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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Alberto Zaccheroni | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1953-04-01)1 April 1953 (age 72) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Meldola,Italy | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Full-back[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1983–1985 | Cesenatico | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1985–1987 | Riccione | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1987–1988 | Boca San Lazzaro | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1988–1990 | Baracca Lugo | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990–1993 | Venezia | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1993–1994 | Bologna | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1994–1995 | Cosenza | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1998 | Udinese | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998–2001 | Milan | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2002 | Lazio | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | Internazionale | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006–2007 | Torino | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Juventus | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010–2014 | Japan | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | Beijing Guoan | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017–2019 | United Arab Emirates | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Alberto Zaccheroni (Italian pronunciation:[alˈbɛrtoddzakkeˈroːni]; born 1 April 1953) is an Italian formerfootball manager, formerly in charge of theUnited Arab Emirates andJapan national football teams.
He has managed a number of top clubs inSerie A, the high point of his career being his stint as manager ofAC Milan (1998–2001), with whom he won ascudetto, in his first season in charge (1998–99). Other notable clubs coached by Zaccheroni includeLazio,Internazionale andJuventus, all as interim coach for part of a season. He won theAsian Cup in 2011 as manager ofJapan. Zaccheroni is also renowned for his unconventional and trademark3–4–3 tactical system.
Zaccheroni played as afull-back on both the left and the right wing,[1] without much success, and his playing career was cut short by injury. He therefore became a manager at the relatively young age of 30 with amateur clubCesenatico. He won the Serie C2 and Serie C1, the fourth and the third highest football leagues in Italy. His managerial career took off when he was in charge ofUdinese.
Zaccheroni was appointed manager of Udinese in 1995. The1996–97 season saw Udinese qualify for theUEFA Cup. In thefollowing season, they managed a third-place finish behind championsJuventus and runners-upInternazionale, largely thanks toOliver Bierhoff's 27 goals.
Zaccheroni's results at Udinese attracted the attention ofSilvio Berlusconi, owner of Italian giantsAC Milan, who appointed him as manager after the club had endured two miserable seasons, despite their expensive, star-studded squad featuring (George Weah,Leonardo,Paolo Maldini etc.). Zaccheroni asked Berlusconi to sign two key players from Udinese to accompany him to Milan: German strikerOliver Bierhoff and Danish right wing-backThomas Helveg. Berlusconi obliged, and both players joined Zaccheroni at his new club.
Zaccheroni delivered instantly, as Milan conquered the Serie A in hisfirst season in charge, overcomingLazio andFiorentina to the title, after seven straight wins in the last seven matches, with Zaccheroni employing an attacking 3–4–3 (or 3–4–1–2) formation that made good use of Milan's forwards, attacking midfielders and wing-backs.[2]
Thefollowing season was less successful for Zaccheroni as Milan crashed out of theChampions League early, and, despite finishing third in Serie A, were never really in the running for the title. The2000–01 season was even worse for Zaccheroni and would be his last in charge, as Milan had a poor run in the Serie A, at one time finding themselves barely above the relegation zone (eventually they finished 6th); in the Champions League they had a good start in theFirst Group Stage, topping their group (which includedBarcelona,Leeds United andBeşiktaş), but were eventually eliminated in theSecond Group Stage. As theChampions League final was about to take place at the San Siro, the backlash was immense, and this led Berlusconi to sack Zaccheroni and replace him with caretaker managerCesare Maldini on 14 March 2001, one day after Milan's elimination from the Champions League.
As manager of Milan, Zaccheroni was successful and prescient in some of his signings;Oliver Bierhoff,Kakha Kaladze,Gennaro Gattuso and, above all,Andriy Shevchenko would become key players for the club. On the other hand, however, transfers like those ofJosé Mari were expensive flops, and he was also criticised for letting top centre-backRoberto Ayala leave Milan and move toValencia; Ayala was generally unhappy in his two seasons at Milan (making 13 appearances in 1998–99 and 22 in 1999–2000) as there was stiff competition in defence with established players likePaolo Maldini andAlessandro Costacurta.
Zaccheroni was without a job for a few months beforeLazio came calling, afterDino Zoff had resigned. The Rome-based club had endured a terrible start to the 2001–02 season. He changed things around and managed to finish 6th in Serie A, thus earning Lazio a place in theUEFA Cup. Zaccheroni was not without his critics, though, as he playedGaizka Mendieta andStefano Fiore out of position, thus failing to get the best out of them. He was also held responsible by many for the humiliating 5–1 loss to Roma in theRome derby that season. Despite Zaccheroni's efforts, he parted company with Lazio, to be replaced byRoberto Mancini.
Zaccheroni was again called upon in the mid-season of2003–04, this time to try to saveInternazionale after the departure of coachHéctor Cúper from the club. Despite crashing out of the Champions League after a humiliating 5–1 loss toArsenal at the San Siro, he managed to lift Inter to fourth place in Serie A, thus securing qualification to the Champions League for next season. However, Inter presidentMassimo Moratti was not convinced of Zaccheroni's abilities, and he was again replaced by Roberto Mancini.
After two seasons without a job, he was linked with a move to England in the vacant manager's post atCrystal Palace.[citation needed] These rumors never came to fruition. He did, however, become the new head coach ofTorino on 7 September 2006, the 100th anniversary of the team, replacingGianni De Biasi, fired by chairmanUrbano Cairo three days before the start of the new season despite having led the team to instant promotion fromSerie B. However, despite a good start, Zaccheroni was not able to bring Torino to the top positions in the league table and even suffered a worrying sequence of six consecutive defeats, which led chairman Cairo to sack him on 26 February 2007, and reinstate De Biasi at the helm of thegranata.
On 29 January 2010 he was appointed to replaceCiro Ferrara as head coach of under-crisisJuventus. He signed a four-month contract.[3]On 14 February 2010, Zaccheroni achieved his first win as a Juventus manager, defeatingGenoa 3–2.[4] His first loss in charge of the team arrived two weeks later, a 0–2 home defeat toPalermo.
He also guided Juventus through the newly establishedUEFA Europa League campaign, after the club failed to qualify to the first knockout round of theUEFA Champions League. In his first game at European level with Juventus, his side defeated 2–1Ajax inAmsterdam (the return leg then ended 0–0), and then went on to play English opponentsFulham. The first leg ended in a 3–1 win, but inCraven Cottage his side suffered a 4–1 defeat, sending Juventus out of the competition on a 5–4 aggregate scoreline. After a good start, results fell down again, similarly to the way they did during Ferrara's tenure, and Juventus ended the season in seventh place, thus concluding what was remembered as one of the most troubled Serie A seasons for thebianconeri.
On 30 August 2010, it was revealed via an announcement from theJapan Football Association that Zaccheroni would become the new manager of theJapan national football team.[5] However, due to a visa problem, he was not able to take charge in the first two matches against Paraguay (1–0) and Guatemala (2–1), in which former Japan striker and JFA technical directorHiromi Hara took charge. The first match he took charge, Japan had a historic 1–0 win overArgentina.
His first major competition with Japan was the2011 AFC Asian Cup, hosted inQatar. He led the team to their record fourth Asian Cup title, winning 1–0 in thefinal againstAustralia.[6]
He led Japan to become the first nation to qualify for the World Cup finals in Brazil after their2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying football match against Australia inSaitama on 4 June 2013. Japan opened their campaign at the World Cup with a 2–1 defeat toIvory Coast, where they led the match until 64 minutes. In the next match, Japan facedGreece, which ended 0–0. They were eliminated in the group stages after a 4–1 defeat toColombia and finished fourth with one point. At the end of the tournament, Zaccheroni resigned as the manager of Japan.
On 19 January 2016, Zaccheroni was appointed manager ofChinese Super League clubBeijing Guoan on a two-year contract.[7] But after a dismal start to the season in which Guoan picked up just nine points in their first nine games of the season, combined with the team scoring just seven goals in their first nine games and growing discontent among fans, Zaccheroni was fired.[8][9][10]
On 16 October 2017, Zaccheroni took over theUnited Arab Emirates national football team.[11] The team in January 2018 finished as the runner-up in the 23rd Gulf Cup. In January 2019, Zaccheroni led the national team to the semi-final of theAsian Cup which was hosted by the United Arab Emirates. After the 4–0 defeat againstQatar in semi-final, Zaccheroni left his position as UAE head coach as his contract with the UAE was set to expire at the end of the2019 AFC Asian Cup.[12]
Since April 2022 he is the technical commissioner of the "Italian Non Profit National Team", a Third Sector Entity (ETS) that promotes the values of solidarity through the sharing of a sporting experience involving non-profit associations.
In 2022, he became a member of FIFA's Technical Study Group (TSG) during the World Cup in Qatar.[13]
Zaccheroni was known for employing an innovative attacking 3–4–3 (or3–4–1–2 system, with anattacking midfielder supporting theforwards) formation, which was unconventional for the time. His system made use of a back-three andwing-backs in lieu ofwide midfielders, who would make attacking runs up the flank, looking to providecrosses to the team'scentre-forward, rather than tracking back.[2][14][15] In his early career, he initially used a4–4–2 formation with azonal defence, inspired byArrigo Sacchi's similar tactical system at Milan, which was widely used in Italy during the 1990s, although he did not emulate Sacchi's use of theoffside trap. Zaccheroni's direct game-play sought to bring the forwards into play as quickly as possible, through long balls from the back. He made use of an attacking trident with invertedwingers who were known for their quick combination play, or ability to provide depth to the team with their runs off the ball, and cut inside either to score goals or create chances. Unlike Ajax's diamond midfield underLouis van Gaal in the 1990s, Zaccheroni used a flat midfield line in his trademark 3–4–3 formation. Off the ball, his team made use ofpressing.[14][15][16][17]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||||||
| Lugo |  | 1 July 1988 | 30 June 1990 | 34 | 15 | 15 | 4 | 044.12 | ||||
| Venezia | | 1 July 1990 | 20 January 1992 | 58 | 18 | 26 | 14 | 031.03 | ||||
| Venezia | | 30 March 1992 | 22 February 1993 | 38 | 13 | 15 | 10 | 034.21 | ||||
| Venezia | | 11 April 1993 | 30 June 1993 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 000.00 | ||||
| Bologna | | 1 July 1993 | 29 November 1993 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 030.77 | ||||
| Cosenza | | 1 July 1994 | 30 June 1995 | 39 | 11 | 18 | 10 | 028.21 | ||||
| Udinese | | 1 July 1995 | 30 June 1998 | 113 | 50 | 25 | 38 | 044.25 | ||||
| AC Milan | | 1 July 1998 | 12 March 2001 | 125 | 54 | 44 | 27 | 043.20 | ||||
| Lazio | | 1 October 2001 | 30 June 2002 | 46 | 19 | 11 | 16 | 041.30 | ||||
| Inter Milan | | 20 October 2003 | 30 June 2004 | 44 | 18 | 14 | 12 | 040.91 | ||||
| Torino | | 7 September 2006 | 26 February 2007 | 24 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 020.83 | ||||
| Juventus | | 29 January 2010 | 19 May 2010 | 21 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 038.10 | ||||
| Japan |  | 10 September 2010 | 30 June 2014 | 55 | 30 | 12 | 13 | 054.55 | ||||
| Beijing Guoan |  | 15 January 2016 | 20 May 2016 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 030.00 | ||||
| United Arab Emirates |  | 16 October 2017 | 30 January 2019 | 23 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 030.43 | ||||
| Career Total | 652 | 255 | 211 | 186 | 039.11 | |||||||
In February 2023, it was reported that Zaccheroni was being treated for a head injury.[18]
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