Udinese men’s football team has appointed Fabio Cannavaro as their new coach. Cannavaro replaces Gabriele Cioffi, who was sacked at the weekend after the last-minute defeat at Verona. Udinese is currently third from last in Serie A, tied with Frosinone (both have 28 points): the last three in the standings will be relegated to Serie B at the end of the season. Cannavaro is 50 years old and, after having had a prestigious career as a footballer (he won the World Cup in 2006 as captain of the Italian national team, and the Golden Ball at the end of that season), he has so far had a not particularly brilliant coaching career.
He began in 2014 in China, where he coached Guangzhou Evergrande, before moving to Saudi Arabia to Al Nassr, in both cases being sacked mid-season. Returning to China, he coached Tianjin Quanjian, with whom he obtained promotion from the Chinese second division, and Guangzhou Evergrande again, between 2017 and 2021: these are the years in which he achieved the best results, winning a Chinese Super Cup and a championship .
He then coached the Chinese national team, but on an interim basis, to replace Marcello Lippi, who in the meantime had been appointed technical director of China itself (a more managerial role) and had therefore resigned as coach. In the end Cannavaro coached for two matches, losing both. Last season he coached Benevento in Serie B, but was sacked after scoring 16 points in 17 games. He will make his debut with Udinese on Thursday 25 April and the peculiarity is that he will not do so from the first minute, because on Thursday the recovery of the match between Udinese and Roma will be played, which will resume from the 72nd minute, i.e. from the moment in which it was suspended due to illness had by Roma defender Evan N’Dicka.
Udinese wrote in a statement of having appointed Cannavaro because «he identified in his experience on the field and technique and in his undisputed leadership the suitable figure to lead the team to the goal of salvation». Udinese have not been relegated to Serie B since the 1993-1994 season and have played Serie A continuously since 1995-1996.