Alessandro Faiolhe Amantino (; born 1 August 1980), more commonly known as Mancini (), is a Brazilian

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 and former player. Mancini started his career playing as a

right-back 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 ...

for

Atlético Mineiro Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

in 1999. After moving to Italy in 2003, he was converted into an attacking player. During his time with

AS Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier ...

, Mancini was famed for his

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. As ...

skills and use of feints, especially his step-overs, playing mainly as a winger on either flank, and occasionally as a

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

and an

attacking 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. ...

. At international level, he made nine appearances for

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

between 2004 and 2008, and was a member of the squad that won the

2004 Copa América The 2004 Copa América was the 41st edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body, and was held in P ...

Club career

Early career

Regarded as a promising talent, Mancini began his career in his homeland of Brazil with his hometown club,

, where he remained from 1999 to 2002. During that time he had two loan spells, at Portuguesa and at São Caetano in 2001.

Venezia

He was signed by

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 ...

side

Venezia Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

in January 2003. During that time he struggled to adapt to Italian football, and was criticised by the Venezia manager for his errors, and for his habit of controlling the ball with the outside of his foot, which in Italy is considered unconventional. Mancini only made 13 appearances for Venezia that season. In the summer of 2003 he was signed by

for nominal fees totalling €1,000.

Roma

Having lost

Cafu Marcos Evangelista de Morais (born 7 June 1970), known as Cafu (), is a Brazilian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, right-back. Widely regarded as one of the greates ...

, Roma needed a replacement at right-back, but with his early performances in Italy being far from convincing, many Roma fans were sceptical about his ability. However, their then-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 ...

gave the Brazilian a chance, and Mancini went on to complete a consistent first season in

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 ...

, the highlight being a backheel flick from a set piece in the

Derby della Capitale The Derby della Capitale (), also known as Derby Capitolino and Derby del Cupolone, as well as The Rome Derby in English and Derby di Roma in Italian, is the Association football, football local derby in Rome, Italy, between SS Lazio, Lazio and ...

against

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 ...

. In the 2005–06 season, Mancini began to find his top form, once again becoming a key player for the Roma side. Following the Calciopoli scandal, Roma qualified for the

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 ...

, giving Mancini the chance to play at the highest level of club football. In the last 16 of the

2006–07 UEFA Champions League The 2006–07 UEFA Champions League was the 15th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded from the European Cup, and the 52nd season overall. The final was contested by Milan ...

, Mancini scored a goal against

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

after beating their defender

Anthony Réveillère Anthony Guy Marie Réveillère (born 10 November 1979) is a French former professional footballer who played as a right-back. He spent most of his professional career with Rennes and Lyon, amassing Ligue 1 totals of 426 matches and five goals du ...

with several stepovers before firing the ball high into the net. That same year, Mancini also celebrated his first silverware since arriving in Italy as Roma won 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 ...

, beating

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Since 1 ...

in the final. In the 2007–08 season, Mancini scored eight league goals as Roma reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League and finished as runners-up in

for the second year running. He did not have the best of seasons though, in what would prove to be his last in Rome.

Internazionale

After the appointment of

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (; born 26 January 1963) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Süper Lig club Fenerba ...

, Mancini was signed by Internazionale for €13 million, along with

Ricardo Quaresma Ricardo Andrade Quaresma Bernardo (; born 26 September 1983) is a Portuguese former professional association football, footballer who played as a Winger (association football), winger. He began his career at Sporting CP and went on to play for ...

and

Sulley Muntari Suleyman Ali "Sulley" Muntari (born 27 August 1984) is a Ghanaian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his career in Italy, playing for clubs such as Udinese Calcio, Udinese, Inter Mil ...

in his maiden season. (Although Mancini was a long desired target of

Massimo Moratti Massimo Moratti (born 16 May 1945) is an Italian billionaire petroleum businessman, the former owner of Inter Milan and chairman of the Saras S.p.A., Saras Group, founded in 1962 by his father, industrialist Angelo Moratti. The main production si ...

and ex-coach

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of the Saudi Arabia national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for h ...

). However, he failed to become a first team regular due to his lack of consistency.

Milan

On 1 February 2010, he moved to city rivals

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 ...

, on loan for the remainder of the 2009–10 season, with an option for them to acquire half of the player's rights at the end of the loan spell. He made his debut for Milan in a scoreless draw against

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 ...

Return to Inter and then Brazil

After playing only two official matches in the 2010-2011 season with

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

, on January 12, 2011, he was permanently transferred to Atletico Mineiro, a club in the

Brazilian championship Brazilian commonly refers to: * Brazil, a country * Brazilians, its people * Brazilian Portuguese, its dialect Brazilian may also refer to: * "The Brazilian", a 1986 instrumental music piece by Genesis * Brazilian Café, Baghdad, Iraq (1937) * Bra ...

, thus returning 8 years later to the team that had launched him. At the end of 2010, he was accused of sexual assault and personal injuries against a young Brazilian woman, whom he had met in Milan during a party hosted by

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian former professional Association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or left winger. Widely reg ...

, on the night between December 8 and 9, 2010. Mancini always maintained that the girl was consenting. The outcome of the trial is unknown: as reported by

Corriere della Sera (; ) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average circulation of 246,278 copies in May 2023. First published on 5 March 1876, is one of Italy's oldest newspapers and is Italy's most read newspaper. Its masthead has remain ...

, in 2019 Mancini's criminal record did not indicate a conviction, which would mean that "in subsequent appeals, Mancini was then acquitted, but also that Amantino, being a first-time offender - if the outcome of the appeal had allowed it - could have benefited from both probation and the 'non-disclosure' of the conviction on the criminal record." He scored the first goal of his second adventure in

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte is the List of largest cities in Brazil, sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.3 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, containing a population of 6 million. It is the List of cities in Sout ...

on April 7, 2011, in a 7-1 victory against America-TO in the Campeonato Mineiro. He concluded the 2011 season with 31 appearances and 3 goals in the

Campeonato Mineiro The Campeonato Mineiro is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. It is run by the Minas Gerais Football Federation (FMF). The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: bef ...

, Série A,

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil () is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and it is the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de Portugal, ...

, and

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

. In 2012, he won the Campeonato Mineiro, during which he played 14 matches and scored 3 goals. On June 21, 2012, he moved to Bahia, where he signed a contract until the end of the year. He made his debut three days later, on June 24, in a league match that ended in a 0-0 draw away against Figueirense. He scored his first goal for the Brazilian team on July 22, 2012, during a home match against Coritiba that ended 2-2. He made 16 appearances for Bahia, 15 in the national championship and one in the Copa Sudamericana. At the end of 2012, he returned to Atlético Mineiro but was never used and terminated his contract with the Belo Horizonte team in April 2013. In November 2013, he was signed for the following season by Villa Nova, a team in the Brazilian Série D. His experience started very well, scoring 7 goals in 9 matches in the first months. On April 9, 2014, he was signed by América-MG with a one-year contract. During his time at the club, he made 31 appearances and scored 9 goals. On January 7, 2016, after being a free agent for almost a year, he returned to Villa Nova on a six-month contract. He made 11 appearances and scored 6 goals in the championship. On May 16, 2016, at the end of the season, he officially retired from football. He returned to

on 5 January 2011, signing a three-year contract. In June 2012, Mancini joined

Esporte Clube Bahia Esporte Clube Bahia () is a Brazilian professional association football club based in Salvador, the capital city of the Brazilian state of Bahia. Known mainly as the ''Esquadrão de Aço'' (Steel Squadron), the club competes in the Campeo ...

. He played for the team until the end of the year. After spending 2013 as a free agent, in January 2014 Mancini signed with Villa Nova for their Minas Gerais state league campaign. He scored seven goals, making him the top-scorer of the league. At the end of the state league season, Mancini signed a contract with Série B team América until December 2014. In January 2016, the Villa Nova-MG agreed to hire Mancini for the next season.

International career

With the Brazilian Under-20 national team, Mancini participated in the category's World Cup in 1999 in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. During the competition, in which Brazil was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Uruguay, Mancini played in 4 of the 5 matches, scoring a goal in the last match of the group stage against Zambia. Between 1999 and 2000, he played 9 matches with the Olympic team, also participating in the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic tournament. On April 28, 2004, he made his debut with the senior national team in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

in a friendly match against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

(4-1 for the Seleção). With the Brazilian national team, he won the

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 ...

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

, in which he played 2 matches in the group stage. In total, from 2004 to 2008, Mancini played 6 official matches with Brazil and an unofficial friendly match against

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

Managerial career

On 7 August 2019, Mancini signed his first manager contract with

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

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 ...

. His short-lived experience as Foggia boss ended 2 September 2019, as he resigned after the first league game, a 0–1 away loss to Fasano. On 1 September 2020, Mancini took over as the new head coach of Brazilian club Villa Nova. He was successively sacked on 8 October 2020, only to be reinstated the next day. He left the club by the end of the

2020 Campeonato Brasileiro Série D The 2020 Campeonato Brasileiro Série D was a football competition held in Brazil, equivalent to the fourth division. The competition was originally scheduled to begin on 3 May and end on 22 November, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic the tourn ...

season.

Personal life

Name and background

His nickname, Mancini, is a

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

form of , the Portuguese word for 'calm'. His surname is, in the Iberian fashion, a composite of his parents' principal surnames.

Portuguese naming customs A Portuguese name, or Lusophone name – a personal name in the Portuguese language – is typically composed of one or two personal names, the mother's family surname and the father's family surname (rarely only one surname, sometimes more than ...

most commonly have the mother's surname first, preceding the father's (in contrast to the traditional order usual in Spanish names). Mancini's follows the usual Portuguese order: The first surname element, ''Faiolhe'', is a variant spelling of '' Faioli''; the second surname component is ''Amantino''. Mancini holds Italian nationality through descent, via his great-grandmother Genoveffa from

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

;Atlético Mineiro *

: 1999,

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 ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

;Roma *

: 2006–07, 2007–08 *

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 ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

;Internazionale *

: 2008–09 *Supercoppa Italiana:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

International

;Brazil *

References

External links

*
Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport (2009–10)
*

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mancini 1980 births Living people Footballers from Ipatinga Brazilian people convicted of rape Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian football managers Brazil men's international footballers Brazil men's under-20 international footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Brazilian people of Italian descent Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Men's association football wingers 2004 Copa América players AC Milan players AS Roma players América Futebol Clube (MG) players Associação Desportiva São Caetano players Associação Portuguesa de Desportos players Calcio Foggia 1920 managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Clube Atlético Mineiro players Copa América–winning players Esporte Clube Bahia players Inter Milan players Serie A players Serie B players Serie D managers Venezia FC players Villa Nova Atlético Clube managers Villa Nova Atlético Clube players Brazilian sportspeople convicted of crimes 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen