| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Giovanni De Biasi[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1956-06-16)16 June 1956 (age 69) | ||
| Place of birth | Sarmede, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1974–1975 | Treviso | 25 | (5) |
| 1975–1976 | Inter Milan | 0 | (0) |
| 1976–1977 | →Reggiana (loan) | 24 | (0) |
| 1977–1978 | →Pescara (loan) | 24 | (0) |
| 1978–1983 | Brescia | 161 | (14) |
| 1983–1986 | Palermo | 105 | (9) |
| 1986–1987 | Vicenza | 19 | (0) |
| 1987–1989 | Treviso | 51 | (3) |
| 1989–1990 | Bassano Virtus 55 | 0 | (0) |
| Total | 409 | (31) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1990–1991 | Bassano Virtus 55 (youth team) | ||
| 1991–1992 | Vicenza (youth team) | ||
| 1992–1993 | Vastese | ||
| 1993–1996 | Carpi | ||
| 1996 | Cosenza | ||
| 1997 | Cosenza | ||
| 1997–1999 | SPAL | ||
| 1999–2003 | Modena | ||
| 2003–2005 | Brescia | ||
| 2005–2006 | Torino | ||
| 2007 | Torino | ||
| 2007–2008 | Levante | ||
| 2008 | Torino | ||
| 2009–2010 | Udinese | ||
| 2011–2017 | Albania | ||
| 2017 | Alavés | ||
| 2020–2023 | Azerbaijan | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Giovanni "Gianni"De Biasi (Italian pronunciation:[ˈdʒannideˈbjaːzi],Albanian:Xhovani "Xhani" De Biazi, born 16 June 1956) is an Italianfootball coach and former player. He holds dual Italian and Albanian citizenship. De Biasi was the first coach of theAlbania national team to lead the team to qualify for a major tournament, namelyUEFA Euro 2016.
De Biasi was born inSarmede,Treviso, Italy. Amidfielder, he started his professional playing career forInter Milan; he was part of the first team squad but, despite this, never played for thenerazzurri and was then loaned toSerie C teamReggiana in 1975 and newly promotedSerie A clubPescara Calcio one year later. He was sold toBrescia in 1977 as partial compensation for the signing ofEvaristo Beccalossi by Inter. De Biasi played in Brescia for five seasons, only one of them in Serie A. He then moved toPalermo in 1983, but abruptly left it three years later following the cancellation of the Sicilian club in the summer of 1986. This was followed by a single season withVicenza and two Serie C2 seasons forTreviso. De Biasi retired from active football in 1990, after aSerie D season withBassano.
In 1990, De Biasi became youth team coach forBassano; in 1991, he was appointed byVicenza to coach theallievi nazionali youth squad. In 1992, De Biasi made his debut as first team coach, being boss ofSerie C2 clubVastese (now Pro Vasto); this was followed by three seasons asCarpi boss. In 1996, De Biasi was appointed coach ofSerie B clubCosenza, but was fired on Christmas' eve day. After a two-year spell atSPAL, De Biasi was contacted and hired by Serie C1 clubModena in 2000; with thecanarini, De Biasi obtained two consecutive promotions that brought Modena back in Serie A after 38 years. For his achievements with Modena, he was the awarded theSilver Bench award in 2002.[2] He left Modena in 2003, after having led his club to safety, achieving an impressive 13th-place finish in the Serie A table, and signed forBrescia, where he had the opportunity to coachRoberto Baggio in his lastplaying season of his career. He was sacked during the2004–05 season.
In 2005,Torino ofSerie B appointed De Biasi as head coach, offering him a squad quickly built in a very few days following the cancellation of the old Torino Calcio club and the forming of a new society, owned byUrbano Cairo. Under De Biasi, Torino obtained immediate Serie A promotion, after having defeatedMantova on play-offs. De Biasi, initially confirmed as head coach also for the2006–07 Serie A campaign, was however sacked three days before the first matchday and replaced byAlberto Zaccheroni. On 26 February 2007 Torino FC chairman Cairo decided to sack Zaccheroni too and recall De Biasi at the helm of thegranata, leading them to avoid relegation.
After several rumours regarding a possible move toLa Liga sideLevante UD, he was announced on 9 October 2007 to have reached an agreement with the Spanish side, where he will join fellow ItaliansDamiano Tommasi,Christian Riganò,Marco Storari andBruno Cirillo.[3] He did not manage to save the club from relegation, mainly because of financial struggles which questioned the club's own survival and led to sell several key players during the January transfer window. Despite the lack of top-quality players and as the risk of bankruptcy loomed, he led the team to some unexpected victories, displaying linearity and tactical discipline that gained him the love of the Spanish fans and esteem of the critics: in one of its editions, the popular sports daily “As” declared him the best coach in the championship
On 16 April 2008, he was announced by Torino to replaceWalter Novellino for the five final matchdays, with the aim to save the club from relegation once again. Once again, De Biasi saved the team.[4] On 8 December 2008 he was sacked after fifteen matches, blamed by the team's manager for the fact that Torino was once again struggling to avoid relegation. However, despite hiring and then dismissing a second and then a third coach, the team was still relegated at the end of the championship.[5]
On 22 December 2009,Udinese dismissed managerPasquale Marino and appointed De Biasi to take charge of the struggling team from North-Eastern Italy. However, results did not particularly improve under his tenure as head coach, and De Biasi himself was removed from his post on 21 February 2010 with Marino being named back at the helm of the club.[6]
On 14 December 2011, followingJosip Kuže's dismissal, theAlbanian Football Association announced to have agreed a two-year deal with De Biasi as new head coach of the national team for the2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.[7][8] His first match as Albania manager was a 2–1 defeat toGeorgia, during whichEdgar Çani, one of his innovations, scored after three minutes for theRed and Blacks.[9]
In May 2012, in two friendlies againstQatar andIran, De Biasi launched new players such asMërgim Mavraj,Mërgim Brahimi, andEtrit Berisha, whereas in the friendly against Moldova, scheduled on 16 August 2012, he convocated three young players,Erjon Dushku,Erjon Vuçaj, andRenato Arapi.[10] Albania won narrowly against Iran and Qatar, but was held by Moldova at home.[11][12]
De Biasi won his first competitive match on 7 September 2012, defeatingCyprus 2–0 in their opening2014 World Cup Qualifying match, in Tirana, with goals by Sadiku, Çani and Bogdani.[13] This match saw two newcomers to the Albania's midfield,Alban Meha andBurim Kukeli, who played for the entire match.[14] On 22 March 2013, he led Albania with his schemes and defensive tactical to a 1–0 historic win againstNorway atOslo, moving Albania into joint 2nd place in the group 9 points, ahead of Norway who were left on 7 points.[15][16]
De Biasi startedUEFA Euro 2016 qualifier with a 1–0 win over group favoritesPortugal.[17] This victory was described as historic by Albanian and international medias,[18] and caused the resignation of Portugal's coach,Paulo Bento.[19] In the next qualifying match againstDenmark at the newly renovatedElbasan Arena, Albania was on lead until 81st minute whenLasse Vibe levelled the score to 1–1.[20] The Albanian goal was scored byErmir Lenjani, another player brought by De Biasi in 2013.[21]
On 29 March 2015, in the fourth qualifying match againstArmenia, Albania was behind after only four minutes, but with the clever substitutes of De Biasi, Albania come back and won the match 2–1 thanks to goals fromMërgim Mavraj andShkëlzen Gashi, a player who came on in the 46th minute.[22] This match caused the resignation of Armenia's coach,Bernard Challandes.[23]
On 13 June 2015, Albania beatone-time World ChampionsFrance atElbasan Arena for the first time in history thanks to a free-kick fromErgys Kaçe.[24] For this match, De Biasi left some of the starter players out, in order to rest. The victory subsequently allowed Albania to climb 15 positions to 36th place in the July 2015FIFA world rankings for the first time in history.[25]
Gianni De Biasi became the first coach of the Albanian national side to lead the team to qualify for theUEFA European Championship, when the team sealed qualification forUEFA Euro 2016 on 10 October 2015.[26][27] For this achievement De Biasi, as well as the entire team were bestowed theHonor of Nation Order by Albania's PresidentBujar Nishani.[28]
At the end of 2015, De Biasi was included for the first time in the top ten IFFHS National Coaches of the World, ranking sixth.[29] On 9 January 2016, he agreed a contract extension with Albania, signing until 2017, also his new salary was increased by 60% of his former salary.[30] On 7 March 2016, he was awarded byFIGC with theSpecial Golden Bench award for "spreading the values of the Italian school coaches in the world".[31][32]
In UEFA Euro 2016, Albania was pitted againstFrance,Switzerland andRomania inGroup A.[33] After losing narrowly to Switzerland in their opening game,[34] Albania held hosts and favourites France scoreless until the 89th minute before conceding two late goals.[35] In their final group game, a 43rd minute headed goal by Sadiku was the only goal in a 1–0 win and gave them a historic first victory in theEuropean Championships, helping them to a third-place finish in the group.[36][37]
Following the elimination of Albania from UEFA Euro 2016, De Biasi confirmed himself that he would stay at Albania for thequalifiers of the2018 FIFA World Cup.[38][39]
On 14 June 2017, De Biasi announced his resignation in a joint press conference with the President of the Albanian Football Federation, where he departed as the best manager in Albanian football history.[40]
On 22 September 2017, De Biasi was appointed manager of Spanish clubDeportivo Alavés.[41] He was later sacked on 27 November of the same year.[42]
On 10 July 2020, De Biasi was confirmed as the new coach ofAzerbaijan.[43] Later that month, on 30 July, he signed a two-year contract with theAzerbaijani FA, taking him through the2022 World Cup qualification.[44]
On 22 November 2023, De Biasi was sacked by the decision of the board of AFFA.[45]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(July 2017) |
On 28 March 2015, De Biasi obtained Albanian citizenship.[46]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | ||||
| Vastese |  | 23 June 1992 | 29 June 1993 | 36 | 11 | 16 | 9 | 32 | 32 | +0 | 030.56 |
| Carpi | | 29 June 1993 | 28 May 1996 | 122 | 37 | 47 | 38 | 128 | 131 | −3 | 030.33 |
| Cosenza | | 11 June 1996 | 23 December 1996 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 18 | 24 | −6 | 023.53 |
| Cosenza | | 2 April 1997 | 17 June 1997 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 16 | 17 | −1 | 027.27 |
| SPAL | | 17 June 1997 | 18 May 1999 | 90 | 43 | 27 | 20 | 107 | 55 | +52 | 047.78 |
| Modena | | 1 November 1999 | 5 June 2003 | 151 | 71 | 45 | 35 | 192 | 138 | +54 | 047.02 |
| Brescia | | 5 June 2003 | 8 February 2005 | 65 | 15 | 23 | 27 | 77 | 98 | −21 | 023.08 |
| Torino | | 1 September 2005 | 7 September 2006 | 48 | 24 | 14 | 10 | 62 | 39 | +23 | 050.00 |
| Torino | | 26 February 2007 | 1 June 2007 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 13 | −4 | 035.71 |
| Levante |  | 10 October 2007 | 16 April 2008 | 29 | 7 | 4 | 18 | 26 | 49 | −23 | 024.14 |
| Torino | | 16 April 2008 | 8 December 2008 | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 24 | 34 | −10 | 031.82 |
| Udinese | | 22 December 2009 | 21 February 2010 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 16 | −4 | 027.27 |
| Albania |  | 14 December 2011 | 14 June 2017 | 51 | 20 | 10 | 21 | 56 | 49 | +7 | 039.22 |
| Alavés | | 24 September 2017 | 27 November 2017 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 12 | −5 | 037.50 |
| Azerbaijan |  | 11 July 2020 | 22 November 2023 | 39 | 10 | 8 | 21 | 34 | 56 | −22 | 025.64 |
| Total | 714 | 263 | 215 | 236 | 800 | 763 | +37 | 036.83 | |||
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) | ||
