Gianluca Grassadonia (born 20 May 1972) is an Italian professional football coach and a former player. He is the head coach of Lazio Women.

Gianluca Grassadonia
Personal information
Date of birth (1972-05-20) 20 May 1972 (age 51)
Place of birth Salerno, Italy
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
Lazio Women (head coach)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1989 Salernitana 3 (0)
1989–1991 AC Milan 0 (0)
1991–1992 Salernitana 16 (0)
1992–1993 Foggia 9 (0)
1993–1996 Salernitana 61 (0)
1996 Cagliari 3 (0)
1996–1997 Cosenza 23 (0)
1997–2003 Cagliari 135 (2)
2003 Chievo 2 (0)
2003–2004 Venezia 16 (0)
2004–2005 Fidelis Andria 7 (0)
2005–2006 Juve Stabia 22 (0)
2006 Sant'Antonio Abate 10 (0)
2006–2007 Salernitana 10 (0)
Total 317 (2)
Managerial career
2009–2010 Salernitana
2011 Casertana
2011–2012 Paganese
2012–2013 Paganese
2013–2015 Messina
2015–2017 Paganese
2017 Pro Vercelli
2018 Pro Vercelli
2018 Foggia
2019 Foggia
2019–2020 Catanzaro
2021 Pescara
2021–2022 Paganese
2023– Lazio Women
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career edit

Born in Salerno, Grassadonia started his playing career by growing from the youth ranks of hometown club Salernitana and then making his senior debut in 1988. In 1992, he made his Serie A debut as a Foggia player. His longest stint as a player was between 1997 and 2003 with Cagliari, with whom he played 135 league games.

Coaching career edit

After retirement, Grassadonia took over a youth coaching role at Salernitana. In November 2009 he replaced Marco Cari as head coach, being however sacked later in March 2010 due to poor results. He successively served as head coach of Serie D club Casertana from February to June 2011.

In July 2011 he was named new head coach of Lega Pro Seconda Divisione club Paganese. After resigning from his post in January 2012, he returned to Paganese later in April and guided them to promotion through playoffs by the end of the season.

In December 2013 he took over at Messina, guiding them to win the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione season. He was sacked in March 2015 due to poor results.

In August 2015 he accepted to return to Paganese, guiding the small Campanian club to a surprising qualification to the promotion playoffs during the 2016–17 Lega Pro season.

In June 2017 he was named new head coach of Serie B club Pro Vercelli, replacing Moreno Longo.[1] On 17 December 2017 he was sacked due to the poor results of the team and replaced by Gianluca Atzori.[2] On 22 January 2018 he came back to Vercelli replacing Atzori.[3] On 7 May 2018 he was resacked after the 5–1 away defeat against Spezia and replaced by Vito Grieco with the team in the relegation zone in 22nd place with 37 points.[4][5] However Grieco, even if he won against the relegated team Ternana (2–1) did not avoid Pro Vercelli's relegation to Serie C.[6]

On 30 June 2018 he was appointed as new Foggia head coach.[7] He was removed from his managerial duties on 11 December 2018 after a string of negative results.[8]

On 11 March 2019 he was appointed as new Foggia head coach.[9]

On 21 October 2019 he signed a contract until the end of the 2019–20 season with Serie C club Catanzaro which will be automatically extended if Catanzaro achieves promotion to Serie B.[10] He was dismissed by Catanzaro on 24 January 2020 following two consecutive losses.[11]

On 14 February 2021 he was named new head coach of bottom-placed Serie B club Pescara, signing a contract until the end of the season.[12]

On 5 September 2021, Grassadonia agreed to return in charge of his past club Paganese in the Serie C league.[13] He was dismissed on 11 April 2022, leaving Paganese third-last placed in the league table.[14]

On 8 May 2023, he took on his first managerial role in women's football, accepting the head coaching job at Lazio Women.[15]

Managerial statistics edit

As of 20 October 2021[16]
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Salernitana   1 November 2009 14 March 2010 17 4 5 8 20 26 −6 023.53
Casertana   8 February 2011 6 June 2011 12 5 2 5 16 12 +4 041.67
Paganese   20 July 2011 18 January 2012 28 13 9 6 40 22 +18 046.43
Paganese   30 April 2012 18 June 2013 37 13 14 10 37 33 +4 035.14
Messina   3 December 2013 12 March 2015 53 18 14 21 64 70 −6 033.96
Paganese   6 August 2015 19 May 2017 77 25 22 30 93 97 −4 032.47
Pro Vercelli   14 June 2017 17 December 2017 20 4 6 10 23 33 −10 020.00
Pro Vercelli   22 January 2018 7 May 2018 18 4 7 7 19 26 −7 022.22
Foggia   30 June 2018 11 December 2018 15 4 5 6 22 27 −5 026.67
Foggia   11 March 2019 12 May 2019 9 3 2 4 10 10 +0 033.33
Catanzaro   21 October 2019 24 January 2020 15 6 4 5 19 15 +4 040.00
Pescara   14 February 2021 19 June 2021 15 3 6 6 11 19 −8 020.00
Paganese   5 September 2021 11 April 2022 8 4 1 3 7 7 +0 050.00
Total 324 106 97 121 381 397 −16 032.72

References edit

  1. ^ "UFFICIALE: GIANLUCA GRASSADONIA NUOVO ALLENATORE DEI LEONI" (in Italian). FC Pro Vercelli 1892. 14 June 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2017.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "Pro Vercelli, UFFICIALE Atzori". www.calciomercato.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2018-07-03.
  3. ^ Calciomercato Pro Vercelli, esonerato Atzori. Torna Grassadonia‚ corrieredellosport.it, 22 January 2018
  4. ^ "Pro Vercelli: Grassadonia esonerato, lo sostituisce Grieco (Primavera) – PiemonteTopNews". www.piemontetopnews.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2018-07-03.
  5. ^ "Grassadonia, i perché di un esonero". Infovercelli24.it (in Italian). 2018-05-07. Retrieved 2018-07-03.
  6. ^ "Serie B: Frosinone sees A, Ternana and Pro Vercelli Lega Pro | Football Magazine | Football and Sports News". Football Magazine | Football and Sports News. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  7. ^ "Gianluca Grassadonia è il nuovo allenatore del Foggia". Foggia Calcio (in Italian). 30 June 2018. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  8. ^ "Serie B: Foggia, esonerato Grassadonia" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  9. ^ "Serie B, Foggia: notte di follia. Incendiata l'auto di Iemmello". Foggia Calcio (in Italian). 10 March 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  10. ^ "Grassadonia nuovo tecnico delle Aquile: "Massimo impegno per raggiungere obiettivi importanti"" (Press release) (in Italian). Catanzaro. 21 October 2019.
  11. ^ "Il Catanzaro richiama in panchina mister Auteri" (Press release) (in Italian). Catanzaro. 23 January 2020.
  12. ^ "Gianluca Grassadonia è il nuovo allenatore del Pescara" (in Italian). Pescara Calcio. 14 February 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  13. ^ "Paganese, panchina affidata a Grassadonia dopo l'esonero di Di Napoli" (in Italian). TuttoMercatoWeb. 5 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  14. ^ "Paganese, torna Di Napoli in panchina. Esonerato Grassadonia" (in Italian). TuttoMercatoWeb. 11 April 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  15. ^ "Lazio Women, cambio in panchina. Esonerato Catini, al suo posto Grassadonia" (in Italian). TuttoMercatoWeb. 8 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  16. ^ "Gianluca Grassadonia career sheet". footballdatabase. footballdatabase. Retrieved 24 February 2021.