 Cioffi in 2023 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1975-09-07)7 September 1975 (age 49) | ||
| Place of birth | Florence, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Sestese | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1992–1996 | Sestese | 77 | (2) |
| 1996–1997 | Marsala | 12 | (2) |
| 1996–1997 | Poggibonsi | 10 | (0) |
| 1997–1999 | Spezia | 55 | (1) |
| 1999–2001 | Arezzo | 19 | (0) |
| 2001–2002 | Taranto | 4 | (0) |
| 2002–2005 | Novara | 72 | (7) |
| 2005–2006 | Mantova | 52 | (5) |
| 2006–2007 | Torino | 18 | (1) |
| 2007–2009 | Ascoli | 39 | (3) |
| 2010 | AlbinoLeffe | 18 | (1) |
| 2010–2012 | Carpi | 52 | (6) |
| Total | 428 | (30) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2013 | Gavorrano | ||
| 2018–2019 | Crawley Town | ||
| 2021–2022 | Udinese | ||
| 2022 | Hellas Verona | ||
| 2023–2024 | Udinese | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Gabriele Cioffi (born 7 September 1975) is an Italian professionalfootball manager and formerplayer who played as adefender.
As a player, Cioffi was adefender.[1] He started his career with Tuscan amateursSestese, which was followed by several other experience in the minor Italian leagues ofSerie C1 andSerie C2. In January 2005 he joinedMantova, with whom he became a fan favourite, won a Serie C1 title and made hisSerie B debut during the 2005–06 season. After an impressive Serie B campaign with Mantova, he was subsequently signed byTorino, with whom he made hisSerie A debut during the 2006–07 season.
He left Torino after one season to joinAscoli, which he left in 2010 forAlbinoLeffe as a free agent.[2] He retired in 2012 after two seasons withCarpi where he won the league as captain getting the promotion from Lega Pro 2 to Lega Pro 1. In his last season with the club, he lost the final for promotion to Serie B.
After his retirement, he stayed in Carpi as an assistant coach for the 2012–13 season. In July 2013, he was announced as the new head coach ofLega Pro Seconda Divisione clubGavorrano;[3] he was fired later in November and following his departure the squad had a poor run of results. It was widely understood that the club called him back with a few games remaining in the season, and relegation being a formality, although Gabriele refused to return.[4]
He subsequently relocated toAustralia and worked for two years as youth coach forEastern United, before moving back to Italy in November 2015 to accept an offer as youth coach for theBerretti team of third division clubSüdtirol.[5][6] He left the club in February 2016 to joinHenk Ten Cate's coaching staff as assistant head coach atAl Jazira.[7][8]
After being an integral part of leading Al-Jazira to the President's Cup in 2016,[9][10] and steering the club into returning to the Asian Champions League, Gabriele was headhunted in December 2016 and he joined the coaching staff ofGianfranco Zola atEnglish Championship clubBirmingham City.[11] Following Zola's resignation on 17 April 2017, his entire backroom staff, including Cioffi, left Birmingham too.[12]
In October 2017, he signed as assistant manager for Al Dhafra, fighting relegation at the time. His first match on the touchline was against his previous team, Al Jazira.[13] The team, thanks to his work, was able to achieve safety from relegation, and to have a stable position in the table.
He had been widely accredited as being instrumental as an assistant at his previous clubs, and having been earmarked and interviewed for several clubs after leaving Al Dhafra, the opportunity finally arose for him to take on a role as head coach. In September 2018, he was named as new head coach ofEFL League Two clubCrawley Town who was fighting the relegation area, succeedingHarry Kewell.[14]
Cioffi achieved the objective laid out for him comfortably, saving the club from relegation with several games of the season left, and was confirmed for a second season, during which Cioffi took on two historic cup runs, the first being the club reaching the fourth round of the League Cup for the first time, and beating Premier League opposition for the first time in the process, as well as reaching the second round of the FA Cup for the first time in nearly a decade. At the same time, several unfortunate injuries to key players led to a run where the club struggled to score and win despite creating chances. His players supported Cioffi after the loss to League One teamFleetwood Town in the FA Cup,[15] but, despite this, Cioffi and Crawley Town parted ways by mutual consent shortly thereafter.[16] He was succeeded byJohn Yems.[17]
In September 2020, he joinedSerie A clubUdinese as an assistant coach to managerLuca Gotti.[18] Cioffi settled in quickly at Udinese and when Gotti was beset with COVID-19, Cioffi was placed in interim charge, including a famous away victory at Lazio.[19] Although some media outlets strongly credited him with the plan for the victory, Cioffi humbly deferred to, and dedicated the victory to his boss.[20]On 7 December 2021, following Gotti's sacking at Udinese, Cioffi became the caretaker head coach for the team.[21] Under his tenure, Cioffi managed to guide Udinese out of the relegation zone, ending the season in twelfth place with 47 points; despite this, on 23 May 2022, one day after the final matchday of the season (a 4–0 away win atSalernitana), Udinese announced they would not extend Cioffi's contract with the club, due to expire on 30 June 2022.[22]
In June 2022, Cioffi signed as manager forSerie A clubHellas Verona with a contract lasting until 2024.[23] On 11 October 2022, Cioffi was dismissed from his job after achieving only five points in the first nine games of the Serie A season.[24]
On 25 October 2023, Udinese announced the appointment of Cioffi in charge of the first team, following the dismissal ofAndrea Sottil, on a contract until the end of the season with an option to extend it for one further year.[25] He was dismissed on 22 April 2024, leaving Udinese just above the relegation zone.[26]
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||
| Gavorrano | 6 July 2013 | 4 November 2013 | 13 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 19 | −7 | 015.38 |
| Crawley Town | 7 September 2018 | 2 December 2019 | 72 | 21 | 15 | 36 | 85 | 115 | −30 | 029.17 |
| Udinese | 7 December 2021 | 30 June 2022 | 24 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 44 | 32 | +12 | 037.50 |
| Hellas Verona | 1 July 2022 | 11 October 2022 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 21 | −12 | 010.00 |
| Udinese | 25 October 2023 | 22 April 2024 | 25 | 4 | 10 | 11 | 27 | 38 | −11 | 016.00 |
| Total | 144 | 37 | 39 | 68 | 177 | 225 | −48 | 025.69 | ||