Sergio Pirozzi (born 26 January 1965) is an Italian football

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

, former defender and politician.

Football career

After a minor career as a full-back, Pirozzi took on his first coaching role in 1994 in charge of then-

Seconda Categoria The Seconda Categoria is a level of football (soccer), football in Italy. It is the 8th level (since 2014-15) in the Association football league system in Italy, Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Seconda Cat ...

club Amatrice, leading the small amateur club all the way up to

Promozione The Promozione (, "promotion") is the sixth level in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Promozione level progresses to their closest regional league in the Eccellenza level. Depending on each league's lo ...

during his four-year stay at the club. He successively took on other regional clubs of Lazio at

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football. It is a regional league, composed of 28 divisions divided geographically. All 20 regions are represented by at least one division except for Piedmont and ...

and then

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

level. In 2004, Pirozzi led

Rieti Rieti (; lat, Reate, Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabin ...

to win the Serie D title and then guided the club in their successive

2005–06 Serie C2 The 2005–06 Serie C2 was the football league season of Italian Serie C2 for the years 2005 and 2006. It was divided into two phases: the regular season, played from August 28, 2005 to May 7, 2006, and the playoff phase. Once the regular seaso ...

campaign. In January 2007, he took over as the new head coach of

Serie C2 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of ...

club

Viterbese The Viterbese or it, Asino Viterbese, italic=no is a breed of donkey from Lazio in central Italy. It is particularly associated with the town and province of Viterbo from which it takes its name, and with the Monti della Tolfa and the town ...

, guiding them until the end of the season. On 2 November 2009, Pirozzi served as head coach of

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 in ...

in the Serie D for a single game against Acicatena, then resigning just three days after his appointment. After serving as head coach at a number of Serie D teams from Lazio such as

Aprilia Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded immediately after World War II in Noale, Italy, by Alberto Beggio. The company started as a manufacturer of bicycles and moved on to manufacture scooters and small-capacity motorcycles. ...

Civitavecchia Civitavecchia (; meaning "ancient town") is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located west-north-west of Rome. The harbour is formed by two pi ...

and Palestrina, Pirozzi returned to

in October 2013, serving only for four league games in the Eccellenza division. Later in 2014 Pirozzi was hired as the new head coach of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

-based Eccellenza club

Trastevere Trastevere () is the 13th ''rione'' of Rome: it is identified by the initials R. XIII and it is located within Municipio I. Its name comes from Latin ''trans Tiberim'', literally 'beyond the Tiber'. Its coat of arms depicts a golden head of a lio ...

, guiding them to promotion in his first season. After guiding the club on a successful debut campaign in the Serie D, Pirozzi resigned in August 2016 following the

Central Italy earthquake Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

that destroyed the city of

Amatrice Amatrice (; Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Rieti, in northern Lazio (central Italy), and the center of the food-agricultural area of Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park. The town was devastated by a powerful earth ...

, where he was serving as mayor at the time. In 2020, Pirozzi agreed to return to Trastevere for the club's

2020–21 Serie D The 2020–21 Serie D was the seventy-third edition of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represents the fourth tier in the Italian football league system. Changes from 2019–20 A total 166 clubs were admitted t ...

campaign. In December 2021, Serie D club Sambenedettese announced the appointment of Pirozzi as their new head coach; however, he retracted after Sambenedettese

ultras Ultras are a type of association football fans who are renowned for their fanatical support. The term originated in Italy, but is used worldwide to describe predominantly organised fans of association football teams. The behavioural tende ...

showed their disapproval of the appointment as he was a fan of the rival team

Ascoli Ascoli may refer to: Places in Italy *Ascoli Satriano, a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region *Province of Ascoli Piceno, a province of the Marche region **Ascoli Piceno, a city which is the seat of the province above ...

. In September 2022, Pirozzi successfully obtained the UEFA Pro coaching licence. In March 2023, Pirozzi was appointed in charge of Eccellenza club Atletico Ascoli, guiding them to promotion to Serie D by the end of the season. He was sacked on 31 October 2023 following a negative start in the club's

2023–24 Serie D The 2023–24 Serie D is the seventy-fourth season of the top-level Italian non-professional football championship. It represents the fourth tier in the Italian football league system. Rules The season will provide a total nine promotions to ...

campaign. On 23 November 2023,

Serie C The Serie C () 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 body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega ...

club Alessandria announced to have hired Pirozzi as their new head coach, on what was set to be his first head coaching job for a professional club since 2007. His stint at Alessandria lasted only one month, as he was removed from his coaching post on 27 December 2023.

Political career

Despite being born in

San Benedetto del Tronto San Benedetto del Tronto is a city and ''comune'' in Marche, Italy. Part of an urban area with 100,000 inhabitants, it is one of the most densely populated areas along the Adriatic Sea coast. It is the most populated city in Province of Ascoli Pi ...

, Pirozzi grew up in

. In 1995 he was elected city councillor of Amatrice and appointed deputy mayor. He was successively elected councillor of the

Province of Rieti The Province of Rieti ( it, Provincia di Rieti) is a province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Rieti. Established in 1927, it has an area of with a total population of 157,887 people as of 2017. There are 73 '' comuni'' ...

for the right-wing National Alliance and then mayor of Amatrice in 2009. As an incumbent mayor, he became a national figure in 2016 following the

that nearly destroyed the town of Amatrice. A year later, he announced his candidacy as

President of Lazio {{Infobox Political post , post = President , body = Lazio , insignia = Flag of Lazio.svg , insigniasize = 100px , insigniacaption = Flag of Lazio , imagesize = 165px , image = Francesco_Rocca_Meeting_ ...

for the 2018 Lazio regional election, where he ran as an independent candidate, obtaining 4.89% of votes and being elected regional councillor. He subsequently joined

Brothers of Italy Brothers of Italy ( it, Fratelli d'Italia, FdI) is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Italy. It is led by Giorgia Meloni, the incumbent Prime Minister of Italy and the first woman to serve in the position. Accor ...

in 2019, then switching his allegiance to the

Lega Lega may refer to: Geography * Lega (river) in Poland * Lega, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province * Lega, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, town in north Poland * Lega, an earlier name for Street, Somerset, a village in England People * Lega (s ...

in 2022. In 2023, he declared his political career to be over.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirozzi, Sergio 1965 births Living people Italian football managers Serie C managers Italian men's footballers US Alessandria Calcio 1912 managers Italian politicians Brothers of Italy politicians 21st-century Italian politicians National Alliance (Italy) politicians