Claudio Ranieri Biography

Claudio Ranieri, born in Rome on 20 October 1951, is an Italian former football player, who played as a defender for many Italian clubs, and a current football coach. As a football player, he started his career with Roma, but he was mainly associated with Catanzaro, with whom he became the player with the most appearances in Serie A between 1974 and 1982.

He became a coach, achieving two promotions (from Serie C1 to Serie A) with Cagliari between 1988 and 1991 and won the Coppa Italia Serie C. He then went on to coach Napoli, where he qualified for the UEFA Cup in 1992. He coached Fiorentina between 1993 and 1997, winning promotion to Serie A, an Italian Cup and an Italian Super Cup.

He then moved to Spain in 1997, where he worked for Valencia (winning a Copa del Rey) and Atlético Madrid until 2000, before switching to Chelsea, where he stayed for four seasons, winning the second place in the league, an FA Cup final and a UEFA Champions League semi-final. He had another brief stint on the Valencia bench between 2004 and 2005.

He came back to Italy in 2007, where he coached Parma, Juventus, Roma and Inter, achieving two second places with Juventus and Roma. He coached Monaco in France from 2012 to 2014, winning Ligue 2 and finishing second in Ligue 1. Following a spell as coach of the Greek national team, he returned to England to manage Leicester City and won the Premier League in 2016.

All You Need to Know About Claudio Ranieri Biography

Following his success, he won the FIFA Coach of the Year award and was inducted into the Italian football hall of fame. He then went on to coach Nantes and Fulham before returning to his homeland, where he managed Roma and Sampdoria.

Claudio Ranieri Information

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Claudio Ranieri biography

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Claudio Ranieri nationality

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Claudio Ranieri Bio

• Full Name: Claudio Ranieri

• Nickname: The Tinkerman

• Profession: Professional Footballer

Claudio Ranieri Physical Stats

• Weight: 78 Kg

• Height: 1.82 m

• Eye Color: Black

• Hair Color: Brown

Claudio Ranieri Football Information

• Position: Defender

• Jersey Number: 3

• Professional Debut: 1973

Claudio Ranieri Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 20 October 1951

• Birth Place: Rome, Italy

• Zodiac Sign: Libra

• Nationality: Italian

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Claudio Ranieri biography

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Claudio Ranieri childhood

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Claudio Ranieri Early Life

In 1972, having emerged from the club's youth ranks, the defender signed a two-year contract with the Italian first division club AS Rome. But he was not able to break into the team. He made six appearances in his second season, all in the starting line-up, and was substituted four times. Rome, coached by the Swede Nils Liedholm, came eighth in the league.

The 22-year-old Ranieri joined the second division side US Catanzaro. In 1975/76, their first success was promotion to Serie A after finishing second in the second division, but they were immediately relegated. Just as immediately, they were promoted again in 1977/78, finishing second once more.

managed to stay in the league this time. In total, Ranieri played 128 times in five seasons in Serie A for US Catanzaro, scoring four times.

The now 30-year-old defender joined Sicilian second division side, Calcio Catania, in 1982. In 1982/83 the team finished third in Serie B behind AC Milan and Lazio Roma and, after winning the play-offs against Como Calcio and US Cremonese, they were promoted to

for the third time. In 1983/84 Ranieri played in all 30 Serie A matches for

, but they were subsequently relegated. Afterwards, Ranieri joined SSC Palermo.

He finished second in the third-tier Serie C1 behind his former club US Catanzaro with the second-division relegated side, thereby gaining promotion for the fourth time in his career. Palermo finished 16th out of 20 clubs in 1985/86. He went on to make 18 appearances before retiring from the game at the age of 34. He made a total of 50 appearances for Palermo.

Claudio Ranieri Profile

He started as a coach in the interregional category, coaching the Vigor Lamezia in 1986 and then managing the Campania Puteolana in Serie C1. He started to draw attention at the helm of

, where he came in 1988, by winning the Coppa Italia Serie C and in two years, bringing the Sardinians from Serie C to Serie A. His first season in the highest league ended with the salvation of the islanders, which managed to secure their stay with one match beforehand.

He was hired by

in 1991, winning the UEFA Cup qualification with a fourth-place finish in the league. He was eventually relieved of his duties in November 1992, after being eliminated from the UEFA Cup (by Paris Saint-Germain) and suffering a 5-1 defeat against AC Milan in the league.

Fiorentina

In summer 1993, he became manager of the newly relegated Fiorentina. He achieved an immediate comeback to Serie A and finished tenth in 1994-95. During the 1995-96 season, apart from finishing fourth in Serie A, he guided the Tuscans to victory in the Coppa Italia: the Gigliati won all 8 matches and defeated Atalanta in the final.

The victory was worth the entry into the Cup Winners' Cup, and participation in the Italian Supercup: The latter trophy was won against the Italian champions Milan, destroyed by a double by Batistuta. In Europe, Fiorentina reached the semifinals, losing to

; in the league, however, they finished in ninth place.

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career.

Valencia

On 19 September 1997, he accepted the offer of the Spanish club Valencia, who had just fired Jorge Valdano following three defeats in the first three games of the Liga and finishing in the last place in the league table. He concluded his first season by securing a ninth-place finish for Valencia, which meant his team would participate in the 1998 Intertoto Cup, which Valencia won in the final by beating Austria Salzburg in a two-leg match, thereby securing a place in the UEFA Cup.

Valencia finished fourth in the 1998-99 season and was able to qualify for the next season's Champions League. Their progress in the UEFA Cup was interrupted in the round of 16 by Liverpool. That same season he was able to win his first foreign trophy, winning the Copa del Rey by beating Atlético Madrid 3-0 in the final.

Atlético Madrid

He coached

in 1999-2000 but departed eight months later following a 2-1 quarter-final loss to Lens in the UEFA Cup, as well as the team's poor position in the Spanish Liga, lying in fifth place. Consequently, on 3 March 2000 the manager of the Spanish club, who took over from president Jesús Gil in December over the latter's alleged tax offences, accepted the Italian coach's resignation.

Chelsea

He was manager of the English team from 18 September 2000 until 30 May 2004, where he worked hard to overcome language barriers. By the time he arrived at Chelsea, his English speaking ability was limited; luckily, the club had players who could speak Italian or Spanish and with that, they helped him in translation when they were in training. During his first season, the team showed poor results, finishing 6th in the Premier League and a place in the next UEFA Cup.

He was told to lower the average age of his squad and worked to reconstruct the London side in the summer of 2001, shaping a new midfield with the signings of Frank Lampard from West Ham, Emmanuel Petit and Boudewijn Zenden from Barcelona and Jesper Grønkjær from Ajax. They also signed the defender William Gallas from Marseille, spending around £30 million.

However, the criticism of him was strong. The fans wanted more and the pressure increased when the team finished, again, in sixth place and lost the FA Cup final to Arsenal. The pressure increased because he had sold one of the club's idols, Dennis Wise, who was already a veteran at the time. The press accused him of rotating the squad too much (that is why he was known as The Tinkerman). Nevertheless, the Chelsea board kept him on the bench.

It was during the 2002-03 season that he managed his greatest achievement. As the club was in a difficult financial situation and unable to make important signings, he finally succeeded in taking the team to the Champions League. His squad included some players who would become household names: John Terry, then a youngster, Carlton Cole and Robert Huth, who found the manager again at Leicester 13 years later.

By the time the club was bought by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2003, the Italian was offered a large transfer budget, however, he saw his job under threat at the same time. Ranieri reportedly spent £120 million in the summer of 2003 and his signings included Irish winger Damien Duff for £17 million (a record until then for the club), English youngsters Wayne Bridge, Joe Cole and Glen Johnson; Argentine duo Juan Sebastián Verón and Hernán Crespo; Frenchman Claude Makélélé and Romanian star Adrian Mutu.

Their heavy investment brought the club their best league position in 49 years, finishing runners-up to

. They even reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, defeating the Gunners in the quarter-finals. However, the Italian's tenure began to be questioned from the semi-finals against Monaco, because of the strange substitutions made and the sudden tactical changes.

That season was notable for the club due to the few goals conceded and the highest number of points obtained. With managerial speculation ending on 31 May, José Mourinho was appointed coach and took the Porto team to several triumphs in Europe.

Both titles obtained by the Portuguese in the following seasons were influenced by the Italian, who introduced several of the players that made up the victorious squad. Ranieri, in his final months at the club, wanted to sign two players for the club: Didier Drogba and Arjen Robben, both of whom would become key players in the English team's future.

Return to Valencia

He tried his hand at Valencia again in the 2004-05 season, succeeding Rafa Benitez (the manager who had led them to the UEFA Cup and two La Liga titles, now signed by

). Ranieri went on a series of signings and had a brilliant start, winning 14 out of 18 points and beating

in the UEFA Super Cup.

However, from October onwards, a crisis gradually set in at the club: just one win in seven games and knocked out of the Champions League, partly due to a 5-1 defeat against Inter Milan in which midfielder Miguel Angel Angulo was sent off for spitting at an opponent.

From January onwards, Valencia went another 6 games without a win.  In spite of the growing disapproval caused by signing 4 Italian players, Ranieri was also criticized for not putting Argentine Pablo Aimar in the matches and for the fact that he constantly changed the tactical formations of the team (very reminiscent of what he had done in his Chelsea days).

On 25 February 2005, he was fired after the defeat to Steaua Bucharesti, a defeat that had left the team sixth in the Spanish league. He was replaced by Quique Sanchez Flores from June onwards. The Italian manager was paid £3 million in a termination fine.

Parma

He joined Parma for the 2006-07 season on 12 February 2007, one day after the end of the 23rd matchday to replace Stefano Pioli.[3] Parma lost their first match against Sampdoria 1-0 but managed to get remarkable results in a row to help save the team from relegation, taking 17 points from 10 matches (compared to his predecessor who had 15 points from 23 matches).

That included the impressive 4-3 away win against

, which had a radical effect on the Rosanero and led to the sacking of Francesco Guidolin. In the remainder of the season, they hammered

4-1 in early May and ended the season in 12th place with a 3-1 win over Empoli.

Once the season ended, it was speculated that Ranieri would possibly work at Fulham, Manchester City or Palermo. Parma announced on 31 May that Ranieri was not in the club's plans for next season.

Stay tuned as in this section of Claudio Ranieri biography we want to share some information about his career at Juventus.

Juventus

The next season he was hired to coach Juventus, who had recently returned from the second division, replacing Frenchman Didier Deschamps. He signed for three seasons with the club, beginning from 1 July 2007. Ranieri brought in Vincenzo Iaquinta from

and Zydenek Grygera from Ajax.

Their first season at the Old Lady was successful (qualifying for the next Champions League), leading the team to a third-place finish after a season in which they spent in the

, because of the penalty of the match-fixing scandal: the Calciopoli.

Ranieri broke out in a war of words in August 2008 against Portuguese José Mourinho, who, at the time, was coaching Internazionale, and who had previously replaced him at

. Mourinho criticized the Italian's old-fashioned mentality and for always missing out on winning a major title in his coaching career, causing temporary tension between them. The Italian emphasized that Inter were a big threat to Juventus for the Serie A title fight.

Indeed,

started the season strong, defeating Real Madrid twice in the Champions League group stage (2-1 at home and 2-0 in Madrid), only to fall in the last 16 to Ranieri's former club Chelsea.

Over the course of the season, Juventus struggled with injuries and had failed to win in seven matches over 2 months, dropping them to third place after a 2-2 home draw against Atalanta. Following this game, Ranieri admitted that there was a lot of pressure from his fans, who publicly criticized him for his work. With speculation ending and the announcement that Inter were mathematically champions, the managers of the Old Lady met and decided on 18 May 2009 to replace Ranieri with Ciro Ferrara.

Roma

Following the resignation of Luciano Spalletti as Roma coach on 1 September 2009, Ranieri was appointed to coach the club that had revealed him, in the 2009-10 season. Under his tenure, Roma dramatically improved their performances to the point that they were confident of winning the Scudetto, reducing the gap in points that had existed between the Gialorossi and leaders Inter Milan after Ranieri's victory over Mourinho on Matchday 31.

Then Roma won two consecutive games and was able to overtake Inter in Week 33, courtesy of a 2-1 home win against Atalanta, and a 2-2 draw by Inter Milan against Fiorentina. They were able to extend their unbeaten run to 23 games and maintained their lead after the derby against Lazio (Derby dellla Capitale), extending their record to 24 games without a loss. 

Ranieri was hailed by the press when he replaced local stars, Francesco Totti and Daniele de Rossi at half-time when the club were losing 1-0, turning the game to 2-1 thanks to goals from Mirko Vučinić. However, Roma lost their lead in Serie A and the Italian Cup final, in both cases to the season's triplet winners, Inter.

Following the 1-0 defeat in the Italian Cup final, Mourinho publicly mocked Ranieri, saying that Ranieri had allegedly encouraged his players with the film Gladiator before the game. The next season, Ranieri was beaten again to Inter, in the Italian Super Cup in 2010. He handed in his resignation on 20 February 2011 following a poor run of form, while in his last game, he let Genoa come from behind to win 4-3 with his team holding a 3 goal lead. Vincenzo Montella was appointed in his place.

Internazionale

After the dismissal of coach Gian Piero Gasperini because of his poor results (losing 4 out of 5 matches) on 22 September 2011, Ranieri assumed Internazionale at the start of the 2011-12 season. He signed a contract until 30 June 2013. He led the Nerazzurri to their first win on 24 September 3-1 against Bologna, which was followed by an away win in the Champions League against CSKA Moscow.

They achieved seven consecutive Serie A wins between December 2011 and January 2012, which included a 1-0 win against AC Milan, making the buzz of who they would be title contenders a possibility.

Eventually, then, Inter Milan experienced a string of negative results (also culminating in Thiago Motta's departure to PSG) and their Champions League hopes were very low after a 1-0 last-16 defeat to Olympique de Marseille. The speculation about Ranieri's dismissal began to mount and reached its peak during a match against Catania, only to be dampened soon after with an away win against A.S. Chievo Verona.

Nevertheless, following a 2-0 home defeat by Juventus (and a run of only two wins in his last 13 games) on 26 March 2012, he was finally sacked due to his poor Serie A record and a Champions League round of 16 exit at the hands of Olympique de Marseille.

Monaco

He signed with French side Monaco on 29 May 2012, a team in Ligue 2 (French second division). He led the Monegasque club to Ligue 1 on 11 May 2013 with two days to go, following a dominant season. During the following year, the team finished second in the league, just behind Paris Saint-Germain; however, at the end of the season, Ranieri was sacked and replaced by the Portuguese Leonardo Jardim.

Stay tuned as in this section of Claudio Ranieri biography we want to share some information about his career in the Greece national team.

Greece

He signed with the Greek national team on 25 July 2014, with the goal of leading the Greeks to the 2016 European Championship. The following 15 November he was relieved of his duties after a resounding 0-1 home defeat against the Faroe Islands. He had picked up only one point in the previous three matches, drawing 1-1 against Finland and losing to Romania (0-1) and Northern Ireland (0-2).

Leicester City

He made his return to coaching in England on 13 July 2015, as he was announced as the new coach of Leicester City, with the task of achieving quiet salvation for the 2015-2016 Premier League season, a competition in which Leicester had spent the previous season as newly promoted.

He received a somewhat dubious reception, in part due to his recent unsuccessful experience with Greece, and with his name considered one of the most likely to be dismissed in the short term and a Premier League victory quoted by bookmakers as 5000:1 (even less likely than the discovery of the Loch Ness monster, the landing of aliens, Elvis still alive, Kim Kardashian being elected President of the United States or U2's Bono being named Pope).

He made his debut on the Foxes' bench on 8 August and quickly secured his first victory with a 4-2 home win over Sunderland. Following a series of excellent results, which took him surprisingly to the top of the table in the first few days, he was in sole first place on matchday 13. After losing and regaining the lead in two days, he remained there until the end (excluding one day, the 20th, of Arsenal supremacy, and two tied on points).

He achieved mathematical qualification for the following year's Champions League on 10 April 2016, marking the first in the club's history. By virtue of a 2-2 draw between Chelsea and Tottenham, who had become the main title contenders in the meantime, Leicester became English champions for the first time in their 132-year history on 2 May, and Ranieri secured the first domestic top-flight championship win of his career.

He became the third Italian coach to win the Premier League, after Carlo Ancelotti and Roberto Mancini. He was unanimously praised by the international and English press, who changed his nickname of Tinkerman (by which he had been called during his time at Chelsea) to Thinkerman, because he rarely made wrong technical decisions. He was even called King Claudio.

This unexpected Premier League triumph is described as a "fairytale", and even "the greatest sporting achievement ever". He was awarded the Bearzot Prize for this success and most importantly the 2016 Best FIFA Men's Coach, the award given by FIFA to the best coach in the world. Thanks to the exceptional nature of the event, the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) awarded him the Palma al merito tecnico d'oro, the highest honour for sports coaches, which is usually reserved for the coaches of Olympic and World Cup winning teams.

Since its establishment prior to Ranieri, the award had only been given to one other football coach, namely Marcello Lippi for Azzurri's victory at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. He was awarded the honour of Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella on 20 May, being the fifth sportsperson after Sara Simeoni, Gino Bartali, Silvio Piola and Reinhold Messner.

They started the new season with a 2-1 defeat in the Community Shield, against Manchester Utd. He was relieved of his duties on 23 February 2017 after a 2-1 defeat to Sevilla in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 and a league season that had been spent just above the relegation zone.

Nantes

On the following 15 June, following an initial deadlock due to the veto placed by the president of UNECATEF (the French coaches' union) Raymond Domenech, on the grounds that in France coaches cannot work as a professional once they have passed the age of 65, he was made the new coach of Nantes, signing a two-year contract.

He finished ninth in the league, just three points behind Europa League qualification, and was eliminated from the Coupe de la Ligue in the third round and the French Cup in the Round of 16. He departed the yellow-green club on 17 May 2018 after just one season in charge.

Fulham

He made his return to the Premier League on 14 November 2018 for his third spell on English soil, joining Fulham, to replace the sacked Slaviša Jokanović, and took the team to last place with 5 points. He won 3-2 against Southampton on 24 November on his debut, and the Londoners had not won since 26 August and were coming from 7 consecutive defeats.

Nevertheless, on 6 January 2019, Fulham was defeated 2-1 by Oldham, a 4th division team, in the FA Cup third round: this was a surprising result as Oldham, who were without a manager for days, invited Pete Wild, one of the club's most passionate fans with no managerial experience, to the bench. The club dismissed him on 28 February 2019, following a string of negative results, and hired Scott Parker as his replacement.

Roma

He officially returned to the Roma bench on 8 March 2019, 8 years after his previous stint, to replace the sacked Eusebio Di Francesco. He won 2-1 against Empoli three days later on his debut with a team heavily reshuffled by numerous injuries and disqualifications. He announced on 10 May that his job at Roma would end at the end of the season. He ended the season sixth with 66 points just three points away from Champions League qualification.

Sampdoria

Ranieri signed a two-year contract with Sampdoria on 12 October 2019, replacing Di Francesco once again after his mutual termination of the contract with the Genoa-based team. He debuted with the Blucerchiati 8 days later against Roma in a 0-0 draw. The first win came 3 games later in the away match against SPAL (0-1).

He reached the 1000th league bench on 8 December in the 0-1 loss against Parma. He also won (with the same result as Ferrara) the derby against Genoa on 14 December; he became the first coach to play all the Italian derbies (Turin, Rome, Milan, Genoa) without losing (nine wins and one draw).

After the victory 3-2 win against Parma (with a daring comeback) and the simultaneous defeat of Lecce, on 19 July he was able to mathematically save Sampdoria with 4 days in advance with 41 points, after having arrived with the team in the last place with only 3 points collected in the first 7 days (the club's worst start in Serie A).

He finished the league in 15th place with 42 points. In the next season, he guided the Genovese team to a quiet ninth place with 52 points, which was their target for some time. He announced his decision to leave the Sampdoria bench at the end of the season on 21 May 2021, having failed to agree on a renewal with the club.

Style of Play

Ranieri likes to play a 4-4-2 formation. His game is based on defensive solidity, pressing and effective counter-attacking moves.

Reception

Ranieri is regarded as one of the best coaches of his generation. Especially after his great achievement at Leicester city, he managed to quiet his critics both in England and Italy.

Claudio Ranieri outside Football

He is one of the managers who have dedicated their lives to football, however, these days, as he is 69 years old, Claudio is enjoying his time with his family and away from football.

Claudio Ranieri Personal Life

In this section of Claudio Ranieri biography, we will take a look at his personal life and share some information about

Claudio Ranieri life story

and

Claudio Ranieri religion

.

Family, Children, and Relationships

There is very little known about Claudio Ranieri's private life. His wife Rossana has accompanied him for some time now and is a true reference point for the coach from Testaccio, who has travelled a lot in recent years. The pair live between Rome and London, although they are often forced to move because of the Italian coach's experiences on the bench. The two have a daughter named Claudia.

Philanthropy

Ranieri’s name always comes with charity events. On one occasion, he was the manager of the Rest of the World team at a Soccer Aid charity match, where they faced selection of England.

Legal Issues

There are no reports of any legal issues or disputes to his name on media.

Claudio Ranieri Career Statistics

In this section of Claudio Ranieri biography, we will take a look into his career stats as s footballer both on the international and club level.

Club

During his 13 year career as a footballer, he has played a total of 363 matches in Italy, scoring just 9 goals.

Managerial

With a record of managing his teams in 1325 matches, Ranieri is amongst the most experienced football coaches in the world. He has a win ratio of 46.72%, with his most successful spell at Vigor Lamezia, where he had a 70% win ratio.

Claudio Ranieri Honors

Claudio has won many titles during his managerial career, including

, Copa del Rey, Premier League and others.

Of his notable individual awards, we can include Premier League Manager of the Season, Enzo Bearzot Award, European Coach of the Season and many others.

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