Riccardo Maspero (born 19 February 1970) is an Italian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as 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. ...

, and now a head coach.

Club career

Maspero's career came to prominence most notably with his time at then-

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 ...

club

Cremonese Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

, with whom he started playing professionally and played in two one-year spells in the Italian top flight. He came into his own during the promotion season of 1992–93 and impressed greatly in a side coached by Luigi Simoni which finished 10th in Serie A during the 1993–94 season. He established a reputation as a gifted

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a footballer who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing Passing (association football), passing moves which lead to Goal (sport), goals, through ...

. A move to

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 ...

followed, but he failed to make his mark and returned to Cremonese after one season. Despite outstanding form and a healthy return of goals from midfield, he was unable to prevent successive relegations. His career declined after a move 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 ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, where he found opportunities limited; the club were relegated 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 ...

at the end of the season. He was loaned to

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

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 ...

, playing limited first-team football over the next three seasons before joining

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

for the

2000–01 Serie B The Serie B 2000–01 was the sixty-ninth tournament of this competition played in Italy since its creation. Teams Siena, Crotone, Cittadella and Ancona had been promoted from Serie C, while Torino, Venezia FC, Cagliari and Piacenza had been r ...

season. Maspero's career was rejuvenated with the Granata, and he played a role in the team's return to

. In the

2001–02 Serie A The 2001–02 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 100th season of top-tier Italian football, the 70th in a round-robin tournament. It was composed by 18 teams, for the 14th consecutive time from season 1988–89. T ...

season, he earned hero status among the club's fans with a late equaliser in a 3–3 draw with cross-town rivals and eventual Serie A champions

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 the

Derby della mole The Derby della Mole is the local derby played out between Turin's most prominent Association football, football clubs, Juventus FC, Juventus and Torino FC, Torino. It is also known as the Derby di Torino or the Turin Derby in English. It is na ...

; Torino had initially been trailing 3–0. He also helped Torino to win an

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

spot that season. After Torino suffered

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

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 ...

, he moved on 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 ...

before playing in the amateur leagues, where he ended his career.

Coaching career

After retirement, Maspero took a coaching job at

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

amateurs Ciliverghe Mazzano, guiding them to a historical promotion to Serie D for the first time ever. This won him interest from

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 ...

professionals

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

, who appointed him as new head coach for the 2014–15 season thereafter. On 13 November 2018, he was hired by Pro Piacenza as head coach. As Pro Piacenza experienced financial difficulties, he left the club in early 2019. On 25 February 2019, he signed with

Giana Erminio Associazione Sportiva Giana Erminio S.r.l. is an Italian football club based in Gorgonzola, Lombardy. The team currently plays in Italy's . History The club was founded in 1909 as ''Unione Sportiva Argentia'', and later adopted the current name ...

. He was dismissed by Giana Erminio on 27 September 2019 after the team only gained 2 points in the preceding 6 games. In July 2021, after two years of inactivity, Maspero was hired as the new head coach of

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 ...

amateurs Franciacorta.

References

External links

Career Stats

Entry
in Italian Football Federation national teams database {{DEFAULTSORT:Maspero, Riccardo 1970 births Living people Footballers from Lodi, Lombardy Italian men's footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italian football managers Serie A players Serie B players Serie D players US Cremonese players LR Vicenza players Torino FC players SSD Varese Calcio players AC Reggiana 1919 players ACF Fiorentina players AC Perugia Calcio players UC Sampdoria players US Lecce players Men's association football midfielders ASD Fanfulla players