Antonio Conte

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Antonio Conte
Personal information
Date of birth July 31, 1969 (1969-07-31) (age 38)
Place of birth    Lecce, Italy
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position Manager (former midfielder)
Club information
Current club Bari
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1985-1992
1992-2004
Lecce
Juventus
089 0(1)
295 (29)   
National team2
1994-2000 Italy 20 (2)
Teams managed
2005-2006
2006
2007
2007-
Siena (assistant coach)
Arezzo
Arezzo
Bari

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of December 11, 2006.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of December 11, 2006.
* Appearances (Goals)

Antonio Conte (born July 31, 1969 in Lecce) is an Italian former football (soccer) player turned manager.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Player

He began to play football in the Lecce youth team, before making his Serie A debut with the first squad in 1985. He was signed by Juventus in 1992, being later made captain before the promotion of Alessandro Del Piero to this role. During the 1998-1999 season when Del Piero suffered a horrendous leg injury, Conte returned to the captaincy temporarily and led Juventus to the UEFA Champions League semifinals.

In 2002-2003, Conte was part of the Juventus team which reached the UEFA Champions League final only to lose on penalties to AC Milan, with Conte himself coming closest to winning the game for Juventus in normal time when he crashed a header off the crossbar early in the second half.

He played for Italy national football team and was a participant at the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 UEFA European Championship.

[edit] Coach

After having retired as footballer, Conte worked as assistant manager for Siena alongside Luigi De Canio in the 2005-2006 season. In July 2006 he was appointed coach of Serie B side Arezzo: however, after a series of disappointing results, he was sacked on October 31, 2006; on March 13, 2007 he was reinstated at the Arezzo head coaching position, as his predecessor failed to gain any significant improvement. In his second time at Arezzo he led the team to five consecutive wins in a row, and 19 points in 7 matches, which allowed the Tuscan side to fill the gap from the last safe spot; his team however did not manage to avoid relegation, and Arezzo dropped into Serie C1 on the final matchday, only one point behind Spezia.

On December 27, 2007 he was appointed by Bari to replace Giuseppe Materazzi for the second half of their Serie B 2007-08 campaign.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Materazzi si dimette: Antonio Conte a Bari (Italian). Corriere dello Sport.it (2007-12-28). Retrieved on 2007-12-28.
Preceded by
Gianluca Vialli
Juventus captain
1996-2004
Succeeded by
Alessandro Del Piero