalletti was returning to AS Roma. He replaced the sacked Rudi Garcia and signed a contract for 1.5 years. He departed the club on 30 May 2017. Spalletti went on to finish the season with Roma in second place behind

. Following the 2016/17 season, he was appointed coach of Internazionale.

His contract was for two years with the Nerazzurri. Spalletti was Inter's fourth coach in a year. His time with the Milano club ended in 2019. After being without a job for a few seasons, he was appointed as Gennaro Gattuso's successor at Napoli in May 2021.

Luciano Spalletti Information

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Luciano Spalletti biography

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Luciano Spalletti nationality

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Luciano Spalletti Bio

• Full Name: Luciano Spalletti

• Nickname: N/A

• Profession: Professional Football Coach

Luciano Spalletti Physical Stats

• Weight: 75 Kg

• Height: 1.8 m

• Eye Color: Dark Brown

• Hair Color: Brown

Luciano Spalletti Football Information

• Position: Midfielder

• Jersey Number: 8

• Professional Debut: 1984

Luciano Spalletti Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 7 March 1959

• Zodiac Sign: Pisces

• Nationality: Italian

Birth Place: Certaldo,

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Luciano Spalletti biography

stay tuned as we want to share some information about

Luciano Spalletti childhood

and more.

Luciano Spalletti Early Life

Luciano Spalletti grew up in the town of Empoli. There he attended school, and at the end of his school days, he went to Florence, attending the Fiorentina football school. After being ruled a non-prospect, Luciano left Fiorentina to join the youth team of Castelfiorentino.

There he made his professional debut in 1984. In the following year, he moved to Entella Bacezza, with Gian Piero Ventura as head coach, where he achieved a 5th place finish in the Serie C2 championship.

He moved to

in 1986, which was newly promoted to Serie C1: in the 1986-1987 season, he helped the team reach salvation, whereas in the 1987-1988 and 1988-1989 seasons they finished 7th and 3rd, respectively.

Following a spell at Viareggio, he was transferred to Empoli, where he ended his career when he was 34 years old, competing in his last league in the 1992-1993 season. With 146 matches played in all competitions, Spalletti has spent the majority of his playing career in Spezia.

Luciano Spalletti Profile

His coaching career started in Empoli's youth academy in 1993-1994. With the season well advanced, 6 days before the end, he replaced Adriano Lombardi as the coach of the first team, which was struggling in the relegation zone in Serie C1. The Blues ended in second to the last place, winning the playoffs where they overcame Alessandria.

Empoli

In the next season, Spalletti started again from the youth team of Empoli, and then returned as the coach of the first team in the Serie C1 season of 1995-1996. This was a season full of achievements, with Empoli winning the Coppa Italia di Serie C by defeating Monza in the final and obtaining promotion to Serie B after winning the play-off final against Como which was played in Modena.

Spalletti's team were newly promoted to Serie A in the 1996-97 season, a mere ten years after Empoli's previous experience in the top division. He was confirmed on the bench of the Tuscans, and in his first season in Serie A in 1997-98, the coach managed to save his team with one day to spare.

During his spell with the

team, Luciano Spalletti has managed them in a total of 122 matches in all competitions, winning 50, drawing 36 and losing on 36 occasions. His last match for Empoli was the heavy 4-1 away defeat against Inter Milan which was played on 26 May 1998.

Sampdoria

After guiding the Tuscans to a place in the top flight and saving the team in Serie A, he was appointed manager of

. His first challenge as head coach of Sampdoria was the Intertoto Cup. On 4 July 1998, he sat on the Sampdoria bench for the first time in the Second Round of Intertoto Cup against the Slovakian side MSK Rimavska Sobota, winning 2-0 at home.

One week later, at the MSK Rimavska Sobota stadium, they were defeated with a score of 1-0, but on aggregate, they managed to advance to the next round. They, Sampdoria face the Belgian side KRC Harelbeke and managed to clinch a 4-0 aggregate victory.

In the first leg of the Intertoto Cup semifinal, Sampdoria played against Carlo Mazzone’s Bologna, only to lose 3-1 after 90 minutes. In the second leg, the 1-0 win wasn’t enough for Spalletti’s boys to make it to the final.

On 12 September 1998, Spalletti made his Serie A debut with Sampdoria, in a 2-2 away match against Udinese. Their first win in Serie A came around three weeks later against AS Roma, where they managed to clinch a 2-1 home victory.

After being eliminated from the Coppa Italia in the Round of 16 against Bologna, and following the heavy 5-2 away defeat against Lazio, he was fired from his job as the head coach of Sampdoria and was replaced by David Platt.

However, he was called back to become the head coach of Sampdoria two months later following Platt's resignation. In the remaining 15 matches of the season, he managed to collect 21 points, but Sampdoria could not avoid relegation.

Venezia

He signed with

for the following season. His first match as coach of Venezia was played on 29 August 1999, which they managed to get a 1-1 draw against

. The next two league matches were both defeats, against Torino and AS Roma, before getting another draw in the fourth matchday against Cagliari.

In fact, the first win of the Spalletti and Venezia in 1999/2000 Serie A season came on 17 October 1999, when they managed to clinch a surprise 1-0 home win against Marcello Lippi’s Inter Milan thanks to a goal from Filippo Maniero.

Spalletti only managed one win in the first two months of the league. As a result of his poor start, he was fried from his post after the 8th matchday against Bologna (0-1 defeat) and was replaced by Giuseppe Materazzi. However, around a month later he came back as head coach of the team only to be dismissed again in February and being replaced by Francesco Oddo.

Udinese

After a season of inactivity, in March 2001 he was named to the Udinese bench to replace Luigi De Canio. His first match on the bench of Udinese was the 1-1 draw with Reggina in the 24th matchday of Serie A. In the next match, they managed to clinch a 2-0 home win against Bari and he was about to have a good start to his career in Udinese.

However, in the next three Serie A matches, Udinese lost to AC Milan,

and Fiorentina. The team’s only other win came in the 33rd matchday, where they managed to defeat Atalanta 0-1. Having obtained 9 points in 11 matches, the Udinese team finished twelfth and he was replaced by Roy Hodgson.

Ancona

In January 2002 he was hired by Ancona: with the aim of leading the Doric team to salvation in the Italian Serie B. His first match on the Ancona bench was played on 7 January 2002 against Palermo which finished 3-3 at home.

His first win on the Ancona bench came on the 26th matchday, which was a 1-2 away win against Genoa. Having started a good run, they even managed to win their two consecutive matches against Sampdoria and Ternana. At the end of the season, Spalletti and Ancona finished 8th in Serie B.

Return to Udinese

In the summer of 2002, he made his return to the Udinese club. He did not have a good start to the 2002/03 season at Udinese, with only getting one win in the first five matches. However, things started getting better throughout the season. Indeed, between the 9th and 16th matchdays, the team kept an unbeaten run, winning five of their eight Serie A matches.

They managed to get some good results in the final seven matches of

and finished 6th in the league with 56 points in a total of 34 matches, thus qualifying for UEFA Cup. It was a big achievement for Spalletti and Udinese.

Udinese started the next season with a 1-2 home defeat against AS Roma, but they managed to win their second league match against Modena. In the first five Serie A matches, Spalletti’s team got two wins, two defeats and one draw.

Udinese’s best performance in the season was between 23 November and 21 December 2003, when they managed to get six straight wins in Serie A and

. In the 2003/04 season, Spalletti guided his team to a seventh-place finish in Serie A, once again qualifying to European competitions.

That season, Udinese made it to the quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia, after eliminating Bologna in the Last 16, however, they lost to Inter Milan and were knocked out of the competition. In UEFA Cup, Spalletti’s team was eliminated in the First Round against the Austrian side Wüstenrot Sbg.

His best season as head coach of the Udinese club was also his last one in there. Although he did not have a good start to the season with only one win in the first six Serie A matches, he managed to turn things around and started a 10 match unbeaten run between 24 October 2004 and 6 January 2005, when they finally lost to Sampdoria.

During those 10 matches, Spalletti’s team managed to win eight and draw on two occasions. His team was also unbeaten in the last seven matches of the league and as a result of their good performances throughout the season, Udinese finished the league in fourth place, which gave Udinese the first historical participation in the

.

That season, in Coppa Italia, Udinese knocked out Lecce and AC Milan in the Last 16 and quarterfinal, however, they lost 3-2 on aggregate to AS Roma in the semifinal and failed to make it to the final match. Like the previous season, Udinese was lost in the first round of the UEFA Cup, this time against the Greek Panionios Athens.

AS Roma

On completion of his three-year spell with the Friuli team, he became Roma's coach. In his first season, he achieved 11 consecutive victories in the league, with the team finishing fifth and then getting promoted to second place due to the rulings of "Calciopoli"; in the Coppa Italia, the Giallorossi made it to the final, losing to Inter. Having been admitted to the Italian Super Cup due to the Nerazzurri's league victory, the Giallorossi were defeated 4-3 in extra time after leading by three goals.

In the 2006-07 season, the team qualified for their first Champions League knockout phase, defeating Lyon in the round of 16 with a home draw and an away win. They were knocked out by Manchester United in the quarter-finals, with a 7-1 defeat in the return match that thwarted their narrow victory in the first leg.

In the league, the team finished second, 22 points behind Inter, which improved on the record of consecutive victories set by the Capitolini in the previous tournament. However, Spalletti's men were the only team able to defeat the Nerazzurri 3-1 at the San Siro. His revenge against the Milanese took place in the Coppa Italia, where he secured the first trophy of his career with a 6-2 triumph in the first leg, but the Beneamata only won 2-1 in the second leg.

At the start of the following season, the Tuscan coach added to his collection of trophies by winning the Super Cup against Inter Milan. The capital city side made it through the Champions League group stage just behind Manchester United, defeating Real Madrid in the Round of 16 with a 2-1 win, but they were then knocked out again in the quarter-finals by the Manchester United side.

After initially topping the league, the Giallorossi were overtaken by Inter, 11 points behind in February: the slowdown in the Milanese side and Roma's simultaneous recovery changed the outcome of the tournament, with only one point separating the two sides before the final day.

While Roma took the lead in Catania, they were denied a draw in the Cesarini zone, while Inter's victory in Parma - after 54 minutes in which the title was virtually in the hands of the Roma- confirmed the Milanese on the national throne: 3 points behind, the Roma team once again won the Coppa Italia against the

.

The 2008-09 season was much more disappointing, beginning with a penalty shootout defeat against the Milanese in the Supercup. Already eliminated from the title race in the autumn due to a crisis in their results, the Giallorossi were able to bounce back from a difficult start in the Champions League, making it to the round of 16. They were eliminated in that round by Arsenal, but finished the season in sixth place and progressed to the preliminary round of the Europa League.

After leading the team to qualification for the group stage, the coach stepped down in September 2009 due to disagreements with the club and early league defeats.

Zenit

The board of directors of FC Zenit met on 10 December 2009 and decided unanimously to appoint Luciano Spalletti as the club's head coach. His contract was for three years. He was paid around €4 million a year according to the Kommersant newspaper, citing La Gazzetta dello Sport; the online newspaper Fontanka.ru reported a salary of €2.5 million a year.

Zenit, led by Spalletti, were unbeaten in 23 games. The first defeat for Zenit came at the hands of French club Auxerre, with a score of 0-2. That defeat denied Zenit Saint Petersburg access to the Champions League group stage.

Besides that defeat, the club managed by Spalletti suffered two defeats in the Russian league, although it did not affect the team's leading position. In the Europa League group stage, Zenit claimed six victories in six games, with two rounds to go before the end of the group stage, securing early access to the play-offs and first place in the group.

Zenit won the Russian Cup on May 16, 2010, beating Siberia 1-0 in the final match at the Olimp-2 Stadium in Rostov with the only goal scored by Roman Shirokov against Wojciech Kowalewski in the 60th minute from the penalty spot.

On 14 November 2010, two games before the end of the Russian league, following a 5-0 home victory over Rostov, Zenit were the Russian champions. Spalletti dedicated the victory, first, to the players "who deserved it"; second, to Alexei Miller and Aleksandr Dyukov; and third, to St Petersburg and the fans.

Spalletti's success in

was also noticed in Italy. For instance, Roma captain Francesco Totti said in a blog post on his official website:

"Wonderful work by our Luciano Spalletti in Russia. He succeeded in getting Zenit to win the title with two games to go before the end of the championship! And with a 5-0 score, that's a big win!!! We certainly remember those who have done something important for the club in Rome. He is a great coach and it is wonderful when Italians can show their talent abroad as well. Congratulations."

, then coach of the Roman club who succeeded Spalletti, said on the weekly programme La Domenica Sportiva on Rai 2 television: "Congratulations to Spalletti. Many of our coaches are going abroad and we must send them out in even greater numbers. I believe in our coaching school in Coverciano."

Zenit, led by Spalletti, won the Super Cup of Russia on 6 March 2011, defeating CSKA Moscow 1-0 at the Kuban Stadium in Krasnodar.

The 2011 season saw Zenit take part in the group stage of the Champions League under the guidance of Spalletti. With a fairly convincing performance, Zenit reached the Champions League group stage for the first time in their history. The crucial match took place at the Stadio Dragao against Porto. All the team needed to do was play a draw, which Spalletti's men did, ensuring their side qualified from second place in the group.

Spalletti signed a new contract with FC Zenit on 9 January 2012, running for 3.5 years. Under the terms of the contract, Spalletti was to take over not only the training and playing preparation of the squad but also be given the right to manage matters concerning transfer policy.

Zenit defeated Dynamo Moscow 2-1 at home on 28 April in the 41st round of the 2011/12 Russian Premier League and sealed the championship with 3 rounds to go. By doing so, Luciano Spaletti secured a second successive league title with Zenit. There was press coverage in May 2012 suggesting Spalletti might take charge of the Russian national team after UEFA Euro 2012 and

's departure.

Hulk and Axel Witsel were added to Zenit at the start of the following season, a move that was a record for Russian football. This did not bring success to the team, however, as Zenit were unable to qualify for the Champions League knockout rounds, finishing only third in the group, and losing the Russian league title to CSKA.

The management of Zenit decided on 11 March 2014 to dismiss Spaletti and his coaching staff from the team after a goalless draw with Tomya. Nevertheless, the club did not terminate the contracts with the Italian and his staff and continued to pay their salaries even after the appointment of Andre Vilas-Boas in his place.

According to RIA Novosti, Spalletti kept on receiving a salary of €300,000 per month until his contract expired at the end of the 2014/15 season. According to TASS, the club paid Spalletti around €4 million between the time he left the team and 30 June 2015, as the one-off forfeit could have caused Zenit problems in complying with financial fair play rules.

Return to AS Roma

Spalletti returned to the Giallorossi on 14 January 2016, replacing Rudi Garcia. The Tuscan coach led the Giallorossi to 46 points in the second half of the season with 14 wins, 4 draws and one defeat. By the end of the season, he had the best points per game average of all Serie A coaches: 2.42 compared to Allegri's 2.39.

Roma finished the season in third place in the league, advancing to the Champions League play-offs with a total of 80 points. Roma was knocked out of the Champions League in the round of 16 by future European champions Real Madrid.

The next season began for Spalletti's Roma with the failure to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League, being eliminated by Porto in the play-offs after a 1-1 draw in the first leg and a 0-3 defeat in the return. They were knocked out of the Europa League in the round of 16 by Lyon, while they were beaten by Lazio in the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia.

He finished second in the league after a spectacular duel with Napoli and set records for the most points (87) and goals scored in a single season (90), overtaking past Giallorossi coaches such as Nils Liedholm and Fabio Capello. On 30 May 2017, he left the Rome team.

Inter Milan

He was officially named the new Inter coach on 9 June 2017. In the league, the Nerazzurri got off to a great start, so much so that at the very beginning of December they found themselves alone at the top of the table and still unbeaten.

Nevertheless, with the arrival of the winter season, the performance of the team suffered a sharp decline that made them slip from the top positions. However, the recovery in spring kept the goal of Champions League qualification alive.

The fourth place, which was the last position available and the minimum goal of the season, was achieved on the last day, by defeating Lazio in an away match and overtaking them thanks to the better performance in the direct matches: for the Nerazzurri, it was the return to the highest continental competition after 7 years. In the Italian Cup, however, the journey was stopped in the quarter-finals in the derby against AC Milan.

In the 2018-2019 season, the team experienced a poor start, before going on a run of consecutive victories that brought them back to the top of the table; they were third at the end of the first half of the season. Nonetheless, the Nerazzurri fell back in the winter months, in part due to the issue of captain Icardi's renewal (later demoted).

The team was still fully in the running for the qualification to the highest continental competition, but even this time it was necessary to arrive at the last day for the mathematics: the win at home against Empoli allowed Inter to confirm the fourth place of the previous year and to go back to the Champions League.

In the European campaign, the team was knocked out of the Champions League group stage, being relegated to the Europa League and leaving the competition at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt in the round of 16. In Coppa Italia, the progress was interrupted against Lazio in the quarter-finals. Spalletti's dismissal was announced by Inter on 30 May 2019, despite achieving the minimum goal of Champions League qualification.

Napoli

Luciano Spalletti was officially unveiled by president De Laurentiis on social media on 29 May 2021 as the new coach of the

club.

Style of Play

Spalletti is one of the popular tactical coaches in Italy, who prefers to play with a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1. However, when he was coach of the Zenit team in Russia he also played with 5-4-1 at times.

Reception

Since his second spell with Udinese, he developed a reputation as one of the talented Italian coaches of his time, and at AS Roma, he managed to establish himself amongst the best. During his spell with Zenit, he was able to add more trophies to his collection and taste success abroad.

Luciano Spalletti outside Football

To enrich his bank account, he also opened a series of clothing shops in St Petersburg in 2009. As reported by the Moscow tabloid Tvoi Den at the time, the launch of these shops, in which he had already invested in Milan, was one of the conditions for his move to Russia.

Being a true Tuscan, he loves wine, and high-quality wine in particular. He has invested in wine, taking over the Safe di Fusecchio winery in the province of Florence. He also owns the La Rimessa farm holiday centre in the same area, of which he owns 80% and gave 20% to his wife Tamara Angeli.

Luciano Spalletti Personal Life

In this section of

Luciano Spalletti biography

, we will take a look into his personal life and share some info about

Luciano Spalletti life story

and

Luciano Spalletti religion

.

Family, Children and Relationships

While his professional life is always in the spotlight, Luciano Spalletti has made a decision to keep his family out of the limelight. The Napoli coach is married to Tamara, whom he met when he played for Spezia in the 1980s. They have three children: Federico, Samuele and Matilda.

The Tuscany coach is very attached to his rural origins, which he always spoke of with pride. His father was a gamekeeper as well as a warehouseman in a glassworks. When not coaching, he often returns to his homeland to look after the family land but also to step back and rediscover the light-hearted spirit he had as a child.

The coach had to deal with the tragic death of his brother on 28 May 2019. At the time, when he was coach of Inter, the club also expressed their condolences for the passing of Marcello Spalletti, Luciano's older brother.

The coach is also on social media with his Instagram page, which is dedicated to his sporting adventure as a football coach and rarely posts other stuff.

Philanthropy

From time to time, we have seen the Italian coach take part in different charity events and donate to many charity organizations.

Legal Issues

There are no reports of legal issues or disputes regarding Luciano Spalletti either in English or Italian media at the time.

Luciano Spalletti Career Statistics

In this section of Luciano Spalletti biography, we will take a look at his career stats on the international and club level.

Club

During his playing career, Spalletti has appeared in a total of 262 matches in all competitions and scored 17 goals for his teams.

Managerial

He has a 50.27 percent win ratio with 464 wins, 232 draws and 227 defeats in a total of 923 matches that he has coached his teams as of 29 May 2019.

Luciano Spalletti Honors

All of his awards and titles came when he was working as a coach, including Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana, Russian Premier League, Russian Cup and others. His individual awards include Serie A Coach of the Year and the Panchina d'Oro.

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