Michele Pazienza (; born 5 August 1982) 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 and a former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He was most recently the head coach of club

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

Career

Foggia

Pazienza was born in San Severo in the

province of Foggia The province of Foggia (, ; Neapolitan language, Foggiano: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Regions of Italy, Italian region Apulia. This province is also known as Daunia, after the Daunians, an Iapygians, Iapygian pre-Roman tribe livi ...

, and grew up in Foggia Calcio's youth team. He debuted with the first team in

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 ...

in 2000. Pazienza played with Foggia until 2003, scoring six goals in 88 appearances and helping the team reach the promotion play-offs in 2002 and promotion to

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

in 2003.

Udinese

The following season Pazienza then transferred to Udinese, also making his

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 ...

debut with the club. He made 52 appearances in his two seasons with the club.

Fiorentina

Pazienza left on loan 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 ...

for the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons for a loan fee of €350,000 annually and was then purchased outright by the club in June 2007 for an additional fee of €3.15 million (a misc. fee that cost ''La Viola'' an additional €160,000 was later shifted to other company);ACF Fiorentina S.p.A. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2007, PDF purchased from CCIAA (in Italian)ACF Fiorentina S.p.A. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2008, PDF purchased from CCIAA (in Italian) he made 52 league appearances for ''la Viola'' in total.

Napoli

During the

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 ...

winter transfer window, Pazienza was purchased by Napoli in a -year contract for a transfer fee of €4.25 million. In total, he made 106 appearances for the club, scoring 4 goals.

Juventus

On 9 June 2011, Pazienza signed a three-year contract with

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 ...

on a free transfer. After only making eight appearances under Antonio Conte, he moved on loan from Juventus back to Udinese on 31 January 2012, where he played the remainder of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, making 15 appearances and scoring a goal, for a total of 23 Serie A appearances that season.

Bologna

On 30 August 2012, Pazienza was purchased by

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 €300,000 on a three-year contract,Bologna F.C. 1909 S.p.A. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2013, PDF purchased from CCIAA (in Italian) worth €1,081,615 in the first season and €1,261,569 in the second and the third season respectively in gross. The transfer also cost Bologna an additional €366,000 as other fees. Pazienza was ranked joint-4th as the highest earner of Bologna player in 2012–13 season. Pazienza made 37 league appearances for Bologna in the first two seasons. However, he did not play any game in his last year of contract in 2014–15 season, which the club was relegated to Serie B.

Vicenza & Reggiana

On 14 July 2015, Pazienza signed for Serie B club Vicenza Calcio on a free transfer; he was awarded the number 4 shirt. On 4 February 2016, he was transferred to

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 ...

side Reggiana in a five-month contract. In the summer of 2016, along with other free agents, Pazienza obtained the license to be a youth team coach (UEFA B License).

Manfredonia

In August Pazienza started to train 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

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 ...

. He signed a contract on 24 September.

Style of play

Although Pazienza primarily excelled as a ball winner and at breaking down opposition attacks, he was also capable of aiding his team offensively due to his stamina, work rate, dynamism, finesse, and ability to make attacking runs into the area; he was also able to aid his team creatively and was an effective assist provider.

Coaching career

Pisa

Pazienza was promoted to the head coach position at

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 ...

club

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

from their Under-19 squad on 19 October 2017 following the firing of Carmine Gautieri. He was dismissed from Pisa on 26 March 2018.

Siracusa

On 5 November 2018, he was appointed manager of Siracusa. He was fired by Siracusa on 15 December 2018.

Audace Cerignola

On 15 July 2020, Pazienza was named the new head coach of

club Audace Cerignola. Despite failing on promotion, he was confirmed also for the 2021–22 Serie D campaign, during which he led Audace Cerignola to be crowned Group H champions, thus ensuring themselves a Serie C place for the first time in over 80 years in the club's history. After three seasons in charge of Audace Cerignola, he left the club by the end of the 2022–23 season.

Avellino

On 13 September 2023, Pazienza returned to management as the new head coach of Serie C club

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. ...

. He was dismissed on 22 September 2024, together with the rest of the technical area staff, including sporting director Giorgio Perinetti, following a negative start of the season.

Benevento

On 5 February 2025, Pazienza was announced as the new head coach of Serie C promotion hopefuls

. He was sacked on 11 March 2025, having only managed the club for five matches.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Managerial

; Audace Cerignola *

: 2021–22 (Group H)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pazienza, Michele 1982 births Living people People from San Severo Italian men's footballers Calcio Foggia 1920 players Udinese Calcio players ACF Fiorentina players SSC Napoli players Juventus FC players Bologna FC 1909 players LR Vicenza players AC Reggiana 1919 players Manfredonia Calcio players Men's association football midfielders Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Italian football managers Pisa SC managers Footballers from the Province of Foggia US Avellino 1912 managers Benevento Calcio managers Serie C managers 21st-century Italian sportsmen