Cristian Bucchi (born 30 May 1977) is an Italian

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 Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player who is the head coach of club

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

. A

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, he was best known for his goal-scoring ability 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 ...

during the peak of his career.

Club career

Early career

Bucchi started his career with the

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

outfit Sambenedettese in 1995 as an 18-year-old. He made 28 appearances in his first proper season, although he scored no goals. The Serie D outfit released him at the end of the season, and he took the decision to drop down two divisions to the amateur regional leagues ( Promozione Marche). From 1996 to 1998, he enjoyed a fine couple of years where he collecting a brilliant 52 goals in 58 games for Settempeda. The club also promoted to 1997–98

Eccellenza Marche Eccellenza Marche is the regional Eccellenza football division for clubs in the region of Marche, Italy. It comprises 16 teams. The winners of the Groups are promoted to Serie D. The club who finishes second also have the chance to gain promotion, ...

. The 21-year-old's promising talent did not go unnoticed and it showed as

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 ...

outfit

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

took a very big gamble in some respects for a non-league striker. Soon after that, in a massive change of fortunes for the young forward, he was called up to the Italy U21s.

Perugia

After his big move to Serie A, he started straight away in his first season for the club as Perugia claimed a mid-table place in the 1998–99 season. He contributed with five league goals and it was a surprise he adapted so quickly, considering he was playing amateur football little over a year before. His second season did not go so well after a good first season. He played the 1999–2000 season on loan to Vicenza, and scored eleven league goals, which helped his team lift the Serie B title, although they made a quick return to Serie B after failure to avoid relegation the following season. He returned in 2000 and was ready to start afresh. Coming back to the club and seeing the likes of Ahn Jung-Hwan and

Fabrizio Miccoli Fabrizio Miccoli (; born on 27 June 1979) is an Italian former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. He scored 103 goals in 259 matches in Serie A across nine seasons, representing ...

ahead of him in pecking order, lead to a very disappointing second season for Bucchi, after scoring just once in seven matches for Perugia. He was also suspended in the second half of season due to doping but shorten after appeal, made him available for

2001–02 Serie A The 2001–02 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 100th season of top-tier Italian football, the 70th in a round-robin tournament. It was composed by 18 teams, for the 14th consecutive time from season 1988–89. T ...

. He left the club in October after only 3 appearances. Bucchi scored nine goals for newly promoted Serie B side Ternana in

2001–02 Serie B The 2001–02 Serie B is the 70th season since its establishment in 1929. It is the second highest football league in Italy. Teams Modena, Palermo, Como and Messina had been promoted from Serie C, while Reggina, Vicenza, Napoli and Bari had be ...

, as the new boys stayed up in their first Serie B season of the 21st century.

Catania, Cagliari and Ancona

In the summer of 2002, he was signed by ambitious newly promoted Serie B Sicilian outfit, Catania. However, things did not work out very well for Bucchi, after finding first-team opportunities hard to come by, with the likes of Czech forward

Jaroslav Sedivec Jaroslav (also written as Yaroslav or Jarosław in other Slavic languages) is a Czech and Slovak first name, pagan in origin. Its feminine form is Jaroslava. There are several possible origins of the name Jaroslav. It is very likely that origina ...

Luis Oliveira Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

and

Nassim Mendil Nassim Mendil (born 27 March 1979) is a French Algerian former professional footballer who played striker. Club career Born in Rognac, France, Mendil began his career in the SC Bastia academy, which he joined at the age of 15. On 22 February ...

all above him in pecking order. He would go on to find the net just twice in thirteen appearances for the Sicilian side. He was allowed to leave in the winter and made the move to Cagliari in the winter of 2002–03. Once again, he would have to wait for his chance, although with the likes of Fabrizio Cammarata,

David Suazo Óscar David Suazo Velázquez (born 5 November 1979) is a Honduran retired professional footballer turned coach who played as a striker. Suazo played more than 300 league games and scored over 90 league goals in Italy during a span of 12 season ...

and

Luigi Beghetto Luigi Beghetto (born 6 July 1973 in Bassano del Grappa, Province of Vicenza) is an Italian footballer who played as a striker. Career Beghetto started his career with hometown club Bassano, then in Serie D. He was then signed by Vicenza in ...

already the first choice strikers, Bucchi would only feature ten times in his whole Sardinian career, scoring just once. Bucchi joined Serie A basement boys Ancona in second half of the 2003–04 season, after a very disappointing half-season in Sardinia, in a part exchange deal which would see Roberto Maltagliati go the opposite way. He scored five goals in 12 matches. However once again and not for the first time in his career, his team suffered relegation, as this time round, Ancona set an all-time low in Serie A, amassing just 13 points all season long. Bucchi signed with Ascoli in a co-ownership deal with

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona. History The name came from t ...

in August 2004, although Ascoli would be the club he would play for.

King of Serie B

Ascoli

In 2004–05, Bucchi scored 17 goals for Ascoli, one third of the team's Serie B goal total of 51 that season, missing one match. He became the club's top goalscorer; just three goals short of Serie B topscorer Gionatha Spinesi. His contribution was a key factor in Ascoli's fourth-placed finish and a place in the seasons play-offs. Despite Ascoli's play-off defeat to

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 ...

(A 3–1 loss on aggregate), Ascoli, in bizarre circumstances (only 1 of the 3 original promoted teams went up – Genoa demoted to Serie C1, with their involvement in the Serie B match-fixing scandal that season & Torino had to play Serie B football for the following season, due to financial difficulties), gained promotion to Serie A for the first time in more than a decade.

Modena

In the summer of 2005, Ascoli sold their 50% share of Bucchi to

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

. In 2005–06, Bucchi scored 29 goals for

and in fact, one goal shy of contributing exactly half of the team's league goal total (59 goals). Consequently, he became Serie B topscorer that season, just one goal away from levelling Serie B's all-time topscorer, former Italian international striker

Luca Toni Luca Toni (; born 26 May 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer, Toni scored over 300 goals throughout his career, and is one of the top-five highest scoring Italians in all competition ...

, bagging 30 goals in 2003–04 for then-champions,

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 ...

. Bucchi's contribution would vastly help lead Modena to a play-off place, and scored one goal in the away leg against

Mantova Mantua ( ; ; Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2017, it was named as the "European C ...

. Modena in the end lost out to Mantova, although the result on aggregate was 1–1. This meant that both sides' final league position's would come into the equation (Mantova finished higher than Modena in final league table, meaning Mantova would progress to the final).

Napoli and loans

During the 2006 January transfer window, rumours had linked him to Benfica. After a year with Modena, he was sold to newly promoted, and ambitious

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 ...

for €4 million. The complicated deal also included Modena sold Tommaso Chiecchi back to Chievo and signed Bucchi outright. In

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, 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 Metropolitan City of N ...

, he scored eight goals in 29 games and the club finished as runner-up to win promotion to Serie A. His striking partner, Emanuele Calaiò, scored 18.

Siena

Due to a surplus of players at Napoli in the new season, mainly due to new signings

Ezequiel Lavezzi Ezequiel Iván "Pocho" Lavezzi (, ; born 3 May 1985) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a forward. During his career, his most important attributes were his pace, hardworking style of play, technique, creativity, and d ...

and

Marcelo Zalayeta Marcelo Danubio Zalayeta (; born 5 December 1978) is a Uruguayan former professional association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. Zalayeta began his club career with Danubio F.C., Danubio before movi ...

, he went to Siena on loan in the summer of 2007. Bucchi had not made an appearance in Serie A since playing for Ancona in second half of 2003–04 season, but he failed to score any goals in his ten appearances for Siena.

Bologna

In January 2008, he was loaned to

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

as one of their strikers, Danilevičius, asked to leave for more regular playing time. He scored five goals during his five-month stay at Bologna, participating in the ''rossoblus successful quest for promotion to the Italian top flight.

Ascoli

In July 2008, he agreed to return to Ascoli in another loan deal.

Cesena (loan)

On 10 July 2009, he was loaned to

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

. He returned to Napoli at the start of 2010–11 season, and played a few games.

Pescara (loan)

On 4 January 2011, he was loaned to Serie B club

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

and his contract with Napoli was terminated during the 2011–12 season by mutual consent.

International career

For Italy, he has only represented his country at Under-21 level. During his time in the team (1998–1999), he collected three U-21 caps, scoring one goal.

Coaching career

Pescara

Bucchi became the head coach of the ''Primavera'' (under-19) team of

in 2012. He obtained UEFA A License, the second highest in the category, with the highest score in the class in 2012. In March 2013, Bucchi was promoted as the head coach to their first team, following the sacking of previous coach

Cristiano Bergodi Cristiano Bergodi (born 14 October 1964) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. Club career Born in Bracciano, Lazio, Bergodi started to play at Pescara Calcio in the country's first division (Serie A) in 1987, for Pesca ...

. The team also hired Bruno Nobili as nominal head coach and ''de facto'' as Bucchi's assistant in order to bypass the bureaucratic ban, as UEFA A License was not qualified to coach Serie A and Serie B level but

UEFA Pro License The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of managers/ coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for football in Europe mandates several licences, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro ...

qualified. The club also promoted his assistants in the ''Primavera'',

Mirko Savini Mirko Savini (born 11 March 1979) is a former Italian footballer who played as defender, currently working for Ascoli as an assistant coach. Career Savini spent most of his early career playing at lower division level, and reached Serie B only ...

and Ermanno Ciotti to the first team and re-hired Massimo Marini as goalkeeping coach, who left the position along with

Giovanni Stroppa Giovanni Stroppa (; born 24 January 1968) is an Italian professional football coach and former player. Club career AC Milan and loan to Monza Stroppa started his playing career in AC Milan's youth system, and was loaned for two seasons at ...

in November 2012. On 10 March 2013, Bucchi debuted as the head coach of the first team of ''delfini'' in a 2–1 away loss against

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

Gubbio

On 12 July 2013, Bucchi joined

Gubbio Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennine Mountains, Apennines. History Prehistory The ol ...

as their head coach. He was fired in January 2014. In summer 2014, while unemplopyed, he obtained the UEFA Pro License.

Torres

In January 2015, Bucchi became the head coach of

Torres Torres may refer to: People *Torres (surname), a Spanish and Portuguese surname * Torres (musician), singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott ** ''Torres'' (album), 2013 self-titled album by Torres Places Americas * Torres, Colorado, an unincorporated ...

. The team finished as the 11th of

2014–15 Lega Pro The 2014–15 Lega Pro was the first season of the unified Lega Pro division in place of the old Prima Divisione and Seconda Divisione. The league is composed of 60 teams divided into three different groups of 20 each. Teams A total of 60 teams ...

. However, the club later dropped to the bottom of the table due to a match fixing scandal for the matches in the first half of 2014–15 season.

Maceratese

Bucchi was the head coach of

Maceratese Maceratino is a white Italian wine grape variety that is grown predominantly in the Marche along the Adriatic coast of Italy. Ampelographers believe the grape may have some relation to Greco and Verdicchio, as evidence by the several overlappin ...

2015–16 Lega Pro The 2015–16 Lega Pro Divisione Unica is the second season of the unified Lega Pro division. The championship name, which is ''Divisione Unica'' according to the FIGC regulations, is called ''Lega Pro'' in official documents. Teams A total of ...

season. The team finished as the losing side of the promotion playoffs.

Perugia

On 15 June 2016, Bucchi was hired as the head coach of Serie B club

Sassuolo

On 20 June 2017, Bucchi was signed by

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town is best known for being the centre of the Ita ...

, replacing

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

-bound head coach

Eusebio Di Francesco Eusebio Di Francesco (; born 8 September 1969) is an Italian manager and former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the head coach of club Venezia. Club career Di Francesco started his career with Tuscan teams Empoli and ...

. On 27 November 2017, Bucchi was sacked.

Benevento

On 6 July 2018, Bucchi was appointed manager of

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

Empoli

On 18 June 2019, Bucchi was appointed manager of

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

. He was dismissed on 12 November 2019 after the team only gained 3 draws in 6 preceding league games.

Triestina

On 6 July 2021, Bucchi was hired as head coach of

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to US Triestina or just Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, in the northern Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Originally established in 1918, Triestina was one of the fo ...

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

. He guided Triestina to fifth place, who were then eliminated by eventual winners

in the promotion playoffs.

Ascoli

On 14 June 2022, Bucchi was announced as the new head coach of Serie B club Ascoli, a former club of his as a player. He was sacked on 4 February 2023 following a negative string of results.

Arezzo

On 4 February 2025, after two years without a managerial job, Bucchi was hired as the new head coach of Serie C club

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bucchi, Cristian 1977 births Living people Italian men's footballers AC Perugia Calcio players LR Vicenza players Ternana Calcio players Catania FC players Cagliari Calcio players AC Ancona players Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players Modena FC 2018 players SSC Napoli players US Sambenedettese players Bologna FC 1909 players Siena FC SSD players AC Cesena players Delfino Pescara 1936 players Serie A players Serie B players Serie D players Italy men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football forwards Italian football managers Delfino Pescara 1936 managers US Sassuolo Calcio managers Benevento Calcio managers Empoli FC managers US Triestina Calcio 1918 managers Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC managers Serie A managers Serie B managers Serie C managers Footballers from Rome Doping cases in association football