Cesare Prandelli Biography

Cesare Prandelli, born August 19, 1957, in Orzinuovi, is an Italian former football player who played as a midfielder for a few Italian clubs and later became a coach. In 1974, Prandelli began his career at US Cremonese, where he played for four seasons in Italy's third and fourth divisions. Following a season at Atalanta, he arrived at Juventus for the 1978-79 season.

He enjoyed the best years of his career there, winning three Italian league titles, an Italian cup title and international titles such as the Cup Winners' Cup and the European Cup in 1985. Prandelli returned to Atalanta in 1985, where he played until 1990.

Prandelli started his coaching career as a youth coach at Atalanta where he remained until 1997. He began as a senior team coach in 1997 when he became head coach of Lecce where he failed. Things went better at Hellas Verona which he took up to Serie A as he did with

. After that, he had two successful years with Parma. Because of family reasons, he had a very short time at Roma, where he had to leave because of his wife's illness.

He moved to Fiorentina in 2005 and managed the team successfully in the league and in the UEFA Cup. He guided the team to the Champions League by finishing fourth in the league. He was also twice named Italy's Coach of the Year. From 2009, he became the longest-serving Fiorentina coach, taking the team to the last eight of the Champions League in the same year.

In 2010, he was appointed as head coach of Italy. After four years of managing the Azzurri, he resigned as coach of the Italian national team after Italy was eliminated in the group stage of the 2014 World Cup.

All You Need to Know About Cesare Prandelli Biography

After his spell with the Italy national team, he signed for Galatasaray, before being fired and spending two years out of football. Later he coached Valencia, Al Nasr, Genoa and Fiorentina and at the moment he is unemployed.

Cesare Prandelli Information

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Cesare Prandelli biography

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Cesare Prandelli nationality

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Cesare Prandelli Bio

• Full Name: Claudio Cesare Prandelli

• Nickname: N/A

• Profession: Professional Football Coach

Cesare Prandelli Physical Stats

• Weight: 72 Kg

• Height: 1.76 m

• Eye Color: Dark Brown

• Hair Color: Black

Cesare Prandelli Football Information

• Position: Midfielder

• Jersey Number: 13

• Professional Debut: 1974

Cesare Prandelli Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 19 August 1957

• Birth Place: Orzinuovi, Italy

• Zodiac Sign: Leo

• Nationality: Italian

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Cesare Prandelli biography

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Cesare Prandelli Early Life

Prandelli started playing football in the youth teams of

. His professional debut came in the 1974-1975 season, when he was 17, in Serie C1. He spent four years with the club, winning the Serie C1 championship at the end of the 1976-1977 season and earning a promotion to Serie B. His time with the club in the top flight lasted only one year, with the team ending up 18th and immediately returning to the lower tier.

Atalanta

After playing 88 matches and scoring 4 goals for Lombardy, he was noticed by

Bergamasca Calcio in Serie A. He debuted in the top flight with the blue-and-black club in the 1978-79 season, though the team narrowly failed to stay in the top flight, finishing 15th and being relegated to Serie B. He appeared in 27 matches and scored one goal.

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Cesare Prandelli biography

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Juventus

His best days began in the 1979-1980 season when he joined a legendary club, Juventus FC. He was with the club for six years, though he never really made an impact. In total, he played 89 matches for the Turin club and never scored a goal. Nonetheless, he won 3 Serie A titles, 1 Italian Cup, 1 UEFA Champions League, 1 European Cup Winners' Cup and 1 UEFA Supercup during his spell at Turin.

He was a witness to the Heysel tragedy on 29 May 1985. He was described during this period as being someone who was heard and advised, including key players in the team such as Michel Platini and Dino Zoff, although he was a substitute. He worked alongside coach Giovanni Trapattoni, a well-respected Italian football figure.

Prandelli is described as a "modest player" during his entire playing career. After his successful transition to coaching, Platini jokingly said of him: "I'm not surprised that he turned out to be a good coach; he was already used to the bench at Juventus".

Atalanta

He went back to Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio in the 1985-1986 season, a team with which he ended his career at the end of the 1989-1990 season. Between 1985 and 1990, all but one of which were in

, he played in 89 matches and scored one goal.

Cesare Prandelli Profile

His new career as a coach began with the team with which he had retired as a player, Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, in 1993. His interest was aroused during his last season as a player. At first, he was responsible for the youth teams, with whom he won the youth championship and the famous Viareggio tournament.

However, in 1994, he made his debut with the professionals when he was called upon to replace Francesco Guidolin as head coach of the Atalanta first team, which was having great difficulty in the league.

Although he did not yet possess a license to coach in Serie A, he was put in charge by Andrea Valdinoci. The coaching duo was not able to save the club from relegation at the end of the 1993-94 season when they finished 17th. He then returned to coach Atalanta's youth team for three years.

Lecce

He eventually took over as head coach in the 1997-1998 season with US

, which had just been promoted to Serie A. At the time he had the talented French defender Jean-Pierre Cyprien in his squad. The season started badly for Prandelli, who suffered five consecutive defeats.

However, the team appeared to recover, winning 2-1 at the Stadio San Siro against AC Milan and finding hope at the midway stage of the season. Prandelli's team was reinforced by the arrival of Alessandro Iannuzzi and former Roma icon Giuseppe Giannini in the winter transfer break.

However, Prandelli's team struggled to make an impact and only achieved two wins and a draw in the second half of the season. At the end of the 18th matchday, Prandelli stepped down with the team second to last, 6 points from the relegation zone. He was succeeded by Angelo Pereni.

Hellas Verona

In 1998-1999 he took up a position as head coach with Hellas Verona in

. Under his management, the team won the Serie B championship and Prandelli earned the first trophy of his coaching career. In the following season, Prandelli was kept in charge of the team and managed to achieve an excellent 9th place in Serie A, close to the UEFA zone.

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Venice Calcio

After two seasons on the Verona bench, Prandelli took charge of Venice Calcio in the 2000-01 season, which had recently been relegated to Serie B. Under Prandelli, the relegation would last only one year: boosted by his attacking duo Filippo Maniero and Arturo Di Napoli, the team ended up 4th in the standings, 5 points above UC Sampdoria and the best attack (62 goals scored).

The following season, Prandelli was still in Venice, but his tenure lasted only five league games, all of which were defeats. He was succeeded by the duo Sergio Buso and Giuseppe Iachini.

Parma

He joined

at the beginning of the 2002-03 season. The campaign started with a defeat in the Italian Supercup against Juventus FC by 2-1, with Alessandro Del Piero scoring twice and Marco Di Vaio finding the net before the end of the match.

The team has many promising youngsters in its squad who led the team to fifth place in the league, 4 points from the qualifying zone for the UEFA

. That season, the trio of strikers Adrian Mutu - Adriano Leite Ribeiro - Alberto Gilardino were particularly successful.

The first two formed the most prolific attacking duo in the league with 33 goals. The team was knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the round of 32 by Polish side Wisła Kraków (2-1, 1-4). However, the season was still a success for a team in the making.

Cesare Prandelli was therefore reappointed for the 2003-04 season. During the winter of 2003, the bankruptcy of the club's sponsor and owner, Parmalat, occurred, a collapse that would become one of the biggest scandals in the Italian industry.

That bankruptcy would put the whole club in danger and it changed its name at the end of the season. Those economic problems led the club to sell its best players, including Adriano Leite Ribeiro's return to Inter Milan in the winter transfer window, thus enabling the emergence of Alberto Gilardino who scored 23 goals in 34 matches.

The team finished fifth in the league, just one point away from qualifying for the UEFA Champions League, despite all the problems. Parma FC was eliminated from the UEFA Cup in the round of 16 by the Turkish side Gençlerbirliği. When the season ended, Prandelli stepped down from the club. He was succeeded by Silvio Baldini.

AS Roma

His excellent performances led him to take charge of AS Roma in the 2004-2005 season. After taking charge of the Roma team, he brought in Philippe Mexès from

However, Prandelli's wife was suffering increasingly from her illness and he chose to step down just two months after his arrival to assist her in her illness. He was unable to make a league debut with Roma.

In this section of Cesare Prandelli biography stay tuned as we want to share some information about his coaching career at

.

Fiorentina

Following a year off, he joined ACF Fiorentina at the beginning of the 2005-06 season, where he succeeded Dino Zoff. Fiorentina had lost important players such as Giorgio Chiellini, Fabrizio Miccoli and Enzo Maresca, but they were also able to strengthen their squad.

The team was joined by striker Luca Toni, goalkeeper Sébastien Frey, midfielder Stefano Fiore and talented youngsters like Riccardo Montolivo, Giampaolo Pazzini and Alessandro Gamberini. The team excellently started the league, sitting at the top of the table.

By the end of the first half of the season, the team was in 4th place in the league with Luca Toni the top scorer with 16 goals. At the transfer break, the team acquired the Danish defender Per Kroldrup and the Chilean midfielder Luis Jiménez. With the help of Luca Toni, who scored 31 goals in the league and was awarded the Golden Shoe at the end of the season, the Tuscany team managed to hold off the return of AS Roma and finish fourth to qualify for the UEFA Champions League.

However, at the beginning of the summer, the match-fixing scandal erupted and AC Fiorentina was caught up in the turmoil. Fiorentina was accused of putting pressure on the refereeing body the previous season in a bid to keep their place in Serie A. The team received a 30-point penalty for the current season, putting them in ninth place, out of Europe qualification.

In addition, an initial penalty of 19 points (reduced to 15 on appeal) was imposed for the 2006-07 season. Nevertheless, Cesare Prandelli was awarded the prize for the best coach in Serie A for the 2005-06 season.

The team began the league again without Luis Jiménez, Cristian Brocchi and Stefano Fiore but obtained the services of Prandelli's former player at Parma FC, the Romanian Adrian Mutu, and also Fabio Liverani and Manuele Blasi. The team started off with a 15-point penalty and the beginning of the league was difficult to say the least, losing three and winning one of the first four matches.

However, the team picked up the pace and reached the halfway point of the league, just short of the middle of the table. In January, the team was strengthened by the arrival of Serbian Zdravko Kuzmanović and kept on climbing in the league until they finished in 6th place, qualifying for the UEFA Cup, with the best defence (31 goals conceded).

Had it not been for the penalty, AC Fiorentina would have ended up in third place. Prandelli was again voted best coach in Serie A for the 2006-07 season and renewed his contract for another 4 years.

In preparation for the 2007-08 season, Fiorentina recruited Federico Balzaretti, Anthony Vanden Borre, Pablo Osvaldo, Franco Semioli and the experienced Christian Vieri. However, they lost some key players, including Luca Toni, who was signed by Bayern Munich, and Valeri Bojinov and Manuele Blasi.

The team's results meant that they were still in contention for a place in the UEFA Champions League at the halfway point of the season. Throughout the second half of the season, they fought with AC Milan for the fourth qualifying place for the UEFA Champions League, which they won by two points over the Milanese team.

Fiorentina returned to the European top flight after an eight-year absence. The biggest surprise was in the UEFA Cup, where they got their best European result. Having finished 2nd in their group behind Villarreal CF, AC Fiorentina knocked out Norwegian side Rosenborg BK in the round of 16 (1-0, 2-1), followed by English side Everton FC on penalties (2-0,,0-2), before eliminating Dutch team PSV Eindhoven in the quarter-finals (1-1, 2-0).

They were favourites for their semi-final against Rangers FC from Scotland, although they lost on penalties after two goalless draws. Thus, the dream of a first European final faded away.

For the 2008-2009 season, the team was reinforced with the addition of Felipe Melo, Stevan Jovetić and Alberto Gilardino, whom Prandelli had coached at Parma. By the winter break, the team was in sixth place.

They finished third in the UEFA Champions League behind Bayern Munich and Olympique Lyonnais, and thus went into the UEFA Cup. They were knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the round of 16 by Dutch side Ajax Amsterdam (0-1, 1-1). Out of European competitions, the team could concentrate again on the league, and once again finished 4th.

Fiorentina's coach Prandelli was still on the bench for the 2009-10 season. He started his 5th season there. He lost Felipe Melo to Juventus FC, as well as Franco Semioli and Zdravko Kuzmanović, and reinforced his squad by bringing in Cesare Natali and Cristiano Zanetti.

With Adrian Mutu and Alberto Gilardino still at the helm, the team's league form was boosted considerably and they also had good results in the UEFA Champions League.

Having defeated Sporting Clube de Portugal in the preliminary round (2-2, 3-3), the team progressed to the last 16 by finishing top of their group, ahead of, among others, Olympique Lyonnais and Liverpool FC of England.

They were eliminated in the next round by Bayern Munich (1-2, 3-2), but not without disappointment, with Miroslav Klose scoring the winning goal in the first leg from a very obvious offside position. In the league, the team was paying for the efforts made in Europe. After 30 matches, the team was only 11th, but just 7 points away from the last qualifying place for the UEFA Champions League.

Approached to take over the reins of Juventus FC for the 2010-11 season, the club that shaped his career, the president Diego della Valle, publicly demanded that Prandelli declare that he will not coach the Turineseclub next season. The request, hardly welcomed by the coach, was the prelude to the departure of Prandelli at the end of the season.

In the end, Prandelli left AC Fiorentina after five years full of emotions. Some of the supporters expressed their regret for this departure, which irritated the presidency, but they also acknowledged all the work he had done during his five years at the club.

Italy National Team

On May 30, 2010, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) announced the signing of an agreement between president Giancarlo Abete and Cesare Prandelli, who would be the coach of the Italian national team for four years, with a 3 million euro per year salary, to replace Marcello Lippi after the end of the 2010 World Cup.

Prandelli was introduced on July 1, 2010, in a press conference at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. He quickly recalled Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli to the squad (both excluded by Lippi in the 2010 World Cup) and named Gianluigi Buffon (recovering from surgery) the new captain of the National team following the retirement of Fabio Cannavaro. Prandelli established a "code of ethics" based on which players who become involved in aggressive and/or unsportsmanlike actions will not be called up for the National team.

His debut was a 1-0 defeat against the Ivory Coast.

competed in the qualifications for the 2012 European Championships and with a 1-0 win over Slovenia on September 6, 2011, in Florence, they qualified for the continental tournament with two matches to spare, achieving the record for earliest qualification for the European Championships, with 22 points in eight matches; in that same match, they set the unbeaten record in the European qualifications (644 minutes).

In December 2011, in the middle of the betting scandal, Prandelli called Simone Farina to the meeting of the National team, ahead of the match of February 29, 2012, between the Azzurri and the United States, as a gesture of appreciation for the player who rejected 200,000 euro.

It was more than double his seasonal compensation, to "arrange" the Coppa Italia match Gubbio-Cesena, reporting the fact and launching the investigation on Operation Last Bet. Before the start of the 2012 European Championships, Prandelli recruited his son Niccolò in the technical staff of the National team, pointing out that his son was not recommended by him, but he obtained the position in the staff of the National team thanks to his professionalism.

After selecting the twenty-three players to be called up for the 2012 European Championships, Italy was included in Group C where they drew 1-1 against Spain, at the time World and European titleholders, and Croatia and then won 2-0 against Ireland, a result that took Italy to the quarter-finals at the second position in the group, behind Spain.

Italy defeated England coached by Roy Hodgson on penalties 4-2 on June 24 and reached the semifinals against Germany, defeating them 2-1 on June 28, thereby reaching the final with Spain. With their victory over the Germans, Prandelli's Italy guaranteed themselves a place in the 2013 Confederations Cup. On July 1, 2012, they lost 4-0 in the final against Spain.

On their return to Italy, the National team and Prandelli were welcomed to the Quirinale by the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano, to whom Prandelli presented his silver medal. Italy made its debut at the 2014

qualifiers on September 7, 2012, with a 2-2 draw with Bulgaria.

On June 3, 2013, he released the list of players called for the 2013 Confederations Cup, in which Italy was in Group A with Brazil, Japan and Mexico. In the opening match against Mexico, Italy won 2-1. The Italian national team defeated Japan 4-3 and lost the third match of the group to the hosts Brazil. The Azzurri were defeated on penalties by Spain in the semifinals and won third place in the competition by beating Uruguay 3-2 on penalties (2-2 in regular time).

The 2014 World Cup in Brazil started for Italy with a 2-1 victory over England, where Italy broke the record for the most successful passes in a World Cup with a percentage of 93.2% (a record that had stood since the 1966 World Cup in England) and marked the fifteenth consecutive win at the World Cup, an absolute record for the competition.

However, the tournament ended for the second consecutive time in the group stage, after the 1-0 defeats against Costa Rica and Uruguay. Soon after the elimination on June 24, 2014, Prandelli announced in a press conference his unconditional resignation as coach of the Italian national team alongside FIGC president Giancarlo Abete. He was replaced by Antonio Conte.

Galatasaray

He was signed on 8 July 2014 by the Turkish side

for the 2014-2015 season for a net salary of 5 million per season.[60] On 25 August, he made his debut in the Turkish Super Cup, losing the match against Fenerbahçe on penalties, the match ended 0-0 at extra time.

In the Champions League, under the guidance of Prandelli, Galatasaray provided one of the worst performances in its history, picking up only 1 point in 5 matches played.

He was dismissed on 27 November 2014 after the away defeat to Anderlecht in the Champions League group stage, which knocked the Turks out of any European competition. At that time, the team was third in the league behind Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş and suffered a 3-0 defeat at home against Trabzonspor. Following the match, fans outraged by the defeat demanded loudly the resignation of the Italian coach, who was considered the person primarily responsible for the club's current situation.

In his short Turkish experience, Prandelli picked up 6 wins, 2 draws and 8 defeats in 16 games, losing 50% of the matches. He terminated his contract with the Turkish club on June 8, 2015, with compensation of about 3 million euros for him and his staff consisting of Gabriele Pin, Renzo Casellato, Giambattista Venturati, Silvia Berti and Vincenzo Di Palma.

Valencia

Following 2 years of being inactive, on 28 September 2016, he signed a two-year contract with Valencia, which was in 14th position in the Spanish La Liga on the sixth matchday. He stepped down the following December 30 because of disagreements over the transfer break, which was not yet finished. Prandelli had made his debut in La Liga with a win against Gijon, followed by 3 draws and 4 defeats and the departure with 6 points out of 24, leaving Valencia in 17th place.

Al-Nasr

On 25 May 2017, his appointment on the bench of Al-Nasr, a United Arab Emirates club, for the 2017-2018 season was made official. After being knocked out of the UAE President's Cup on 19 January 2018, he was dismissed. He finished his UAE adventure having scored 5 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses with the team in third place in the league.

Genoa

He was hired by Genoa on 7 December 2018 to take the place of Ivan Jurić. In spite of the prestigious 2-0 victory against Juventus on the 28th day (first defeat of the season for the Bianconeri team), Prandelli failed to make the desired change in the direction of Genoa's season. Genoa's salvation arrived only on the last day after the draw with Fiorentina and at the same time Empoli's defeat against Inter. By the end of the season, he was replaced by Andreazzoli, and on 20 June he terminated his contract.

Return to Fiorentina

He returned to Fiorentina on November 9, 2020, after ten years, replacing the dismissed Giuseppe Iachini. He debuted in purple on November 22 by losing 0-1 against Benevento, and the first victory came three days later against Udinese in the fourth round of the Coppa Italia (Fiorentina was eliminated in the round of 16 at the extra time against Inter).

Following another 2 defeats and 3 draws (all with the result of 1-1), their first victory in the league came on 22 December with a clear 3-0 win at home against Juventus. In total, he collected 6 wins, 6 draws and 11 defeats in 23 matches. However, on 23 March 2021, two days after the 2-3 home defeat against

and with the team in fourteenth place in the standings, he tendered his resignation for personal reasons.

Style of Play

With no fuss, we can say that Cesare Prandelli is a game-changer. In fact, he is not a coach who focuses on just one or a few fixed plays but instead adapts his game according to the players he has at his disposal. Actually, he loves to change his game system often, even during the match itself.

In particular, Prandelli often decides how to organize his team's game starting from the midfield. For Prandelli, the central midfielder is a pivotal role in his game, and based on the characteristics of his midfielders, he builds his team's game plan.

Reception

Cesare Prandelli has a good reputation in the Italian coaching world and it was especially during his time with Fiorentina and later the Italian national team that many pundits considered him one of the best coaches of the world at the time.

Cesare Prandelli outside Football

He played his own role in a cameo in the movie Christmas Vacation in Cortina in 2011. The film was released in 2011.

Cesare Prandelli Personal Life

In this section of Cesare Prandelli biography, we will take a look into his personal life and share some info about

Cesare Prandelli life story

and

Cesare Prandelli religion

.

Family, Children and Relationships

He married Manuela Caffi in 1982 and Niccolò (1984), athletic trainer, and Carolina (1987) were born as a result of their marriage. After a long illness, on November 26, 2007, he lost his wife Manuela and in 2010 Prandelli officially revealed his relationship with Novella Benini, former partner of the entrepreneur Chicco Testa.

Philanthropy

Prandelli has always been active in charity projects during his coaching career. For example, while he was manager of Italy, he dressed up as Santa and visited a children’s hospital in Florence, giving presents to children.

Legal Issues

So far, there are no reports in English or Italian media about any legal issues or disputes of Cesare Prandelli.

Cesare Prandelli Career Statistics

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

Club

As a player, he played a total of 386 matches between 1974 and 1990, scoring 9 goals. He has spent the majority of his playing days with Juventus.

Managerial

Prandelli has a win ratio of 40.67 percent with 266 wins, 185 draws and 203 defeats in a total of 654 matches.

Cesare Prandelli Honors

He has won all of his major trophies as a player with Juventus, including Serie A, European Cup, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and others.

As a manager, he has won Serie B with Hellas Verona and finished runner-ups in the Euro 2012.

The list of Prandelli’s personal awards includes Panchina d'Oro, Serie A Coach of the Year and Enzo Bearzot Award among others.

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