Giampiero Ventura

Giampiero Ventura

Personal information
Full name	Giampiero Ventura
Date of birth	(1948-01-14) 14 January 1948
Place of birth	Genoa, Italy
Position(s)	Manager
Managerial career
Years	Team
1976–1979	Sampdoria (youth team)
1979–1981	Sampdoria (assistant coach)
1981–1982	Ruentes Rapallo
1982–1986	Entella
1986–1987	Spezia
1987–1989	Centese
1989–1992	Pistoiese
1992–1993	Giarre
1993–1995	Venezia
1995–1997	Lecce
1997–1999	Cagliari
1999–2000	Sampdoria
2001–2002	Udinese
2002–2004	Cagliari
2004–2005	Napoli
2005–2006	Messina
2006–2007	Verona
2007–2009	Pisa
2009–2011	Bari
2011–2016	Torino

Giampiero Ventura (born 14 January 1948) is an Italian football manager last in charge of Torino.

Managerial career

Experiences around Italy

He began his career as a coach in the blucerchiati 's youth system, then becoming an assistant coach in 1979; he then left Sampdoria in 1981 to pursue a head coaching career, starting from several amateur teams from Liguria. In 1985 he achieved his first promotion to a professional league with Albenga and Entella.

In 1987 he became head coach of Spezia in the Serie C1, but did not complete the season. Two poor seasons with Centese, characterized by a sacking, a reappointment and finally a relegation to Serie C2, were followed by a three-year tenure as A.C. Pistoiese boss in the Interregionale, ended with a promotion to Serie C2 in his second season and a fourth place in the third. In 1993 he became head coach of Sicilian Serie C1 team Giarre, where he achieved a very impressive fourth place, that is still the best result ever achieved by the club as of today. In 1993 he was appointed by Maurizio Zamparini to coach Venezia of Serie B: in his first season, Ventura obtained a good sixth place; this was not followed by an improvement in results in his second season, ended with a sacking.

In 1995 Ventura returned to Serie C1 at the helm of Lecce, which he led to two consecutive promotions up to Serie A. In 1997 he joined Cagliari, which he led to a quick return to Serie A. In 1998–99 he finally made his personal Serie A debut, leading Cagliari to a 12th place. During the 1999–00 season, he agreed a return at Sampdoria, this time as head coach, but missed promotion to Serie A ending the season in fifth place.

After a year without a team, Ventura returned coaching during the 2001–02 season, this time at Udinese, obtaining just an unimpressive 14th place. From 2002 to 2004 he returned at Cagliari: a good ninth place in his first season was however followed by a sacking during the next one. In 2004–05 he was appointed at the helm of refounded team Napoli, with the goal to achieve immediate promotion to Serie B: however, Ventura did not manage to guide the team to the very top table positions, and he was later fired and replaced with Edoardo Reja. He returned coaching a Serie A club during the 2005–06 season, when he replaced Bortolo Mutti at the helm of Messina in an unsuccessful attempt to escape from relegation. In December 2006 he was called by Verona to replace Massimo Ficcadenti; despite a clear improvement in results his club, which was in the bottom of the table at Ventura's appointment time, did not manage to avoid playing a relegation playoff, losing it to Spezia.

Later on June 2007, Ventura was announced as new head coach of newly promoted Serie B club Pisa.

After an impressive first season with Pisa, ended with Pisa unexpectedly playing in the promotion playoffs (then being eliminated by Lecce, who later defeated AlbinoLeffe to win promotion in the top flight), a club takeover from Rome-based entrepreneur Luca Pomponi raised rumours about his possible replacement with Alessandro Costacurta. He was later confirmed by the new property after Costacurta declined interest in the managerial position, only to be sacked on April 2009 following a string of unimpressive results.

Bari

On June 26, 2009 Ventura was signed to manage A.S. Bari until June 2010, replacing Antonio Conte who had been at the helm since December 2007. He guided Bari to a positive 10th place, defeating teams like Juventus and Palermo along the way, and garnering praise for the team's fun and attractive style of play. The 2010-11 Serie A campaign has been much more difficult, due to a poor transfer market and a rash of injuries, with Bari sitting in last place at the midway point. Bari did however win the Derby di Puglia against U.S. Lecce on 6 January 2011, thanks to a goal from loan signing Stefano Okaka. On 10 February 2011, with Bari sitting last in the table, with only one win in four months and 9 points from safety, Ventura agreed to part company with the club and was replaced by Bortolo Mutti.

Torino

On 6 June 2011 Ventura was announced as the new manager of Torino ahead of the 2011–12 season, signing an annual contract. Ventura revolutionised the team with the arrival of several new players and launching the likes of Angelo Ogbonna, Kamil Glik and Matteo Darmian. He secured promotion during the 2011–12 season on 20 May 2012, with a round to spare, with a 2–0 victory against Modena at home.

In the 2012–13 season he led Torino to 16th place in the top flight; securing safety from relegation on 12 May 2013, after a 1–1 draw away to Chievo. It would also see the arrival of Jean-François Gillet, Alessandro Gazzi and Alessio Cerci, Ventura's former pupils at Bari and Pisa. On 6 February, 2014, he renewed his contract with Torino until 2016.

In the 2013–14 season Ventura led Torino to 7th place in Serie A and the qualifying rounds of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League. It was also his personal best season for points secured in Serie A (57). During the season, Ventura also celebrated his 100th official game at the helm of Torino with a 1–0 victory against Lazio.

On 22 February 2015 he celebrated his 100th game on the bench of Torino in Serie A, seizing a 1–1 draw against Fiorentina in Florence. Four days later, he obtained a historic victory in the round of 32 of the Europa League by beating the Athletic Bilbao 3–2 in Spain, qualifying Torino for the next round: no Italian team had ever won at Bilbao. On 26 April 2015 he secured a 2–1 against Juventus at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin, handing Torino their first victory in the derby after 20 years.

On 16 November 2015 his contract with Torino was renewed until 30 June 2018. On 16 December, he set a new record for consecutive appearances as manager of Torino, overtaking Luigi Radice, with 194 appearances.

On 25 May 2016, he was relieved of his managerial duties with Torino.

Managerial Statistics

As of 8 May 2016

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Bari		27 June 2009	10 February 2010	66	18	16	32	27.27
Torino		6 June 2011	Present	216	85	64	67	39.35
Total				282	103	80	99	36.52

Honours

• Serie C1

Lecce: 1995–96

• Campionato Interregionale/Serie D

Entella: 1984–85

Pistoiese: 1990–91

External links

• (Italian) Official website