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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1958-05-05)5 May 1958 (age 67) | ||
| Place of birth | Ponte San Giovanni, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 1990–1995 | Pontevecchio | ||
| 1995–2000 | Arezzo | ||
| 2000–2004 | Perugia | ||
| 2004–2005 | Genoa | ||
| 2005–2006 | Udinese | ||
| 2007–2008 | Brescia | ||
| 2009–2010 | Livorno | ||
| 2010 | Livorno | ||
| 2011 | Palermo | ||
| 2011–2012 | Lecce | ||
| 2012 | Siena | ||
| 2014 | Pescara | ||
| 2015–2016 | Trapani | ||
| 2017–2018 | Ascoli | ||
| 2019 | Venezia | ||
| 2020 | Perugia | ||
| 2021 | Crotone | ||
| 2022 | Rijeka | ||
Serse Cosmi (born 5 May 1958) is an Italianfootballcoach, most recently in charge ofRijeka.
Cosmi was born in 1958 inPonte San Giovanni, aPerugiafrazione. His father, a cycling fan, called him Serse afterFausto Coppi'sbrother, a cyclist himself, who died following a fall during a sprint.[1] He worked nine years as primary school teacher,[2] and played amateur football during his freetime for local teams such as Deruta, Cannara, Spello and Pontevecchio,[3] in the role ofmidfielder.[4]
He started a coaching career in the late 1980s in Ellera, asunder-18 youth team coach.[4] His debut as first team coach came in 1990, when he was appointed to coach Pontevecchio, a small amateur team from his native town of Ponte San Giovanni. Cosmi brought it on from thePrima Categoria (fourth level of amateur leagues in Italy) toSerie D (the top one) in just five years. Successively, he joinedArezzo, which he led from Serie D toSerie C1 in five extremely positive years. In 2000, Cosmi received the highest possible mark in the Coverciano coaching course;[5] his thesis was entitled "Il Trequartista" ("theadvancedplaymaker," in Italian football jargon).[6]
After being noted byLuciano Gaucci, in 2000 Cosmi was surprisingly appointed head coach ofPerugia, in theSerie A. He guided the team for four consecutive years, winning aUEFA Intertoto Cup, showing valid coaching abilities and launching several players, including2006 FIFA World Cup winnerMarco Materazzi (who reached a career high of 12 goals in a single season under Cosmi's tenure),Fabrizio Miccoli,Fabio Grosso andFabio Liverani. Cosmi's period at Perugia would last four years, during which he led the fringe Umbrian club to victory in the2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup.[7]
In 2004, Cosmi left Perugia, after the team went relegated at the end of the season, and joinedGenoa ofSerie B, with the clear goal to bring therossoblu back to Serie A.
At the end of the 2004–05 season, Cosmi managed to win the league and guide his team to Serie A, but he successively left because of discords with club chairmanEnrico Preziosi, before the relegation of Genoa itself to Serie C1 because of match frauds.
After his short, but successful, experience with Genoa, Cosmi was signed as new coach ofUdinese, in order to replaceLuciano Spalletti, who gained the qualification to the preliminary rounds ofChampions' League the previous season. But it was Cosmi who led the team on the European competition, defeatingSporting Clube de Portugal in a two-tier qualifying round.
However, after a disappointing series of results, including elimination in Champions League and results in Serie A much below the expected results, Cosmi was finally fired on 10 February 2006.
On 28 February 2007, he was appointed head coach of Serie B clubBrescia. On his very first match after replacingMario Somma, Cosmi ledBrescia to an astonishing 3–1 result against Serie B leadersJuventus. He was fired in September 2008 due to poor results to make room for new bossNedo Sonetti.
On 20 October 2009, Cosmi made a Serie A comeback as new head coach of bottom-placed relegation battlersLivorno.[citation needed] In his first game in charge, he guided Livorno to a surprising 1–0 away win againstRoma, which was immediately followed by a second consecutive 1–0 win, againstAtalanta, only three days later.
Despite fairly good results at the helm of Livorno, Cosmi resigned from his coaching post on 24 January 2010, in the wake of a 2–0 home loss to fourth-placedNapoli due to disagreements with club chairmanAldo Spinelli.[8] Two days later, on 26 January, Cosmi and Spinelli met each other in attempt to clarify each other, also following the supporter fanbase's criticism of the way Spinelli handled the issue. Following the meeting, both parties agreed that the head coach's resignation offer would have been rejected and Cosmi would return at Livorno with immediate effect.[9] This however lasted only a few more weeks, and Cosmi was dismissed later on April following a string of negative results that left Livorno down at the bottom of the table.[10]
After more than a year without a job, Cosmi returned into management on 28 February 2011, taking over coaching duties atPalermo as a replacement forDelio Rossi, who was dismissed from the Sicilian club following a record 0–7 home defeat toUdinese.[11][12] At Palermo, Cosmi reunited with former playersFabrizio Miccoli andFabio Liverani, as well as ex-player and team staff memberGiovanni Tedesco.
After three losses and one victory against A.C. Milan, Serse Cosmi was released by club president Zamparini after a disappointing 4–0 loss toCatania.[13]
On 4 December 2011, Cosmi was unveiled as new head coach of bottom-placed Serie A sideLecce, replacingEusebio Di Francesco.[14]
On 27 June 2012, Cosmi was appointed the new coach ofSiena inSerie A on a two-year contract, but on 17 December he was sacked.[15]
On 24 February 2014, Cosmi returned into management as new head coach of Serie B clubPescara, replacingPasquale Marino[16] but failing to turn the team fortunes and missing out qualification for the promotion playoffs. He left the club by the end of the season.
On 11 March 2015, he was named manager ofSerie B sideTrapani replacing long-servingRoberto Boscaglia.[17] Cosmi led Trapani to the2016 Serie B promotion playoffs, where they were defeated byPescara in the final round. He was sacked by Trapani on 28 November 2016, after obtaining only eleven points from the first 16 rounds of theseason and having his car set on fire by the club's supporters.[18]
On 7 December 2017, Cosmi was named as the replacement for Fulvio Fiorin atSerie B side,Ascoli.[19] He was replaced byVincenzo Vivarini on 12 July 2018.[20]
On 6 March 2019, Cosmi was appointed as manager ofVenezia.[21]
On 4 January 2020, Cosmi returned toPerugia after 16 years, replacingMassimo Oddo. He signed a contract until 30 June.[22]
Cosmi was appointed as manager of Crotone on 1 March 2021, following the sacking ofGiovanni Stroppa, signing a contract until the end of the season.[23] After failing to save his team from relegation to Serie B, with Crotone ending in 19th place in the league, the club announced they would not confirm Cosmi for the following season.[24]
On 4 September 2022, Cosmi returned into management as the new head coach of Croatian clubRijeka.[25] His experience at the club however proved to be short-lived, as he was dismissed on 13 November 2022 following a 2–7 loss toDinamo Zagreb.[26][27]
"With his trademark cap and his littlegoatee beard, Serse Cosmi is one of Italian football's most recognisable figures. His touchline energy, and excitable gestures make him a popular butt of jokes by Italian comedians, too. His provincial accent is often impenetrable for those unfamiliar with the brogue of Perugia. Cosmi is an eccentric goblin of a man, but a wily coach who is greatly liked by fans."
Cosmi is widely popular in Italy for his energetic and excitable behaviour during matches. He is also known for his intelligence and mentality as a manager, as well as his strong character and ability to motivate his players. He is also famous for always wearing abaseball cap (usually that of his team, but often with just his signature printed on it).'[5][28][29][30][31]
Tactically, Cosmi's favoured formation is a fluid3–5–2, which defensively becomes a5–3–2 when his team are not in possession of the ball, and occasionally a3–4–1–2 when attacking. He gave his forwards a lot of freedom to move around the attacking third.[7][30][32]
Throughout his career, Cosmi's team often featured Mario Palazzi as his assistant coach, whom he met during their studies at the Coverciano technical centre,[33][34] as well as athletic coach Francesco Bulletti,[35] and Fabio Bazzani as a second assistant coach, who often specialised in tactics.[36] Cosmi's distinctive style has been imitated by comedianMaurizio Crozza.[5]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | ||||
| Pontevecchio |  | 1 July 1990 | 22 May 1995 | 162 | 70 | 61 | 31 | 222 | 146 | +76 | 043.21 |
| Arezzo | | 22 May 1995 | 13 June 2000 | 198 | 77 | 71 | 50 | 233 | 194 | +39 | 038.89 |
| Perugia | | 13 June 2000 | 23 June 2004 | 172 | 56 | 54 | 62 | 219 | 238 | −19 | 032.56 |
| Genoa | | 23 June 2004 | 21 June 2005 | 45 | 20 | 20 | 5 | 79 | 50 | +29 | 044.44 |
| Udinese | | 23 June 2005 | 10 February 2006 | 36 | 12 | 8 | 16 | 44 | 54 | −10 | 033.33 |
| Brescia | | 28 February 2007 | 25 September 2008 | 70 | 35 | 16 | 19 | 98 | 70 | +28 | 050.00 |
| Livorno | | 21 October 2009 | 24 January 2010 | 15 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 13 | 21 | −8 | 046.67 |
| Livorno | | 26 January 2010 | 5 April 2010 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 19 | −10 | 000.00 |
| Palermo | | 28 February 2011 | 3 April 2011 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 025.00 |
| Lecce | | 4 December 2011 | 24 June 2012 | 25 | 6 | 10 | 9 | 29 | 33 | −4 | 024.00 |
| Siena | | 27 June 2012 | 17 December 2012 | 19 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 22 | 26 | −4 | 031.58 |
| Pescara | | 24 February 2014 | 28 June 2014 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 16 | 20 | −4 | 025.00 |
| Trapani | | 11 March 2015 | 28 November 2016 | 78 | 30 | 27 | 21 | 99 | 91 | +8 | 038.46 |
| Ascoli | | 7 December 2017 | 12 July 2018 | 27 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 25 | 32 | −7 | 029.63 |
| Venezia | | 5 March 2019 | 30 June 2019 | 13 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 14 | 18 | −4 | 023.08 |
| Perugia | | 4 January 2020 | 19 July 2020 | 17 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 21 | −11 | 023.53 |
| Crotone | | 1 March 2021 | 31 May 2021 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 22 | 35 | −13 | 021.43 |
| Rijeka |  | 4 September 2022 | 13 November 2022 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 18 | 23 | −5 | 033.33 |
| Total | 934 | 346 | 305 | 283 | 1,173 | 1,088 | +85 | 037.04 | |||
Perugia (2000–2004)
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