Michele Santoni (born 18 May 1980) is an Italian-Dutch

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 ...

manager, currently in charge of club

Pro Vercelli Football Club Pro Vercelli 1892, commonly referred to as Pro Vercelli, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Vercelli, Piedmont. The club is mostly renowned as one of the most successful teams in the early football era of Ital ...

Career

In 2008, Santoni was appointed youth manager of the Dutch second division side

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

, where he said, "In the Netherlands, it is structure, structure, structure, structure." In 2009, he was appointed video analyst of

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

, the most successful club in the Netherlands. In 2014, Santoni was appointed assistant of Italian

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 ...

outfit

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 ...

, where he said, "In Italy, there is much more improvisation; it goes by feel." After that, he was appointed youth manager of

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 ...

in the Italian

, where he said, "Lazio's facilities were a disaster. We only had one artificial grass pitch and no hot water. Politics also plays a major role there, as a result of which the youth academy is not 100 percent about talent development. Then that player had to be added because his father sponsors the club, and then another player from a big agent came in just to keep that agent happy. Typically Italian", before being appointed video analyst of

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * Inter Playa del Carmen, a Mexican club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, ...

, one of Italy's most successful teams. In 2018, Santoni was appointed manager of

Almere City Almere City Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Almere, Netherlands. Founded in 2001, the club currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, following relegation from the Eredivisie in 2024–25 Eredivisie, 20 ...

in the Dutch second division. After that, he was appointed assistant of Dutch side

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

. In 2021, he was appointed manager of

FC Dordrecht Football Club Dordrecht, or simply FC Dordrecht () is a professional Dutch association football club based in Dordrecht, a city in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, ...

in the Netherlands. After three years in the Dutch second division, Santoni departed in May 2024 to become the new head coach of Italian

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

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to US Triestina or just Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, in the northern Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Originally established in 1918, Triestina was one of the fo ...

on a two-year contract. After a negative start of the season with five defeats in the first six league games, however, Santoni was dismissed on 27 September 2024. On 11 June 2025, Santoni was unveiled as the new head coach of Serie C club

Personal life

Born in

Arco Arco may refer to: Places * Arco, Trentino, a town in Trentino, Italy * Arco, Idaho, in the United States * Arco, Minnesota, a city in the United States * ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California, home of the Sacramento Kings Companies * ARCO (b ...

Trentino Trentino (), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento (; ; ), is an Autonomous province#Italy, autonomous province of Italy in the Northern Italy, country's far north. Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the Regions of Italy, region of Tren ...

, Santoni is the son of an Italian father and a Dutch mother and is fluent in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Santoni, Michele 1980 births Living people Italian people of Dutch descent Sportspeople from Trentino Italian football managers Almere City FC managers FC Dordrecht managers US Triestina Calcio 1918 managers FC Pro Vercelli 1892 managers Eerste Divisie managers Serie C managers Italian expatriate football managers Italian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands