Guglielmo Stendardo (born 6 May 1981) is an 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 ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and former player, who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He is currently in charge as head coach of

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football.Official ...

amateurs LUISS.

Club career

Early career

Stendardo began his career at

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 ...

in 1997 and has played for a number of top Italian football clubs, including

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

, as well as early spells with

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 ...

and

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

; during his time with the latter club, he was sent on loan to

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 ...

for the 2003–04 season.

Journeyman: Lazio, Juventus return and Lecce

Stendardo was signed by

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

in August 2005 on a free transfer. His previous club A.C. Perugia, went bankrupt at the start of the 2005–06 season. After a 3–2 defeat to Juventus in late 2007, Stendardo had a falling-out with Lazio manager

Delio Rossi Delio Rossi (born 26 January 1960) is an Italian football manager and former footballer who played as a midfielder. Playing career Rossi was born in Rimini. His playing career was not a bright one, as he reached his personal top from 1981 to 198 ...

and demanded a transfer during the January 2008 transfer window. In January 2008, Juventus officially announced the signing of Stendardo to a 6-month loan deal, for €400,000, with an option to buy him outright in the summer. On 1 September he was loaned to

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 ...

in a one-year deal, and spent the 2008–09 season with the ''Giallorossi'' with little success, as the side went relegated to Serie B. Stendardo then returned to Lazio at the end of the season, and played 33 Serie A games for the club during the next 2 seasons.

Atalanta

After making no appearances in 2011–12, he left for

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

in January 2012, on loan until June. In August, he was bought outright by ''La Dea''.

Coaching career

In August 2021, Stendardo took over on his first role as a first team manager, coaching

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football.Official ...

amateurs LUISS, the football branch of the

Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli Luiss University () is a private university located in Rome, Italy, founded in 1974 by a group of entrepreneurs led by Umberto Agnelli. It provides undergraduate and postgraduate education, in addition to a range of Double Degree programs, in ...

Style of play

Despite his lack of pace or notable technical skills, Stendardo has made a name for himself as a large, tall, physically strong and tenacious central defender.

Personal life

Stendardo's brother,

Mariano Mariano is a masculine name from the Romance languages, corresponding to the feminine Mariana. It is an Italian, Spanish and Portuguese variant of the Roman Marianus which derived from Marius, and Marius derived from the Roman god Mars (see als ...

, is also a footballer. During his playing career, Guglielmo managed to obtain a law degree; in December 2012, he was the source of controversy when he pulled out of a

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 ...

match against

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

in order to sit an exam in Salerno for his law degree, and was subsequently fined by Atalanta.

References

External links

Gazzetta profile
*
FIGC International stats

Guglielmo Stendardo
at Topforward {{DEFAULTSORT:Stendardo, Guglielmo 1981 births Living people Footballers from Naples Italian men's footballers Serie A players Serie B players SSC Napoli players UC Sampdoria players US Salernitana 1919 players Catania FC players AC Perugia Calcio players SS Lazio players Juventus FC players US Lecce players Atalanta BC players Delfino Pescara 1936 players Men's association football central defenders 21st-century Italian sportsmen