Alberto Zaccheroni (; born 1 April 1953) is an Italian former

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 ...

manager, formerly in charge of the

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and

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national football teams. He has managed a number of top clubs in

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 ...

, the high point of his career being his stint as manager of

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

(1998–2001), with whom he won a

scudetto The ''scudetto'' (; Italian for 'little shield') is a decoration having the colors of the flag of Italy which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in the previous ...

, in his first season in charge ( 1998–99). Other notable clubs coached by Zaccheroni include

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

, Internazionale and

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 ...

, all as interim coach for part of a season. He won the

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the contin ...

in 2011 as manager of

. Zaccheroni is also renowned for his unconventional and trademark 3–4–3 tactical system.

Career

Zaccheroni played as a full-back on both the left and the right wing,LA STORIA, LA VITA E LA CARRIERA DI ALBERTO ZACCHERONI
''Inter.it'', 19 October 2003 without much success, and his playing career was cut short by injury. He therefore became a manager at the relatively young age of 30 with amateur club Cesenatico. He won the Serie C2 and Serie C1, the fourth and the third highest football leagues in Italy. His managerial career took off when he was in charge of Udinese.

Udinese

Zaccheroni was appointed manager of Udinese in 1995. The 1996–97 season saw Udinese qualify for the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. In the following season, they managed a third-place finish behind champions

and runners-up Internazionale, largely thanks to

Oliver Bierhoff Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968) is a German association football official and former player who played as a striker. He has previously served as the technical director of the Germany national team. A tall, strong and prolific goalscorer, Bier ...

's 27 goals.

Milan

Zaccheroni's results at Udinese attracted the attention of

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

, owner of Italian giants

, who appointed him as manager after the club had endured two miserable seasons, despite their expensive, star-studded squad featuring (

George Weah George Manneh Oppong Weah (born 1 October 1966) is a Liberian politician and former professional Association football, footballer who served as the 25th president of Liberia from 2018 to 2024. Before his election for the presidency, Weah served ...

, Leonardo,

Paolo Maldini Paolo Cesare Maldini (; born 26 June 1968) is an Italian football executive and former professional footballer who played as a left-back or as a centre-back for AC Milan and the Italy national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greates ...

etc.). Zaccheroni asked Berlusconi to sign two key players from Udinese to accompany him to Milan: German striker

and Danish right wing-back Thomas Helveg. Berlusconi obliged, and both players joined Zaccheroni at his new club. Zaccheroni delivered instantly, as Milan conquered the Serie A in his first season in charge, overcoming

and

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

to the title, after seven straight wins in the last seven matches, with Zaccheroni employing an attacking 3–4–3 (or 3–4–1–2) formation that made good use of Milan's forwards, attacking midfielders and wing-backs.Provaci ancora, Milan: le grandi rimonte Scudetto
''Skysport.it'', 12 December 2016 The following season was less successful for Zaccheroni as Milan crashed out of the Champions League early, and, despite finishing third in Serie A, were never really in the running for the title. The 2000–01 season was even worse for Zaccheroni and would be his last in charge, as Milan had a poor run in the Serie A, at one time finding themselves barely above the relegation zone (eventually they finished 6th); in the Champions League they had a good start in the First Group Stage, topping their group (which included

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

and

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

), but were eventually eliminated in the Second Group Stage. As the Champions League final was about to take place at the San Siro, the backlash was immense, and this led Berlusconi to sack Zaccheroni and replace him with caretaker manager

Cesare Maldini Cesare Maldini (; 5 February 1932 – 3 April 2016) was an Italian professional football manager and player who played as a defender. Father to Paolo Maldini and grandfather to Daniel Maldini, Cesare began his career with Italian side Trie ...

on 14 March 2001, one day after Milan's elimination from the Champions League. As manager of Milan, Zaccheroni was successful and prescient in some of his signings;

, Kakha Kaladze,

Gennaro Gattuso Gennaro Ivan Gattuso (; born 9 January 1978) is an Italians, Italian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is currently the Manager (association football), head coach of the Italy na ...

and, above all,

Andriy Shevchenko Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko (, ; born 29 September 1976) is a Ukrainian former Manager (association football), football manager and Football player, player. Shevchenko is considered one of the greatest Striker (association football), strik ...

would become key players for the club. On the other hand, however, transfers like those of José Mari were expensive flops, and he was also criticised for letting top centre-back Roberto Ayala leave Milan and move to

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

; Ayala was generally unhappy in his two seasons at Milan (making 13 appearances in 1998–99 and 22 in 1999–2000) as there was stiff competition in defence with established players like

and Alessandro Costacurta.

Lazio

Zaccheroni was without a job for a few months before

came calling, after

Dino Zoff Dino Zoff (; born 28 February 1942) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is the oldest ever ...

had resigned. The Rome-based club had endured a terrible start to the 2001–02 season. He changed things around and managed to finish 6th in Serie A, thus earning Lazio a place in the

. Zaccheroni was not without his critics, though, as he played Gaizka Mendieta and

Stefano Fiore Stefano Fiore (; born 17 April 1975) is an Italian Association football, football manager and former player, who played as an attacking midfielder or on the winger (association football), right wing. He was in charge as manager technical area of ...

out of position, thus failing to get the best out of them. He was also held responsible by many for the humiliating 5–1 loss to Roma in the Rome derby that season. Despite Zaccheroni's efforts, he parted company with Lazio, to be replaced by Roberto Mancini.

Inter

Zaccheroni was again called upon in the mid-season of 2003–04, this time to try to save Internazionale after the departure of coach

Héctor Cúper Héctor Raúl Cúper (; born 16 November 1955) is an Argentine football manager and former player who was most recently head coach of the Syria national team. As a player, he was a defender who spent most of his career at Ferro Carril Oeste, w ...

from the club. Despite crashing out of the Champions League after a humiliating 5–1 loss to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

at the San Siro, he managed to lift Inter to fourth place in Serie A, thus securing qualification to the Champions League for next season. However, Inter president

Massimo Moratti Massimo Moratti (born 16 May 1945) is an Italian billionaire petroleum businessman, the former owner of Inter Milan and chairman of the Saras S.p.A., Saras Group, founded in 1962 by his father, industrialist Angelo Moratti. The main production si ...

was not convinced of Zaccheroni's abilities, and he was again replaced by Roberto Mancini.

Torino

After two seasons without a job, he was linked with a move to England in the vacant manager's post at Crystal Palace. These rumors never came to fruition. He did, however, become the new head coach of

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 ...

on 7 September 2006, the 100th anniversary of the team, replacing Gianni De Biasi, fired by chairman

Urbano Cairo Urbano Cairo (born 21 May 1957) is an Italian businessman and media proprietor. Biography Cairo was born in Milan. His parents were originally from Masio, within the province of Alessandria. He is the first of four children born from the union ...

three days before the start of the new season despite having led the team to instant promotion from

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 ...

. However, despite a good start, Zaccheroni was not able to bring Torino to the top positions in the league table and even suffered a worrying sequence of six consecutive defeats, which led chairman Cairo to sack him on 26 February 2007, and reinstate De Biasi at the helm of the ''granata''.

Juventus

On 29 January 2010 he was appointed to replace

Ciro Ferrara Ciro Ferrara (; born 11 February 1967) is an Italian former footballer and manager. Ferrara spent his playing career as a defender, initially at Napoli and later on at Juventus, winning seven total Serie A titles as well as other domestic and ...

as head coach of under-crisis

. He signed a four-month contract. On 14 February 2010, Zaccheroni achieved his first win as a Juventus manager, defeating

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

3–2. His first loss in charge of the team arrived two weeks later, a 0–2 home defeat to

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 ...

. He also guided Juventus through the newly established

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

campaign, after the club failed to qualify to the first knockout round of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. In his first game at European level with Juventus, his side defeated 2–1

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

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(the return leg then ended 0–0), and then went on to play English opponents

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. The first leg ended in a 3–1 win, but in

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

his side suffered a 4–1 defeat, sending Juventus out of the competition on a 5–4 aggregate scoreline. After a good start, results fell down again, similarly to the way they did during Ferrara's tenure, and Juventus ended the season in seventh place, thus concluding what was remembered as one of the most troubled Serie A seasons for the ''bianconeri''.

Japan

On 30 August 2010, it was revealed via an announcement from the

Japan Football Association The Japan Football Association (JFA, ) is the Sport governing body, governing body responsible for the administration of Association football, football, futsal, beach soccer and Esports, efootball in Japan. It is responsible for the Japan national ...

that Zaccheroni would become the new manager of the

Japan national football team The , also known by the nickname , represents Japan in men's international Association football, football. It is controlled by the Japan Football Association (JFA), the governing body for football in Japan. Prior to the late 1980s, Japan's nat ...

. However, due to a visa problem, he was not able to take charge in the first two matches against Paraguay (1–0) and Guatemala (2–1), in which former Japan striker and JFA technical director Hiromi Hara took charge. The first match he took charge, Japan had a historic 1–0 win over

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. His first major competition with Japan was the

2011 AFC Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the secon ...

, hosted in

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. He led the team to their record fourth Asian Cup title, winning 1–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. He led Japan to become the first nation to qualify for the World Cup finals in Brazil after their

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

qualifying football match against Australia in Saitama on 4 June 2013. Japan opened their campaign at the World Cup with a 2–1 defeat to

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

, where they led the match until 64 minutes. In the next match, Japan faced

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, which ended 0–0. They were eliminated in the group stages after a 4–1 defeat to

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and finished fourth with one point. At the end of the tournament, Zaccheroni resigned as the manager of Japan.

Beijing Guoan

On 19 January 2016, Zaccheroni was appointed manager of

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

club

Beijing Guoan Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at the Workers' Stadium, located within Chaoyang Distr ...

on a two-year contract. But after a dismal start to the season in which Guoan picked up just nine points in their first nine games of the season, combined with the team scoring just seven goals in their first nine games and growing discontent among fans, Zaccheroni was fired.

United Arab Emirates

On 16 October 2017, Zaccheroni took over the

United Arab Emirates national football team The United Arab Emirates national football team () represents United Arab Emirates in men's international Association football, football and serves under the auspices of the country's United Arab Emirates Football Association, Football Associat ...

. The team in January 2018 finished as the runner-up in the 23rd Gulf Cup. In January 2019, Zaccheroni led the national team to the semi-final of the

which was hosted by the United Arab Emirates. After the 4–0 defeat against

in semi-final, Zaccheroni left his position as UAE head coach as his contract with the UAE was set to expire at the end of the

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup (or commonly called the Asian Cup 2019) was the 17th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international association football, football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ...

Italian Non Profit National Team

Since April 2022 he is the technical commissioner of the "Italian Non Profit National Team", a Third Sector Entity (ETS) that promotes the values of solidarity through the sharing of a sporting experience involving non-profit associations.

FIFA

In 2022, he became a member of FIFA's Technical Study Group (TSG) during the World Cup in Qatar.

Style of management

Zaccheroni was known for employing an innovative attacking 3–4–3 (or 3–4–1–2 system, with 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. ...

supporting the forwards) formation, which was unconventional for the time. His system made use of a back-three and wing-backs in lieu of wide midfielders, who would make attacking runs up the flank, looking to provide crosses to the team's centre-forward, rather than tracking back. In his early career, he initially used a 4–4–2 formation with a zonal defence, inspired by Arrigo Sacchi's similar tactical system at Milan, which was widely used in Italy during the 1990s, although he did not emulate Sacchi's use of the

offside trap Offside is one of the laws in association football, codified in Law 11 of the Laws of the Game. The law states that a player is in an offside position if any of their body parts, except the hands and arms, are in the opponents' half of the ...

. Zaccheroni's direct game-play sought to bring the forwards into play as quickly as possible, through long balls from the back. He made use of an attacking trident with inverted wingers who were known for their quick combination play, or ability to provide depth to the team with their runs off the ball, and cut inside either to score goals or create chances. Unlike Ajax's diamond midfield under

Louis van Gaal Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former association football, football player and former manager who currently serves as an advisor for AFC Ajax, Ajax. At club level, he served as manager of AFC Ajax, Aj ...

in the 1990s, Zaccheroni used a flat midfield line in his trademark 3–4–3 formation. Off the ball, his team made use of pressing.

Managerial statistics

Personal life

In February 2023, it was reported that Zaccheroni was being treated for a head injury.

Honours

Club

;Riccione * Campionato Interregionale: 1986–87 ;Baracca Lugo * Campionato Interregionale: 1988–89 *

Serie C2 Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging t ...

: 1989–90 ;Venezia *

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

: 1990–91 ;Milan *

: 1998–99

International

;

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second-oldest c ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

* EAFF East Asian Cup:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Individual

* Albo Panchina d'Oro (2): 1996–97, 1998–99 * Serie A Coach of the Year: 1999 * Japan Football Hall of Fame: Inducted in 2024

References

External links

Alberto Zaccheroni's record of achievement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaccheroni, Alberto 1953 births Living people People from Meldola Italian football managers Venezia FC managers Bologna FC 1909 managers Udinese Calcio managers AC Milan managers SS Lazio managers Inter Milan managers Torino FC managers Juventus FC managers Japan national football team managers Beijing Guoan F.C. managers United Arab Emirates national football team managers Serie C managers Serie B managers Serie A managers 2011 AFC Asian Cup managers 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup managers 2014 FIFA World Cup managers 2019 AFC Asian Cup managers AFC Asian Cup–winning managers Italian expatriate football managers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Italian expatriate sportspeople in China Italian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate football managers in China Expatriate football managers in Japan Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Footballers from the Province of Forlì-Cesena