Raffaele Palladino (; born 17 April 1984) is an Italian professional

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 who was most recently the head coach of club

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 ...

Club career

Palladino started his senior career at Sporting Benevento, before joining the youth ranks of

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 ...

in 2002, where he achieved the

Torneo di Viareggio The Torneo di Viareggio (), officially named the Viareggio Cup World Football Tournament Coppa Carnevale, is a youth association football tournament held annually in the commune of Viareggio, Italy and its surrounding areas. Established in 1949, t ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. In 2004–05, he was loaned out to

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 ...

club

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

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 ...

for the 2005–06 season. On 27 August 2005, he scored his first goal for the latter on 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, securing a 2–1 victory over

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 ...

. He then returned to Juventus senior team in 2006–07, as the club were relegated to Serie B. He started and scored his first goal in a 1–1 away draw against AlbinoLeffe on 18 November 2006. On 19 March 2007, he netted his first career hat-trick in a 5–1 victory over

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 ...

. He eventually won the Serie B title that season with his club, securing an immediate promotion to the top-tier division. On 3 July 2008, Palladino was signed by

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in co-ownership deal, priced €5million (for 50% rights), joined along with defender

Domenico Criscito Domenico "Mimmo" Criscito (; born 30 December 1986) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a left-back. A versatile player, Criscito was effective both offensively and defensively and was also capable of playing as a wing-bac ...

on loan. On 3 January 2011, Genoa's half share in Palladino was transferred to

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

in a move which saw Parma's half share in Alberto Paloschi go the other way and the exchange of the full registration of Francesco Modesto and Luca Antonelli. Genoa also paid a sum of €5.85M cash. Palladino's contract will run until 30 June 2014.Parma FC SpA Report and Accounts on 30 June 2011 In June 2011, Juventus gave up the remain 50% registration rights to Parma for free. In July 2013, he extended his contract to 30 June 2016. On 10 November 2015, he was signed by

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

. He renewed his contract in July 2016. On 31 January 2017, Palladino was re-signed by

. On 15 January 2018, he signed for Serie B club

Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguri ...

. On 31 March 2019,

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

announced the signing of Palladino.

International career

Palladino made his debut at the age of 23, in a 3–1 home win against the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

on 21 November 2007. He played as one of the three strikers along with

Luca Toni Luca Toni (; born 26 May 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer, Toni scored over 300 goals throughout his career, and is one of the top-five highest scoring Italians in all competition ...

and Vincenzo Iaquinta.

Managerial career

Monza

Having coached Monza's youth sector since 2019, Palladino was appointed head coach of their ''Primavera'' (under-19) team on 9 July 2021. After having reached the semi-finals of the 2021–22 Campionato Primavera 2 (under-19) promotion play-offs, Monza renewed Palladino's contract for a further year in July 2022. On 13 September 2022, Palladino was promoted head coach of Monza's first team following the dismissal of Giovanni Stroppa, with club CEO Adriano Galliani stating his appointment to be on a permanent basis. On his debut, Palladino guided Monza to their first ever top flight win, defeating Serie A powerhouse

1–0. He was nominated Serie A Coach of the Month for April 2023. After having led Monza to avoid relegation six matchdays in advance, on 2 June 2023, he renewed with Monza for a further season.

Fiorentina

On 4 June 2024, Palladino was appointed head coach of Serie A side

on a two-year contract. But on 30 May 2025, despite finishing sixth in

and qualifying for the next

UEFA Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual football competition organised since 2021 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the thir ...

, he decided to leave the team by mutual consent.

Style of play

A left-footed player, he predominantly played as a winger, although he could also play as a forward, or 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 ...

. He has also represented the Italy national side. He was known in particular for his excellent technical ability and

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, as well as his pace and agility on the ball, which allowed him to beat opposing players and create space for himself to get into positions from which he can strike on goal.

Career statistics

International

Managerial

Honours

Player

Juventus Primavera *

Juventus *

: 2006–07 Italy U19 * Under-19 European Championship:

Manager

Individual * Serie A Coach of the Month: April 2023

References

External links

Lega Serie A profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palladino, Raffaele Living people 1984 births Footballers from the Metropolitan City of Naples Italian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Benevento Calcio players Juventus FC players US Salernitana 1919 players US Livorno 1915 players Genoa CFC players Parma Calcio 1913 players FC Crotone players Spezia Calcio players AC Monza players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's international footballers Italian football coaches Italian football managers AC Monza managers ACF Fiorentina managers Serie A managers 21st-century Italian sportsmen