Francesco Baldini (born 14 March 1974) is an Italian football coach and a former player who played as a defender.

Club career

Throughout his club career, Baldini played for Italian clubs Massese,

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 ...

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council * Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

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 ...

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and par ...

, as well as

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

International career

At international level, Baldini was called up to the Italian Under-21 Olympic squad for the

1993 Mediterranean Games The XII Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1993 Mediterranean Games, were the 12th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Languedoc-Roussillon, France, from 16 June to 27 June 1993, where 2,598 athletes (1,994 men and 604 women) fro ...

, but did not make any appearances for the side.

Coaching career

In 2011, Baldini obtained a

UEFA A License UEFA, the governing body for football in Europe, mandates several coaching licences for professional managers, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro Licence, the UEFA A Licence, and the UEFA B Licence. They are is ...

, making him eligible to coach

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 ...

teams. He successively started a career as youth coach with

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

, where he worked from 2011 to 2014. He then took his first head coaching role at the helm of

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

amateurs

Sestri Levante Sestri Levante ( la, Segesta Tigullorum/Segesta Tigulliorum) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, Liguria, Italy. Lying on the Mediterranean Sea, it is approximately south of Genoa and is set on a promontory. While nearby ...

for the 2014–15 season, obtaining a second place in the league and later winning the national playoff tournament. In June 2015, he was named new head coach of Lucchese, being however fired in October 2015 due to poor results; he was re-hired in February 2016 and then dismissed once again on 6 March. After his Lucchese experience, Baldini returned to youth coaching, first in charge of the Under-17 team of

and then as ''Primavera'' Under-19 coach of

. On 11 July 2019, he was announced as the new head coach of

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named 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 been ...

club

Trapani Trapani ( , ; scn, Tràpani ; lat, Drepanum; grc, Δρέπανον) is a city and municipality (''comune'') on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an impor ...

. He was dismissed by Trapani on 17 December 2019. On 19 March 2021, he was announced as the new head coach of

Serie C 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 ...

club Catania for the remainder of the season. He guided the ''Rossazzurri'' during a financially troubled season, which was cut short in April 2022 as Catania were excluded from the league after having been declared insolvent. Just a few days later, he was hired by relegation-battling

club

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the '' Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a t ...

as their new head coach with immediate effect. Baldini failed to save Vicenza from relegation, after losing to

Cosenza Cosenza (; local dialect: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000; the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza, which has a populati ...

in the playoffs, but was confirmed in charge of the ''Biancorossi'' for the 2022–23 Serie C campaign. However, following a negative start to the club's season, he was eventually dismissed on 7 November 2022.

References

External links

National teams statistics at FIGC

Player profile
1974 births Living people Sportspeople from the Province of Massa-Carrara Italian footballers Footballers from Tuscany Lucchese 1905 players Juventus F.C. players S.S.C. Napoli players Reggina 1914 players Genoa C.F.C. players A.C. Perugia Calcio players FC Lugano players A.S.D. Victor San Marino players Serie A players Serie B players Association football central defenders Italian expatriate footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Italian football managers S.S.D. F.C. Trapani 1905 managers Catania S.S.D. managers L.R. Vicenza managers Serie B managers Serie C managers {{Italy-footy-defender-1970s-stub