Giuliano Giannichedda (; born 21 September 1974) is an Italian professional 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

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He appeared in 281

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 ...

games over the course of twelve seasons (three goals scored), mainly in representation of

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

and

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

Club career

Born in

Pontecorvo Pontecorvo is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. Its population is . History The village lies under Rocca Guglielma, a medieval fortification perched on an inaccessible spur. Its name derives from the ''pons curvu ...

Frosinone Frosinone (; local dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lazio, administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is about southeast of Rome, close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of th ...

, Giannichedda started his senior career with Sora in the fourth division, promoting to the

third level Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

at the end of the second of his three years. In the summer of 1995, he moved straight to the

with

, playing an average of 30 league games during his last four seasons at the

Stadio Friuli The Stadio Friuli (currently known as Bluenergy Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is an all-seater football stadium in Udine, Italy, and the home of Serie A club Udinese. The stadium was built in 1976 and has a capacity of 25,144. Structure The ...

; in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, he won the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

. Giannichedda signed with

for the 2001–02 campaign. He was regularly played as a starter during his four-year spell, winning the 2004 edition of the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

. In the summer of 2005, Giannichedda left

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and joined

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 ...

, where he struggled for playing time under manager

Fabio Capello Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional association football, football manager (association football), manager and player. As a player, Capello represented SPAL, AS Roma, Roma, AC Milan and Juventus FC, Juventus. H ...

, often being deployed as a substitute along with

Manuele Blasi Manuele Blasi (; born 17 August 1980) is an Italian former professional footballer who played a midfielder and now works as a coach. Club career Primarily a central midfielder, Blasi made his Serie A debut for AS Roma in a match against Piacenz ...

behind starters Emerson and

Patrick Vieira Patrick Paul Vieira (; born 23 June 1976) is a French professional association football, football manager and former player who is the head coach of Serie A club Genoa CFC, Genoa. He was named in the FIFA 100 of the greatest living footballers i ...

. He only made 24 overall appearances in his first year, winning the league title; the team was stripped of the accolade, however, due to the club's involvement in the

2006 Italian football scandal ''Calciopoli'' () was a sports scandal in Italy's top professional association football league Serie A, and to a lesser extent, Serie B. The scandal centered on the manipulation of referee appointments to favor certain clubs during the 2004-0 ...

and, as a result, was also relegated. Giannichedda stayed with ''Juve'' for 2006–07, nonetheless. In that season, where the

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 ...

championship was conquered, he was coached by one of his idols,

Didier Deschamps Didier Claude Deschamps (; born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been managing the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, Engl ...

. Giannichedda retired in June 2008 at nearly 34 years of age, after one unassuming campaign with

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

, featuring in less than a quarter of the matches and suffering top flight relegation.

International career

Giannichedda gained three

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

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 the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in 1999, under manager

Dino Zoff Dino Zoff (; born 28 February 1942) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is the oldest ever ...

. His debut came on 31 March, in a 1–1 home draw against

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

for the

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

qualifiers. Giannichedda also represented the country at under-23 level in the

1997 Mediterranean Games The XIII Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1997 Mediterranean Games, were the 13th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Bari, Italy, from 13 to 25 June 1997, where 2,956 athletes (2,166 men and 790 women) from 21 countries partici ...

, which were held on home soil, winning the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

Style of play

An aggressive, hard-working and hard-tackling

holding midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, who also possessed good technique, Giannichedda was known for his tendency to commit fouls frequently and pick up cards. In addition to his tenacious ball-winning abilities, he was also known for his tactical intelligence, powerful shot and ability to start attacking plays after winning back possession.

Post-retirement

In May 2011, he was awarded a

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

licence and, in July 2013, started acted as assistant to

Alberigo Evani Alberico Evani (; born 1 January 1963), sometimes misspelled as Alberigo Evani, is an Italian football manager and former player, who was deployed as a midfielder. He started his club career with AC Milan, where he spent the majority of his play ...

at the Italy under-20s team; the following year, he obtained a

UEFA Pro Licence The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of manager (association football), managers/ coach (sport), coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for association football, football in Europe mandates several licences, e ...

. Giannichedda was appointed as manager for Racing Roma in July 2016. But, on 3 April 2017, it was announced by Racing Roma that Giannichedda suddenly had said to them that he wanted to stop, so the club was forced to fire him. It was a rather strange situation, because he, following the club, didn't say goodbye to anyone but disappeared into the blue. In July 2018, he was unveiled as new head coach of Serie C club Pro Piacenza. He was fired by Pro Piacenza on 12 November 2018, with the team in relegation zone. On 27 May 2019, Giannichedda was confirmed as the manager of

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 ...

club

Aprilia Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle and Scooter (motorcycle), scooter manufacturer in Noale, Italy, founded by Alberto Beggio. History Early days Aprilia, named after the Pre-war automobile, pre-war Lancia Aprilia, was founded after the Seco ...

. However, after only one month, he left the club by mutual agreement. In July 2019, he was named as the new head coach of the Italian

Lega Nazionale Dilettanti The Lega Nazionale Dilettanti (National Amateur League) is the league which rules amateur football of Italian Football Federation (FIGC) in Italy. Founded in 1959 in Rome, it has many leagues inside: a national league, the Inter-regional Committ ...

amateur representative teams at Under-19 and Under-18 level.

Honours

Udinese *

Lazio *

: 2003–04 *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...

: Runner-up

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Juventus *

: 2006–07 *

: Runner-up

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Italy *

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fi ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

References

External links

*
National team data
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Giannichedda, Giuliano 1974 births Living people People from Pontecorvo Italian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Udinese Calcio players SS Lazio players Juventus FC players US Livorno 1915 players Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's international footballers Italian football managers Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Italy Mediterranean Games medalists in football Competitors at the 1997 Mediterranean Games Footballers from the Province of Frosinone 20th-century Italian sportsmen