Eugenio Corini (born 30 July 1970) is an Italian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player. A talented, dynamic, and hard-working

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a footballer who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing Passing (association football), passing moves which lead to Goal (sport), goals, through ...

, known for his precise long passing, flair and his ability to orchestrate his team's attacking moves or provide assists for teammates, Corini usually played either as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or as a deep lying playmaker in midfield. A set-piece specialist, he was also known for his accuracy from free kicks, corners and penalty kicks.

Club career

Corini began his career in the

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

youth squad, but by age 16, he was called up to be included in the first team, making his debut the following season. He became a regular for Lombardian in 1988–89 and 1989–90 seasons before being signed by

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. In his first season with Juventus, at 20, Corini played 25 times and scored one goal. In 1992–93, Corini was sold to Sampdoria, where he made 24 appearances and had several injury problems. In the next few years, Corini moved from team to team almost every season (

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

, Brescia again and

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

) without being able to show his full potential. In October 1998, Verona loaned him to city rivals Chievo, in

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

. Corini soon became a mainstay of the team, leading his team as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

to an extraordinary

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for

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

in 2001, and

2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) Listed below are the dates and results for the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for UEFA teams. The European section of the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which was held in South Korea ...

, after having been first-placed at the winter break. Corini joined

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

in 2003, helping them win the 2003–04 Serie B league title, followed by

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) Listed below are the dates and results for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for UEFA teams. A total of 51 teams took part, divided in 8 groups – five groups of six teams each and three groups of seven teams each – competing for 13 ...

. He later served as the

club captain The captain of a football/soccer team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavily influ ...

. In June 2007, he announced he would not renew his contract with Palermo. A few days later he was signed by

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, age 37. He was confirmed with the ''Granata'' also for the 2008–09 season, which he stated it would be his final one as a footballer. In May 2009, Corini confirmed his retirement as a player after he failed to recover from a recurring

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

injury that forced him to have surgery, causing him to miss the final part of the season, which saw Torino being relegated to Serie B. He also stated his intention to try his hand at coaching in the future.

International career

Corini became a regular also in the Italy u21 team of the early 1990s, winning a

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

, and representing Italy in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

held in

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. Despite his success for Italy at the youth level and for various club-level teams, he was never capped for the full national team in a career spanning almost two decades. However, he did receive call-ups during the 1992–93 season, as well as in November 2002.

Managerial career

After announcing his retirement, Corini was successively linked to several vacancies in Italian football. On 5 July 2010, Corini was unveiled as the new head coach of Portosummaga, a newly promoted

2010–11 Serie B The 2010–11 Serie B (known as the Serie bwin for sponsorship reasons) is the seventy-ninth season since its establishment in 1929, and the first one under the rule of the new Lega Serie B. A total of 22 teams contest the league, 15 of which retu ...

club; he agreed to become the club's new head coach despite not having the required coaching badge qualification at the time of the appointment. He had only a UEFA A License, so UEFA Pro graduate Salvatore Giunta worked alongside him. Unexpectedly, Corini left the club twelve days later, together with director of football Giuseppe Magalini, due to disagreements with the board regarding the transfer market policy and the future plans for the team. On 27 November 2010, he was appointed head coach of Serie B club

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

, replacing

Leonardo Menichini Leonardo Menichini (born 11 December 1953) is an Italian association football, football coach (sport), manager and former player. He is in charge of club US Città di Pontedera, Pontedera. Playing career A defender (association football), defe ...

. His experience with the Calabrian club turned out to be short-lived, as he was dismissed later on 20 February 2011, following a string of poor results that left Crotone in danger of relegation. From 30 November 2011 through the end of the season, he coached

Frosinone Frosinone (; local dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lazio, administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is about southeast of Rome, close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of th ...

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into ...

, replacing Carlo Sabatini. On 2 October 2012, he was named the new head coach of Chievo in place of Domenico Di Carlo, after the team suffered five consecutive defeats in the first six games of the season. Corini and Chievo parted ways on 29 May 2013 by mutual consent; Corini returned to Chievo four months later, being appointed on 12 November 2013 to replace Giuseppe Sannino. He guided Chievo to maintain their Serie A status by the end of the season and was thus given the job on a permanent basis, but was subsequently sacked on 19 October following a 3-0 defeat to Roma that left the club with four points in seven games. On 30 November 2016, Corini was appointed manager of

. He resigned on 24 January 2017. On 4 February 2018, he was fired as manager of

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

. He returned to management on 18 September 2018, being named new head coach of

, his first club as a player, in place of David Suazo. He was sacked on 3 November 2019. He was re-hired by Brescia on 2 December 2019. On 5 February 2020, he was dismissed by Brescia once more. He became head coach of

club

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

on 22 August 2020. After Lecce failed to gain promotion to

at the end of the 2020–21 season by losing in the promotion play-offs, he was dismissed on 22 May 2021. On 23 March 2022, Corini was announced as the new head coach of Serie B club Brescia, thus marking his return with the ''Rondinelle'', two years after his last stint at the club. He guided Brescia to the promotion playoffs, where they were defeated by eventual winners

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

in the semi-finals; on 14 June 2022, Corini parted ways with Brescia by mutual consent. On 7 August 2022, Corini agreed to return to

as head coach, signing a two-year contract with the newly promoted Serie B club. After narrowly missing out on a promotion playoff spot, he was confirmed for one more season with a significantly strengthened squad and the goal of leading Palermo to a promotion spot; he was however sacked on 3 April 2024, following a last-minute 3–4 loss at

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

that left the ''Rosanero'' in sixth place, far away from a direct promotion spot with seven games remaining. On 9 October 2024, Corini took over as the new head coach of Serie B club Cremonese, signing a contract until the end of the 2024–25 season. His stint at Cremonese turned out to be short-lived, as he was dismissed just a month later, on 11 November, following two consecutive league defeats.

Career statistics

Club

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Palermo *

: 2003–04 Individual *Serie A Top Assist-provider: 2001–02 (11 assists)

Manager

Brescia *

: 2018–19

References

External links

Player profile (from US Palermo official website)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corini, Eugenio Living people 1970 births Footballers from the Province of Brescia Men's association football midfielders Italian men's footballers Italian football managers Brescia Calcio players Juventus FC players UC Sampdoria players SSC Napoli players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players Hellas Verona FC players AC ChievoVerona players Palermo FC players Torino FC players FC Crotone managers Frosinone Calcio managers AC ChievoVerona managers Palermo FC managers Novara FC managers Brescia Calcio managers US Lecce managers US Cremonese managers Olympic footballers for Italy Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Serie A players Serie B players Italy men's under-21 international footballers Serie A managers Serie B managers 20th-century Italian sportsmen