Fabio Pisacane (born 28 January 1986) 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 ...

coach and former player, who played as a defender, currently in charge as the head coach of club

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

Playing career

Pisacane started his career at

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 ...

, where he was initially a member of the team's youth system. At the age of 14, however, he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, which seriously threatened his career, as it caused him to experience temporary paralysis in his limbs. After recovering, he was promoted to the reserve side, where he remained from 2003 to 2005. He made his professional debut during the 2005–06 season, while on loan with

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

. After several seasons in

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 was signed by

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 ...

on a free transfer in 2008, but joined

Lumezzane Lumezzane (, locally ) is a town and (municipality) in the province of Brescia, in the Italian region of Lombardy. With a population of 22,255 (), it is one of the largest towns in its province. It is situated in the Gobbia Valley, which is a s ...

in a co-ownership deal, along with his Chievo teammates Tommaso Chiecchi and Amedeo Calliari. During the 2009–10 season, he left for

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 ...

side

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

. During the 2010–11 season, he remained at Lumezzane along with

Francesco Checcucci Francesco Checcucci (born 18 March 1989) is a former Italian footballer who played as a defender. Career Born in Bagno a Ripoli, the Province of Florence, Checcucci started his career at Fiorentina. In 2007–08 season, he left for Prato, also ...

. In June 2011, Lumezzane purchased the remaining 50% registration rights for Pisacane from Chievo, while Chievo bought back Checcucci. In his sole season with Lumezzane, he refused €50,000 to defeat his own team against Ravenna, becoming a hero, along with

Simone Farina Simone Farina (born 18 April 1982) is a former Italian footballer who played as a defender, currently working as general manager of club Siena. Career Early career Born in Rome and a fan of Lazio,"Honour bound" ''When Saturday Comes'', March ...

, of the illegal betting war; the two players were later rewarded by being named

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

ambassadors in 2012, while Pisacane was even invited by manager

Cesare Prandelli Claudio Cesare Prandelli (; born 19 August 1957) is an Italian former football coach and former player. Playing career Prandelli was a midfielder who moved from Atalanta to Juventus in 1979. His first game for Juventus was in the 1979–80 Eur ...

to train with the

Italy national football team The Italy national football team () has represented Italy in men's international Association football, football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for fo ...

later that year. In August 2011, he terminated his contract with Lumezzane. The next day, he was signed by

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria and currently compete in the Serie C. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A ...

on a one-year contract, rejoining former teammate

Davide Carcuro Davide Carcuro (born 28 May 1987) is an Italian association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ponzano Calcio. Career Fiorentina On 31 August 2006, Carcuro joined ACF Fiorentina, Fiorentina in temporary deal. He was the fourth ...

. He won

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 ...

and was the losing side of

Supercoppa di Lega di Prima Divisione The Supercoppa di Serie C, formerly named Supercoppa di Lega Pro, is an Italian football competition played by the three group winners of Serie C. The competition was inaugurated in 2000. Forerunners The FIGC introduced a third-level national foo ...

. On 14 June 2012, he extended his contract. On 11 July 2013, he was signed by

Avellino Avellino () is a city and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

, where he remained for two seasons. On 14 July 2015, he was signed by

. He helped the club obtain promotion to Serie A during his first season with the side, and subsequently made his

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 ...

debut in a 3–0 win over Atalanta, on 18 September 2016 the following season, at the age of 30; having finally achieved his childhood dream of playing in the top Italian division, he was moved to tears during the post-match interview. In 2016, Pisacane was named the inaugural winner of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

s Footballer of the Year award, which is given to "a player who has done something truly remarkable, whether by overcoming adversity, helping others or setting a sporting example by acting with exceptional honesty". On 19 January 2021, Pisacane signed with

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 ...

. He made 10 appearances with the ''giallorossi'' in

2020–21 Serie B The 2020–21 Serie B (known as the Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons) was the 89th season of the Serie B since its establishment in 1929. It started on 25 September 2020 and ended on 10 May 2021. On 5 November 2020, Serie B announced it would ...

season, but was left out of the squad for the next season. On 8 February 2022, his contract with the club was terminated by mutual consent.

Coaching career

Assistant and youth coach

On 8 June 2022, Pisacane took on his first non-playing role, signing for

as a technical collaborator to new head coach

Fabio Liverani Fabio Liverani (; born 29 April 1976) is an Italian football manager and former midfielder. He is the head coach of club Ternana. He made 288 Serie A appearances across 12 seasons, representing Perugia, Lazio, Fiorentina and Palermo. He was the ...

. In July 2023, Pisacane was appointed as the new head coach of Cagliari Primavera, the Under-19 youth team of the ''Rossoblu''. On 9 April 2025, Pisacane led Cagliari Primavera to win the

Coppa Italia Primavera The Coppa Italia Primavera (Italian for Spring Italian Cup) is an Italian football competition played by youth teams from Campionato Primavera. All players are under 20 of age. The first edition was held in the 1972–73 season. Due to sponsorshi ...

title after defeating

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 ...

in the final. On 11 June 2025, Cagliari announced the appointment of Pisacane as the new head coach of the

first team, replacing

Davide Nicola Davide Nicola (born 5 March 1973) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. Club career Nicola was born in Luserna San Giovanni. During his time with Genoa, he was noted for kissing a policewoman on the sideline after a g ...

Honours

Individual

*''

'' Footballer of the Year: 2016

Manager

; Cagliari *

: 2024–25

References

External links

Career summary by lega-calcio.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pisacane, Fabio Living people 1986 births Footballers from Naples Men's association football defenders Italian men's footballers Genoa CFC players Ravenna FC players US Cremonese players SS Virtus Lanciano 1924 players AC ChievoVerona players AC Ancona players Ternana Calcio players US Avellino 1912 players Cagliari Calcio players US Lecce players Serie B players Serie C players Serie A players Cagliari Calcio managers Serie A managers 21st-century Italian sportsmen