Giampiero Ventura

Giampiero Ventura

Personal information
Full name	Giampiero Ventura
Date of birth	(1948-01-14) 14 January 1948
Place of birth	Genoa, Italy
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current team	Italy (manager)
Youth career
19??–19??	Sampdoria
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1968–1969	Sampdoria	0	(0)
1966–1970	Sestrese	?	(?)
1970–1974	Enna	?	(?)
1974–1976	Sanremese	?	(?)
1976–1978	Novese	?	(?)
Teams managed
1976–1979	Sampdoria (youth team)
1979–1981	Sampdoria (assistant coach)
1981–1982	Ruentes Rapallo
1982–1986	Entella
1986–1987	Spezia
1987–1989	Centese
1989–1992	Pistoiese
1992–1993	Giarre
1993–1995	Venezia
1995–1997	Lecce
1997–1999	Cagliari
1999–2000	Sampdoria
2001–2002	Udinese
2002–2004	Cagliari
2004–2005	Napoli
2005–2006	Messina
2006–2007	Verona
2007–2009	Pisa
2009–2011	Bari
2011–2016	Torino
2016–	Italy
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Giampiero Ventura (born 14 January 1948) is an Italian football manager in charge of the Italian national team and former football player.

Early years

Giampiero Ventura at Sanremese in 1974–75 season

Ventura grew up playing in the Sampdoria youth system. Unable to land a place in the first team, he played almost exclusively in Serie D, with the exception of the 1970–71 season in Serie C with USD Enna,^[1] with whom he made nine appearances.^[2]

Managerial career

Experiences around Italy

He began his career as a coach in the blucerchiati 's youth system, then becoming an assistant coach in 1979; he then left Sampdoria in 1981 to pursue a head coaching career, starting from several amateur teams from Liguria. In 1985 he achieved his first promotion to a professional league with Albenga and Entella.

In 1987 he became head coach of Spezia in the Serie C1, but did not complete the season. Two poor seasons with Centese, characterized by a sacking, a reappointment and finally a relegation to Serie C2, were followed by a three-year tenure as A.C. Pistoiese boss in the Interregionale, ended with a promotion to Serie C2 in his second season and a fourth place in the third. In 1993 he became head coach of Sicilian Serie C1 team Giarre, where he achieved a very impressive fourth place, that is still the best result ever achieved by the club as of today. In 1993 he was appointed by Maurizio Zamparini to coach Venezia of Serie B: in his first season, Ventura obtained a good sixth place; this was not followed by an improvement in results in his second season, ended with a sacking.

In 1995 Ventura returned to Serie C1 at the helm of Lecce, which he led to two consecutive promotions up to Serie A. In 1997 he joined Cagliari, which he led to a quick return to Serie A. In 1998–99 he finally made his personal Serie A debut, leading Cagliari to a 12th place. During the 1999–00 season, he agreed a return at Sampdoria, this time as head coach, but missed promotion to Serie A ending the season in fifth place.

After a year without a team, Ventura returned coaching during the 2001–02 season, this time at Udinese, obtaining just an unimpressive 14th place. From 2002 to 2004 he returned at Cagliari: a good ninth place in his first season was however followed by a sacking during the next one. In 2004–05 he was appointed at the helm of refounded team Napoli, with the goal to achieve immediate promotion to Serie B: however, Ventura did not manage to guide the team to the very top table positions, and he was later fired and replaced with Edoardo Reja. He returned coaching a Serie A club during the 2005–06 season, when he replaced Bortolo Mutti at the helm of Messina in an unsuccessful attempt to escape from relegation. In December 2006 he was called by Verona to replace Massimo Ficcadenti; despite a clear improvement in results his club, which was in the bottom of the table at Ventura's appointment time, did not manage to avoid playing a relegation playoff, losing it to Spezia.

Later on June 2007, Ventura was announced as new head coach of newly promoted Serie B club Pisa.

After an impressive first season with Pisa, ended with Pisa unexpectedly playing in the promotion playoffs (then being eliminated by Lecce, who later defeated AlbinoLeffe to win promotion in the top flight), a club takeover from Rome-based entrepreneur Luca Pomponi raised rumours about his possible replacement with Alessandro Costacurta. He was later confirmed by the new property after Costacurta declined interest in the managerial position, only to be sacked on April 2009 following a string of unimpressive results.^[3][4]

Bari

On June 26, 2009 Ventura was signed to manage Bari, replacing Antonio Conte.^[5] In the 2009–10, Ventura's Bari was one of the revelations of the season,^[6] combining attractive football and positive results, finishing in 10th place on 50 points (a record in Serie A for the Pugliese). Ventura would also launch the careers of young talents Leonardo Bonucci and Andrea Ranocchia, who at the end of the season would become part of the Italian national team.

The 2010–11 campaign saw Ventura confirmed as head coach. Due to a poor transfer market and a rash of injuries, Bari sat in last place at the midway point of the season. Bari did however win the Derby di Puglia against U.S. Lecce on 6 January 2011, thanks to a goal from loan signing Stefano Okaka. On 10 February 2011, with Bari sitting last in the table, with only one win in four months and 9 points from safety, Ventura agreed to part company with the club and was replaced by Bortolo Mutti.^[7]

Torino

On 6 June 2011 Ventura was announced as the new manager of Torino ahead of the 2011–12 season,^[8] signing an annual contract. Ventura revolutionised the team with the arrival of several new players and launching the likes of Angelo Ogbonna, Kamil Glik and Matteo Darmian. He secured promotion during the 2011–12 season on 20 May 2012, with a round to spare, with a 2–0 victory against Modena at home.

In the 2012–13 season he led Torino to 16th place in the top flight; securing safety from relegation on 12 May 2013, after a 1–1 draw away to Chievo. It would also see the arrival of Jean-François Gillet, Alessandro Gazzi and Alessio Cerci, Ventura's former pupils at Bari and Pisa. On 6 February 2014, he renewed his contract with Torino until 2016.^[9]

In the 2013–14 season Ventura led Torino to 7th place in Serie A and the qualifying rounds of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League. It was also his personal best season for points secured in Serie A (57).

On 22 February 2015 he celebrated his 100th game on the bench of Torino in Serie A, seizing a 1–1 draw against Fiorentina in Florence. Four days later, he obtained a historic victory in the round of 32 of the Europa League by beating Athletic Bilbao 3–2 in Spain, qualifying Torino for the next round: no Italian team had ever won at Bilbao. On 26 April 2015 he secured a 2–1 victory against Juventus at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin, handing Torino their first victory in the derby in 20 years.^[10]

On 16 November 2015 his contract with Torino was renewed until 30 June 2018.^[11] On 16 December, he set a new record for consecutive appearances as manager of Torino, overtaking Luigi Radice, with 194 appearances.^[12] On 25 May 2016, after five years in charge of the Granata, and having closed the 2015–16 season in 12th place, he terminated his contract by mutual consent with Torino.^[13]

Italy

On 7 June 2016, Ventura was named replacement for Antonio Conte of the Italy national team, and assumed his position after the UEFA Euro 2016 on 18 July,^[14] signing a two-year deal with the Italian Football Federation.^[15] On 1 September 2016, Ventura made his debut as Italy manager in a 3–1 home defeat to France.^[16] Ventura won his first competitive match in charge of Italy four days later, in the team's opening 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tie away to Israel 3–1.^[17]

Managerial statistics

As of 15 November 2016

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Napoli		2004	2005	7001340000000000000♠34	7001170000000000000♠17	7001100000000000000♠10	7000700000000000000♠7	7001500000000000000♠50.00
Messina		2006	2006	7000600000000000000♠6	7000100000000000000♠1	5000000000000000000♠0	7000500000000000000♠5	7001166700000000000♠16.67
Hellas Verona		2006	2007	7001260000000000000♠26	7001100000000000000♠10	7000800000000000000♠8	7000800000000000000♠8	7001384600000000000♠38.46
Pisa		2007	2009	7001810000000000000♠81	7001310000000000000♠31	7001240000000000000♠24	7001260000000000000♠26	7001382700000000000♠38.27
Bari		27 June 2009	10 February 2010	7001660000000000000♠66	7001180000000000000♠18	7001160000000000000♠16	7001320000000000000♠32	7001272700000000000♠27.27
Torino		6 June 2011	25 May 2016	7002216000000000000♠216	7001850000000000000♠85	7001640000000000000♠64	7001670000000000000♠67	7001393500000000000♠39.35
Italy		18 July 2016	Present	7000600000000000000♠6	7000300000000000000♠3	7000200000000000000♠2	7000100000000000000♠1	7001500000000000000♠50.00
Total				7002425000000000000♠425	7002165000000000000♠165	7002124000000000000♠124	7002136000000000000♠136	7001388200000000000♠38.82

Honours

• Serie C1

Lecce: 1995–96

• Campionato Interregionale/Serie D

Entella: 1984–85

Pistoiese: 1990–91

References

External links

• (Italian) Official website