Cristian Stellini (born 27 April 1974) is an Italian football coach and former player. He was most recently the acting head coach at

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

, having been appointed after the departure of

Antonio Conte Antonio Conte (; born 31 July 1969) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Playing as a midfielder, Conte began his career at local club Lecce and later ...

in March 2023.

Playing career

Stellini played for

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

(Serie C2),

Spal Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, since ...

(Serie C1) before joined

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A (in the 1972–73 and 1974–75 ...

of Serie C2 in October 1996. He won promotion twice for the team to Serie B in summer 1998. In summer 2000, he joined

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps has m ...

of Serie C1, he won promotions again, reaching Serie A in 2002. he made his Serie A debut on 14 September 2002 against

Empoli F.C. Empoli Football Club, commonly referred to as Empoli, is an Italian football club based in Empoli, Metropolitan City of Florence. Founded in 1920, the side is part of a select group of Italian football clubs that do not belong to a provincial ...

In summer 2003, Stellini joined

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) 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 I ...

, but suffered from a major leg injury. After playing just twice, he moved to

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

. During Stellini's time at Genoa, the

Caso Genoa Caso Genoa was an Italian football scandal in 2005. In the 2004–05 Serie B season, Genoa won the Serie B championship and were set to be promoted to the Serie A for the first time in 10 years. Genoa went into their final match of the season ...

scandal saw the club relegated to Serie C. Stellini remained at the club, however, and helped win them promotion back to Serie A.

Coaching career

In 2011, Stellini joined

's coaching team at

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

, and passed the category 2 coaching exam. However, in 2012 Stellini was suspended for two and a half years by the

FIGC The Italian Football Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio; FIGC), known colloquially as ''Federcalcio'', is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It ...

following allegations of

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

. He subsequently resigned from his post as technical assistant at Juventus. Stellini made his return to football as youth coach of

from 2015 to 2017. In June 2017, Stellini was named new head coach of

Lega Pro The Serie C () 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 body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

club Alessandria, signing a two-year contract. He was dismissed on 20 November 2017 due to poor results. Stellini joined Conte's managerial staff at

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a forme ...

ahead of the 2019–20 season. Stellini won the Scudetto with Inter during the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season, managing the team to three victories when Conte was suspended for yellow card accumulation. Stellini once again linked up with Conte at

, resuming his role as assistant manager. In the final game of the 2022–23 Champions League Group Stage, Stellini led the team to a victory at

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

, earning Spurs a spot in the knockout stage and winning the group in the process. In February 2023, it was confirmed that Conte required

gallbladder In vertebrates, the gallbladder, also known as the cholecyst, is a small hollow organ where bile is stored and concentrated before it is released into the small intestine. In humans, the pear-shaped gallbladder lies beneath the liver, althoug ...

surgery to recover from

cholecystitis Cholecystitis is inflammation of the gallbladder. Symptoms include right upper abdominal pain, pain in the right shoulder, nausea, vomiting, and occasionally fever. Often gallbladder attacks (biliary colic) precede acute cholecystitis. The pain l ...

and therefore required a period of recuperation following the surgery. As assistant manager Stellini assumed Conte's duties on an interim basis for the duration of his recovery. Stellini managed a Tottenham game for the second time on 5 February, a 1–0 home win against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

. Conte made his return to the dugout for Tottenham's following two games, a 4–1 defeat to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the Nation ...

and 1–0 defeat to

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 season ...

, however it was then announced that he would return to Italy to continue his recovery; as a result, Stellini once again assumed management responsibilities, and in his first match back, led Spurs to a 2–0 victory against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium ...

, followed by another 2–0 victory against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...

. On 26 March 2023, following exits from the Champions League and the FA Cup and his outburst in the post-match press conference after Tottenham Hotspur's 3–3 draw with

Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire, S ...

, Conte left the club by mutual consent. Stellini, originally deputy to Conte, was appointed by Daniel Levy as acting head coach until the end of the season, with

Ryan Mason Ryan Glen Mason (born 13 June 1991) is an English professional football coach and former player. He became the interim head coach of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur in 2021, becoming the youngest coach in Premier League history, at 29. M ...

serving as his assistant. In his first game as acting head coach, on 3 April, his side drew 1–1 with Everton, conceding a late goal. On 15 April, Tottenham lost 3–2 against

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the English ...

, conceding a late goal once more. On 23 April, Tottenham suffered a 6–1 loss against

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, going 5–0 down inside 21 minutes, which undermined their effort to finish in the top four, in order to compete in the next season's Champions League. He was relieved of his duties the following day, being replaced by Ryan Mason as caretaker manager.

Career statistics

Managerial

References

External links

AS Bari Calcio – Storia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stellini, Cristian 1974 births Living people People from Cuggiono Italian men's footballers Italian football managers Novara FC players SPAL players Ternana Calcio players Como 1907 players Modena FC 2018 players Genoa CFC players SSC Bari players Serie A players Men's association football defenders ACR Siena 1904 non-playing staff Juventus FC non-playing staff Inter Milan non-playing staff Tottenham Hotspur F.C. managers Tottenham Hotspur F.C. non-playing staff Footballers from Lombardy Sportspeople from the Metropolitan City of Milan Italian expatriate football managers Italian expatriate sportspeople in England Serie B players Serie C players Premier League managers