Marco Giampaolo (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmarko dʒamˈpaːolo]; born 2 August 1967) is an Italian manager, and former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was most recently the head coach of Serie A club Sampdoria.

Marco Giampaolo
Personal information
Full name Marco Giampaolo[1]
Date of birth (1967-08-02) 2 August 1967 (age 56)
Place of birth Bellinzona, Switzerland
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1990 Giulianova
1990–1992 Gubbio
1992–1993 Licata
1993–1995 Siracusa
1995–1996 Fidelis Andria
1996–1997 Gualdo
Managerial career
2000–2001 Pescara (assistant)
2001–2002 Giulianova (assistant)
2002–2004 Treviso (assistant)
2004–2005 Ascoli
2006 Cagliari
2007 Cagliari
2008–2009 Siena
2010–2011 Catania
2011 Cesena
2013 Brescia
2014–2015 Cremonese
2015–2016 Empoli
2016–2019 Sampdoria
2019 Milan
2020–2021 Torino
2022 Sampdoria
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career edit

Although born in Bellinzona, Switzerland, Giampaolo grew up in Giulianova, from where his family originates. He has a brother, Federico Giampaolo, who is a former striker. During his playing career, he was a midfielder who played for several Serie C teams, including Giulianova Calcio, Gubbio, Licata and Siracusa, before making his Serie B debut for Fidelis Andria in 1995. He retired in 1997, after a season played with Gualdo, following an ankle injury.

Managerial career edit

After his retirement, Giampaolo was signed as scout for Serie B side Pescara Calcio, and successively promoted as assistant coach in 2000. In 2001, he was appointed assistant coach of Serie C1 side Giulianova Calcio, in support of Adriano Buffoni. Both left in April 2002, despite the team was fully involved in a fight for a playoff placement, citing bad relationships with the club's management. In 2002–03, both Buffoni and Giampaolo signed for Treviso of Serie C1, leading the team to an immediate promotion to Serie B and saving the team from relegation the following season.

In 2004–05, Giampaolo moved to Ascoli, where he again acted as assistant coach of unknown manager Massimo Silva. This was often cited as a trick in order to allow Giampaolo to coach the team, as he was not in possess of a valid coaching licence at the time. The season ended in a good sixth place, which allowed Ascoli to play promotion playoffs, where it was defeated by Torino Calcio. However, following a serie of cancellations by the federation, Ascoli was admitted to play Serie A the next season, and both Giampaolo and Silva were confirmed to coach a team built in only two weeks, with the only goal to maintain a place in Italian top division. In February 2006, Giampaolo was disqualified for two months by the Italian Football Federation for having acted as first team head coach without a valid coaching licence. Successively, Giampaolo was admitted to join the Coverciano coaching course, and, after having saved Ascoli from relegation, he was announced as coach of Cagliari Calcio.

In September 2006, Marco Giampaolo was involved in a freak training ground accident, the 39-year-old boss was hit on the head by a wayward ball and, despite continuing with the training session, developed symptoms of concussion soon after. The coach was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.

On 17 December 2006, after a 3–1 away defeat to Udinese in a league match, Cagliari boss Massimo Cellino announced to have sacked Giampaolo, citing coach's loss of confidence with the team. However, on 26 February 2007 Cellino decided to sack Franco Colomba and reinstate Giampaolo back at the Cagliari head coach position. After having led Cagliari to avoid relegation, he was confirmed for the 2007–08, but he was sacked again on 13 November and replaced by Nedo Sonetti, leaving the rossoblu in last place with nine points (but with one match less than other teams).[2] He was later called once again to return at the helm of the rossoblu, following the dismissal of Sonetti, but he ultimately rejected the offer, citing his unwillingness to do so. He successively rescinded his contract with Cagliari, and in June 2008 was announced head coach of Siena for the 2008–09 season, who was dismissed on 29 October 2009.

On 30 May 2010, Giampaolo was appointed to replace Siniša Mihajlović as head coach of Catania.[3] After an unimpressive first half of season, Giampaolo and Catania parted company on 18 January 2011.[4]

On 4 June 2011, Cesena announced that he will be appointed head coach, replacing Massimo Ficcadenti who left the club by mutual consent despite keeping the club in Serie A.

On 30 October 2011, he was sacked because of bad results, leaving Cesena at bottom of Serie A table with just 3 points.

In July 2013 he was named new head coach of Serie B club Brescia.[5] He left Brescia by mutual consent on 25 September 2013 after having stated his intention to quit the club following a heated home loss to Crotone and Giampaolo's disappearance for three days (which also led to assistant coach Fabio Micarelli and technical consultant Luigi Maifredi fulfilling his role for a single league game against Carpi) after confronting with the club supporters.

On 9 June 2015, it was announced that Giampaolo was named new coach of Empoli.[6] On 4 July 2016, he became the new manager of Sampdoria on a two-year contract, succeeding Vincenzo Montella.[7] After the 2018–19 season, Giampaolo terminated his contract with Sampdoria.[8]

On 19 June 2019, Giampaolo signed with Serie A club Milan a contract until 2021, with an optional one-year extension.[9] He was sacked on 8 October 2019, after seven matches in charge with three wins and four defeats.[10]

On 7 August 2020, Giampaolo signed a two-year contract to become the head coach at Torino.[11] On 18 January 2021, Giampaolo was sacked.[12]

On 19 January 2022, he was re-appointed as head coach of Sampdoria.[13] He was dismissed on 2 October 2022 after a 3–0 home loss to Monza, leaving Sampdoria in last place in the 2022–23 Serie A league table.[14]

Managerial statistics edit

As of match played 2 October 2022
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Ascoli 14 June 2004 20 June 2005 47 18 12 17 55 58 −3 038.30
Cagliari 13 June 2006 19 December 2006 19 4 10 5 17 19 −2 021.05
Cagliari 26 February 2007 13 November 2007 26 8 5 13 29 37 −8 030.77
Siena 27 May 2008 29 October 2009 50 14 10 26 45 61 −16 028.00
Catania 30 May 2010 18 January 2011 23 7 7 9 27 31 −4 030.43
Cesena 4 June 2011 30 October 2011 10 1 3 6 4 12 −8 010.00
Brescia 2 July 2012 23 September 2013 7 2 3 2 9 8 +1 028.57
Cremonese 17 November 2014 15 June 2015 26 9 10 7 33 30 +3 034.62
Empoli 15 June 2015 26 May 2016 39 12 10 17 40 50 −10 030.77
Sampdoria 4 July 2016 15 June 2019 123 49 26 48 183 177 +6 039.84
Milan 19 June 2019 8 October 2019 7 3 0 4 6 9 −3 042.86
Torino 7 August 2020 18 January 2021 21 4 8 9 31 36 −5 019.05
Sampdoria 19 January 2022 2 October 2022 25 6 3 16 22 39 −17 024.00
Career total 423 137 107 179 501 567 −66 032.39

References edit

  1. ^ "Comunicato Ufficiale N. 92" [Official Press Release No. 92] (PDF). Lega Serie A. 6 December 2016. p. 6. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Cagliari sack Giampaolo – official". Football Italia. 13 November 2007. Archived from the original on 14 November 2007. Retrieved 13 November 2007.
  3. ^ "Marco Giampaolo è il nuovo allenatore del Catania" (in Italian). Calcio Catania. 30 May 2010. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
  4. ^ "COMUNICATO STAMPA" (in Italian). Calcio Catania. 18 January 2011. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  5. ^ "Giampaolo è il nuovo allenatore del Brescia Calcio" [Giampaolo is the new Brescia head coach] (in Italian). Brescia Calcio. 2 July 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  6. ^ Empoli, Giampaolo è il dopo Sarri
  7. ^ Official: Giampaolo new Samp Coach
  8. ^ "UFFICIALE: Sampdoria, risoluzione consensuale con Giampaolo".
  9. ^ "MARCO GIAMPAOLO SARÀ IL NUOVO ALLENATORE DEL MILAN". Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  10. ^ "OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: MARCO GIAMPAOLO". Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  11. ^ "Giampaolo new head coach". Torino F.C. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  12. ^ "Official: Torino sack Giampaolo". Football Italia. 18 January 2021.
  13. ^ "Bentornato mister: Giampaolo allenatore della Sampdoria". U.C. Sampdoria (in Italian). 19 January 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  14. ^ "U.C. Sampdoria: comunicato stampa del 2 ottobre 2022". U.C. Sampdoria (in Italian). 2 October 2022. Retrieved 2 October 2022.