Franco Lerda (born 19 August 1967) is an Italian football manager and a former player who played as 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 ...

, most recently in charge of

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 ...

club

Potenza Potenza (, ; ; , Potentino dialect: ''Putenz'') is a ''comune'' in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata (former Lucania). Capital of the Province of Potenza and the Basilicata region, the city is the highest regional capital and one of ...

Club career

Lerda began his career with the

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 ...

youth system, at the age of 16, joining the first team during the 1985–86 season. He made his professional debut with the club on 6 November 1985, coming on for Júnior in Torino's 3–1 defeat to

Hajduk A hajduk (, plural of ) is a type of Irregular military, irregular infantry found in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries, especially from Hajdú–Bihar Count ...

in the return leg of the round of 16 of 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 ...

. He 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 on 24 November, in a 4–1 home win over

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

, coming on for Schachner. He remained with the club for two seasons, collecting 19 appearances, and scoring 1 goal. He subsequently played in the lower divisions with

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...

Taranto Taranto (; ; previously called Tarent in English) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base. Founded by Spartans ...

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 ...

(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 ...

Chievo Verona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo (, ), is an Italian football club named after and representing Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto. It is owned since 2024 by the team' ...

(in

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 ...

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 ...

, and

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

(in Serie B once again). He helped Brescia to earn Serie A promotion during the

1993–94 Serie B The Serie B 1993–94 was the sixty-second tournament of this competition played in Italy since its creation. Teams Ravenna, Vicenza, Palermo and Acireale had been promoted from Serie C, while Brescia, Fiorentina, Ancona and Pescara had been re ...

season, also winning the

Anglo-Italian Cup The Anglo-Italian Cup (, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition and from 1976 to 1986 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) was a European football competition. The competition was ...

with the club in 1994. The following season, after making two appearances with Brescia, he moved to

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 ...

, without being able to find the net, and subsequently returning to Brescia for the

1995–96 Serie B The Serie B 1995–96 was the sixty-fourth tournament of this competition played in Italy since its creation. Teams Bologna FC, Bologna, Pistoiese, Reggina Calcio, Reggina and US Avellino, Avellino had been promoted from Serie C, while Genoa CF ...

season. He later spent a season and a half with Serie C1 side

Atletico Catania Unione Sportiva Dilettantistica Atletico Catania, commonly known as Atletico Catania (), is an Italian football club based in Catania, Sicily, who compete in Promozione, the sixth tier of the Italian football league system. Throughout its histo ...

, narrowly missing out on Serie B promotion. He ended his career after playing with

Alessandria Alessandria (; ) is a city and commune in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. It is also the largest municipality of the region. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, ...

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 ...

Cuneo Cuneo (; ; ; ) is a city and in Piedmont, Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in the south-west of Piedmont, at the confluence of the ri ...

and

Canavese Canavese ( French: ''Canavais''; Piedmontese: ''Canavèis'') is a subalpine geographical and historical area of North-West Italy which lies today within the Metropolitan City of Turin in Piedmont. Its main town is Ivrea and it is famous for its c ...

, in

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 ...

, and finally, with

Saluzzo Saluzzo (; ) is a town and former principality in the province of Cuneo, in the Piedmont region, Italy. The city of Saluzzo is built on a hill overlooking a vast, well-cultivated plain. Iron, lead, silver, marble, slate etc. are found in the su ...

, in the Piedmont Eccellenza League, retiring after the 2003–04 season.

International career

On 19 November 1986, Lerda made his debut for the

Italy national under-21 football team The Italy national under-21 football team is the national under-21 Association football, football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, held every two ...

, in a 1–1 home draw against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. He scored his first goal for the Italy under-21 side on 11 February 1987, in a 2–1 away win over

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

; these were his only two appearances for the under-21 side.

Managerial career

Lerda had been the manager of a few clubs in lower divisions. In June 2010, he became manager of

. On 9 March 2011, he was sacked by the Torino board and replaced by

Giuseppe Papadopulo Giuseppe Papadopulo (; born 2 February 1948) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a defender. He was last in charge as head coach of Torino. Early life and playing career Papadopulo was born in Casale Marittimo, Pisa ...

. However, eleven days later Papadopulo was sacked and Lerda was reinstated as manager. On 29 May 2011, he was once again sacked following the club's failure to secure a spot in the

-playoffs. In June 2012, he became new manager of

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 ...

. On 21 January 2013, he was sacked following a 3–1 defeat against

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

despite the team being in 2nd place in the

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 ...

. He was reinstated as Lecce head coach on 24 September 2013, after the dismissal of

Francesco Moriero Francesco "Checco" Moriero (; born 31 March 1969) is an Italian association football, football former player and current Manager (association football), manager, who played as a midfielder, usually as a Midfielder#Winger, winger on the right flan ...

. He was sacked on 27 December 2014 and replaced by Dino Pagliari. On 15 March 2016, he became new manager of

side

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) 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 Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

. He was dismissed in October 2016. On 26 March 2018, he returned to

, this time in the

. On 17 June 2019, he became the new manager of

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

club Partizani. He was sacked on 15 December 2019 following two consecutive defeats. On 7 December 2021, he was hired by

Pro Vercelli Football Club Pro Vercelli 1892, commonly referred to as Pro Vercelli, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Vercelli, Piedmont. The club is mostly renowned as one of the most successful teams in the early football era of Ital ...

. He left the club on 25 May 2022 by mutual consent, after completing the season in seventh place and being successively eliminated by

Juventus U23 Juventus Next Gen (), also known as Juve Next Gen or Juve NG, is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, which acts as the reserve team of club Juventus. They compete in , and play their home games at the Stadio La Marm ...

in the second round of the promotion playoffs. On 30 May 2022,

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

announced to have hired Lerda, who had already coached the Calabrians during the 2009–10 season, as their new head coach on a one-year deal, following the club's relegation to Serie C. He was dismissed on 13 February 2023, leaving Crotone in second place in the league table. On 19 October 2023, Lerda was named new head coach of Serie C club

. His experience at Potenza however turned out to be short-lived, as he was dismissed on 7 December 2023 following a home loss to

Honours

Player

;Brescia *

: 1993–94

Manager

;Partizani *

Albanian Supercup The Albanian Supercup is a single match usually at the beginning of the season between the winners of the Kategoria Superiore and Albanian Cup. Prior to 2000, Supercup final was not played when the champion team won the Double. However, after the ...

: 2018–19

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lerda, Franco 1967 births People from Fossano Living people Italian men's footballers Italian football managers AC Cuneo 1905 players Torino FC players ACR Messina players Taranto FC 1927 players US Triestina Calcio 1918 players AC ChievoVerona players AC Cesena players Brescia Calcio players SSC Napoli players US Alessandria Calcio 1912 players FC Canavese players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players Italy men's under-21 international footballers Casale FBC managers Delfino Pescara 1936 managers Aurora Pro Patria 1919 managers FC Crotone managers Torino FC managers US Lecce managers LR Vicenza managers Men's association football forwards Italian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Albania Italian expatriate sportspeople in Albania FC Pro Vercelli 1892 managers Kategoria Superiore managers Serie B managers Serie C managers Footballers from the Province of Cuneo 20th-century Italian sportsmen