Claudio Ranieri

Claudio Ranieri
Ranieri with Inter Milan in 2011
Personal information
Full name Claudio Ranieri[1]
Date of birth (1951-10-20) 20 October 1951 (age 73)[2]
Place of birth Rome, Italy[2]
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1973–1974 Roma 6 (0)
1974–1982 Catanzaro 226 (8)
1982–1984 Catania 92 (1)
1984–1986 Palermo 40 (0)
Total 366 (9)
Managerial career
1986–1987 Vigor Lamezia
1987–1988 Puteolana
1988–1991 Cagliari
1991–1993 Napoli
1993–1997 Fiorentina
1997–1999 Valencia
1999–2000 Atlético Madrid
2000–2004 Chelsea
2004–2005 Valencia
2007 Parma
2007–2009 Juventus
2009–2011 Roma
2011–2012 Inter Milan
2012–2014 Monaco
2014 Greece
2015–2017 Leicester City
2017–2018 Nantes
2018–2019 Fulham
2019 Roma
2019–2021 Sampdoria
2021–2022 Watford
2023–2024 Cagliari
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Claudio Ranieri Ufficiale OMRI[3] (Italian: [ˈklaudjo raˈnjeːri, -ˈnjɛː-]; born 20 October 1951) is an Italian former professional football manager and former player. As manager of Leicester City, he won the 2015–16 Premier League, a feat regarded as one of the greatest sporting shocks in history.

Ranieri began his managerial career in the lower leagues in Italy during the late 1980s, making his name at Cagliari, whom he took from Serie C1 up to Serie A in successive seasons. He subsequently managed Napoli, with which he qualified for the UEFA Cup, only to be dismissed the following season. In 1993, he joined Fiorentina, and immediately led them to Serie A promotion, also winning the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana in 1996, before moving to Spain in 1997, to manage Valencia and then Atlético Madrid. With Valencia, he won a Copa del Rey and an UEFA Intertoto Cup, and helped the club to qualify for the UEFA Champions League.

In 2000, Ranieri moved to England to become head coach at Chelsea. His four seasons there saw Chelsea improve their points total season on season. After substantial investment in the squad by new Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich in the summer of 2003, Ranieri led the team to finish runners-up in 2004 and reaching the UEFA Champions League semi-final the same season. He was dismissed by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich that May. After an unsuccessful second spell back in Spain with Valencia, he returned to management in Italy in 2007, where he encountered mixed success with spells at Parma, Juventus, Roma and Inter Milan. In 2012, he was hired to manage Ligue 1 team Monaco, who had just finished in the middle of Ligue 2, and earned promotion as champions in his first season, then finished as Ligue 1 runners-up in his second season. This was followed by a foray into international management with the Greece national team, but he was dismissed less than four months later after a 1–0 home defeat against the Faroe Islands in the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying.

Ranieri returned to England once more in the summer of 2015 as manager of Leicester City. He went on to win the 2015–16 Premier League, after the club had narrowly avoided relegation the season prior, and was named the 2016 Premier League Manager of the Season, and LMA Manager of the Year. He was also awarded the Grand Officer of the Italian Order of Merit and the Enzo Bearzot Award as best Italian manager of the year,[3] as well as the 2016 Best FIFA Men's Coach Award. He was dismissed by the club in February 2017 after a run of poor results. He has subsequently managed Nantes, Fulham, Roma, Sampdoria, and Watford. In June 2023, he won promotion to Serie A with Cagliari after beating Bari 1–2 in the playoffs.

  1. ^ "Comunicato Ufficiale N. 258" [Official Press Release No. 258] (PDF). Lega Serie A. 9 July 2020. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 December 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Ranieri: Claudio Ranieri: Manager". BDFutbol. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri awarded Italian honour". The Guardian. 20 May 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.