Giuseppe Pancaro (; born 26 August 1971) is a former 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 ...

defender turned coach.

Club career

Born in

Cosenza Cosenza (; Languages of Calabria#Northern Calabrian (Cosentian), Cosentian: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city located in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000, while the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. ...

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

, Pancaro started his youth career with Acri. He later moved to the Torino FC Youth squad remaining with the club for two seasons, before being loaned to

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 ...

club

Avezzano Avezzano ( ; ) is a city and comune in the Abruzzo region, province of L'Aquila, Italy. It is the second most populous municipality in the province and the sixth in the region. It is the main commercial, industrial and agricultural centre of the ...

. Pancaro made his professional debut with

Cagliari Calcio Cagliari Calcio, commonly referred to as Cagliari (), is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia, that plays in Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. The club currently plays home matches at the 16,416-sea ...

, after the club's owner

Massimo Cellino Massimo Cellino (; born 28 July 1956) is an Italian entrepreneur and football club owner. Through his family trust Eleonora Sport Ltd, he was the owner of Italian club Brescia Calcio, and is the former owner of Italian club Cagliari, and English ...

acquired him in 1992; although he only made 10 appearances during his first two seasons, he soon established himself as a key member of the starting line-up. In the 1993–94 UEFA Cup, Pancaro made his European debut, scoring the match winning goal in the first leg of the semi-final, after coming on as a substitute, as Cagliari beat eventual champions Inter 3–2. After Cagliari were relegated in 1997, he transferred to

SS Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club'') is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its Football club (association football), football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent most of their hist ...

, where he remained for six seasons, winning the

1999–2000 Serie A The 1999–2000 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 98th season of top-tier Italian football, the 68th in a round-robin tournament. It was contested by 18 teams. By late March, Juventus topped the table by nine po ...

title, two

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 ...

titles ( 1997–98 and 1999–2000), two Italian Supercups, the

1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The 1998–99 season of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup club tournament was the last season of the competition before it was abolished. Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy ...

, and the 1999 UEFA Super Cup, also reaching the final of the UEFA Cup in 1998. In the summer of 2003, Pancaro transferred to

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 exchange for Demetrio Albertini, where he played for two seasons. His consistency and work-rate made him an important part of Milan's squad, as he won his second Serie A title, as well as an Italian Supercup, also reaching the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the

2004–05 UEFA Champions League The 2004–05 UEFA Champions League was the 50th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the 13th since it was rebranded as the UEFA Champions League in 1992. The competition was won by Liverpool, who beat Milan on penalt ...

, notably scoring a goal in an away victory over

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 2003. In 2004, he signed a one-year extension for the club. In 2005, Pancaro moved to

ACF 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 ...

on a free transfer, for two seasons, making 18 appearances, as his former Lazio teammate Giuseppe Favalli was brought in to replace him at Milan. He then moved onto

Torino FC Torino Football Club (), colloquially referred to as Toro, is an Italian professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont that currently plays in the Serie A, the highest football league of Italy. Founded in 1906 as ''Foot-Ball Club Torin ...

the following season, retiring at the end of the 2006–07 season, at the age of 36.

International career

Pancaro was first capped 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, making his debut in a 0–0 draw against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

on 28 April. In total, he won 19 caps with the Azzurri between 1999 and 2005, but he never took part at a major tournament with Italy. Injury blocked him from playing in

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

, and he was also in the provisional 26 man squad for

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 ...

before missing the final cut.

Style of play

A strong, reliable, and tenacious

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, who was effective in the air, Pancaro was known for his stamina and work-rate, as well as his technical qualities and distribution, which allowed him to overlap and contribute both offensively and defensively. A versatile player, although he was usually deployed along the left flank, he was also capable of playing on the right. His discipline in training ensured that he was rarely injured throughout his career. In addition to his footballing abilities, he was also known for his consistency, correct behaviour, and leadership.

Coaching career

Pancaro took his first coaching role in July 2012, working as assistant to

Dario Marcolin Dario Marcolin (born 28 October 1971) is an Italian football coach and former player, who played as a midfielder. He also worked as a football pundit after retiring. Club career Marcolin was born in Brescia. During his career, he played for Cre ...

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 ...

outfit

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 ...

and leaving the club together with the whole coaching staff after the latter's dismissal in March 2013. In June 2014, he was named new head coach of recently relegated

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

Juve Stabia Società Sportiva Juve Stabia is an Italian professional football club based in Castellammare di Stabia, Campania. Juve Stabia plays in Serie B, the second tier of Italian football system, following their promotion ahead of the 2024–25 seas ...

. On 16 July 2015, Pancaro was assigned new head coach of

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

. On 6 March 2018, he was hired as the head coach 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 ...

side

Catanzaro Catanzaro (; or ; ), also known as the "City of the two Seas" (), is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its province and the second most populated comune of the region, behind Reggio Calabr ...

. He left Catanzaro at the end of the 2017–18 season. On 28 June 2019, he was hired by

club Pistoiese. He left the club at the end of the season. On 21 October 2022, he was announced as the new head coach of

club

Monopoli Monopoli (; ) is a town and comune, municipality in Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Bari and region of Apulia. The town is roughly in area and lies on the Adriatic Sea about southeast of Bari. It has a population of 49,246 (2014), ...

. He was dismissed on 19 March 2023 after a home loss to Giugliano.

Personal life

On 27 June 2007, Pancaro married the Italian former show-girl Vincenza Cacace, with whom he has two children: a son Riccardo, born in December 2005, and a daughter Virginia, born in January 2009.

Honours

Torino *

Mitropa Cup The Mitropa Cup, officially called Coupe de l'Europe Centrale, Mitteleuropäischer Pokal or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European association football, football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the suc ...

: 1991 Lazio *

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: 1998–99 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

: 1997–98, 1999–2000 *

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 ...

: 1999–2000; runner-up 1998–99 *

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 ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

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 ...

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 ...

runner-up: 1997–98 AC Milan *

: 2003–04; runner-up: 2004–05 *

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 ...

; runner-up:

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

runner-up: 2004–05 * Intercontinental Cup runner-up:

References

External links

National Team stats at FIGC.it

Fiorentina profileVoetbalInternational stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pancaro, Giuseppe 1971 births Living people Footballers from Cosenza Men's association football fullbacks Italian men's footballers Italian football managers Italy men's international footballers Torino FC players Cagliari Calcio players SS Lazio players AC Milan players ACF Fiorentina players Avezzano Calcio players Serie A players Serie C players US Catanzaro 1929 managers FC Pistoiese SSD managers