Giovanni Bucaro (born 20 November 1970) is an Italian football manager, and former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a defender.

Career

Player

Bucaro began his playing career with Sorrento. He started with the ''Rossoneri'' in their youth team and made 31 appearances for the first team between 1986 and 1988. In 1988, he joined

Foggia Foggia (, ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere, also know ...

who were then in the 3rd division of Italian football. In 1989, his second season saw the arrival of manager

Zdeněk Zeman Zdeněk Zeman (; born 12 May 1947) is a Czech-Italian football manager. Known for his exciting, offensive footballing tactics and use of the 4–3–3 formation, Zeman has managed numerous teams over the years, mostly in Italian football. He ...

, whose aggressive and entertaining style of football saw Foggia enter the most significant period in its history when it eventually reached

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 ...

in 1991. Zeman achieved promotion to

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 ...

in his first season, and Bucaro played a crucial role in defence in this promotion-winning team. Following another successful season for Foggia, who achieved promotion to Serie A as champions, Bucaro was sold to

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

. He failed to make an appearance for the Tuscan side and was moved onto

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 1991, for whom he made 22 appearances. Following this solitary season at Modena, he joined

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 ...

, for whom he made 29 appearances. By 1993, he had rejoined Foggia, for whom he played in their final season in Serie A before they were relegated to Serie B in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

. Bucaro played another season for Foggia in 1995-1996 when the club finished mid-table. He joined

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly referred to by the acronym SPAL (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. During the 2024–25 season the team played in Serie C, the third tier of the Italian foot ...

the following season and made 17 appearances in the 3rd division. Remaining in the lower divisions of Italian football, he joined Ascoli and stayed for three seasons playing 87 league games. He then joined

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. ...

who were also then in the 3rd division, and between 2000 and 2003, he played 46 games for the club. In his final season with the club, they promoted him to Serie B by defeating Napoli in the playoff final. It was their first time back in the second division in 11 years. This was his final year as a player, and he thus went out on a high note.

Manager

After spells as assistant manager at both Ascoli and

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919 is an Italian professional football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recently in 2011. The current ...

, Bucaro began his first venture into management with Campobello 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 ...

for the 2006–07 season, and then with Pomigliano. His success with Pomigliano saw him move up a division to manage

Manfredonia Manfredonia () is a town and Comune, commune of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, from which it is northeast by rail. Manfredonia is situated on the coast, facing east, to the south of Monte Gargano, and gives its name to the Gulf of Manf ...

in the 3rd tier of Italian football. He helped Manfredonia avoid relegation, which caught the attention of

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

, who invited him to join them as youth team coach for the 2010-2011 season. After spending a year at Juventus he joined

as first team coach in August. On 21 July 2012 Giovanni Bucaro was announced as the new manager of

Sorrento Sorrento ( , ; ; ) is a City status in Italy, city and overlooking the Gulf of Naples, Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the southern terminus of a main branch o ...

. He was presented to the press and stated that he hoped to emulate his one time manager Zeman in his new role as Sorrento coach. The 2012-2013 season began with a goalless draw against Gubbio and caused Bucaro to immediately lament the lack of a decent striker to help Sorrento's cause. He was sacked in January 2013 due to poor results. In July 2014, he was named head coach of the newly promoted

Lega Pro The Lega Italiano Calcio Professionistico (Italian for Professional Football Italian League), commonly known as Lega Pro (Pro League), is the governing body that runs the third tier of professional football competitions in Italy, the Serie C. I ...

club Savoia. He was, however, dismissed on 28 October 2014 due to poor results. In April 2016, he was named the new head coach of

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 ...

to replace

Ezio Capuano Ezio "Eziolino" Capuano (born 19 January 1965) is an Italian association football, football coach. Career Coach Capuano is a head coach with massive experience as a head coach in the lower ranks of Italian football, all from and below the thi ...

for the last three remaining games of the

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 ...

; his contract was not extended and he left by the end of the season. He was successively hired as

manager for the club's

2018–19 Serie D The 2018–19 Serie D was the seventy-first edition of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represents the fourth tier in the Italian football league system. A total of 168 teams, divided on geographical grounds into ...

campaign, which ended with promotion to

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 ...

after winning a promotion playoff to Lanusei, as well as the nationwide Serie D championship title. He left Avellino on 24 July 2019 amid uncertainty regarding the club's future. On 25 October 2019, he was hired by

club

Sicula Leonzio ASD SS Leonzio 1909, also commonly known as Leonzio, is an Italian Association football, football club located in Lentini. They participate in the 2024–25 Eccellenza, the fifth level of the Italian football league system. History Origins (1 ...

until the end of the 2019–20 season. He was dismissed by Sicula Leonzio on 13 January 2020, after the club won just once in 10 games under his helm. For the 2020–21 season, he was hired by

Bisceglie Bisceglie (; ) is a city and municipality of 55,251 inhabitants in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, in the Apulia region (''Italian'': ''Puglia''), in southern Italy. The municipality has the fourth highest population in the province

. Bisceglie won 2 out of the first 3 games under him. However, on 1 February 2021, he was dismissed by Bisceglie, after only winning once and gaining 9 points in the next 17 games under his helm. He was called back in charge of Bisceglie just a couple months later, on 6 April, until the end of the season. On 27 February 2023, he rejoined his former coach

as his assistant at

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 ...

. On 21 February 2024, following Zeman's resignations for health reasons, Bucaro was promoted new head coach of Pescara for the remainder of the season. His debut on 24 February 2024 was marked by a 1-0 home win over

Lucchese Lucchese may refer to: * A.S. Lucchese Libertas 1905, a football team based in Lucca, Tuscany * Lucchese crime family, one of the "Five Families" of New York City's Mafia * Lucchese School, an art school in Tuscany, Italy that flourished in the 11 ...

. He left the club on 16 March 2024, after a negative string of results during his short stay in charge of the first team.

Honours

As a player

; Foggia: *

(1): 1990–91 ; Avellino: * Serie C1/B play-off winners (1): 2004–05.

As a manager

; Avellino: *

(1): 2018–19.

References

External links

Giovanni Bucaro
at Soccerway {{DEFAULTSORT:Bucaro, Giovanni 1970 births Living people Footballers from Palermo Italian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Italian football managers US Avellino 1912 managers ASDC Pomigliano managers Manfredonia Calcio managers Sorrento Calcio 1945 managers Delfino Pescara 1936 managers Serie B players Sorrento Calcio 1945 players Calcio Foggia 1920 players Modena FC 2018 players Bologna FC 1909 players Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players US Avellino 1912 players Serie C managers