Address: FIGC, Via Gregorio Allegri 14, 00198 Roma Honours: World Cup (1934,'38, '82, '06) European Champions (1968) Next game: Italy v Ivory Coast (Upton Park, London), August 10, 2010
Meet the boss... Cesare Prandelli Handed four-year contract in July 2010
Cesare Prandelli began his playing days at Cremonese and made the step up to Serie A for Atalanta in 1978-79.
In six years at Juventus he amassed three Scudetti, a European Cup, Cup-Winners Cup, European Super Cup and Coppa Italia. Not exactly a first team regular, he opted to return to Atalanta to end his playing career in 1990.
It was at the Stadio Azzurri d’Italia that the next phase of his working life began, straight away winning the Primavera Scudetto and the prestigious international Viareggio Youth Tournament. They remain his only team trophies as a Coach.
Prandelli is famed for achieving impressive results against the odds. He led Verona and Venezia to promotion, while in both years at a financially-ruined Parma he still took them to fifth place and effectively launched the careers of Adrian Mutu, Adriano and Alberto Gilardino. After giving up the Roma job to nurse his wife through illness, Cesare began his Fiorentina adventure in 2005.
Technically he did enough to ensure a top-four finish in his first four seasons, but the Calciopoli scandal saw the Viola stripped of their 2006 result and start the next term from -15 points.
Still they came in sixth, which without the docked points would’ve been third place. These achievements were recognised with the Panchina d’Oro for Coach of the Year in 2006 and 2007, then the 2008 Oscar del Calcio.
Europe represents heartbreak for Prandelli, who lost the 2007-08 UEFA Cup semi-final to Rangers and saw 2009-10 Champions League passage to the quarter-finals doomed by refereeing errors against Bayern Munich. They still topped the group thanks to victories over Olympique Lyonnais and – twice – Liverpool, but the extra strain damaged their Serie A form.
Prandelli shattered a series of Fiorentina legend Fulvio Bernardini’s records. These include most games (240 to Bernardini’s 203), most victories (117 to 99), most Serie A matches (190 to 187) and most top-flight victories (96 to 89). He also amassed more international club games (34), European wins (14), European Cup ties (18) and Champions League successes (8).
