⚽️🇮🇹 Serie A’s Summer Sideline Shake-Ups
In this week’s Italian soccer digest, we're looking at the latest coaching movements in the league, we're looking back on American performances from last season, and much more!
👋 Max is back at Milan!
Massimiliano Allegri will be back in a familiar setting next season, after officially returning to the Rossoneri’s managerial hot seat.
👉 Allegri coached Milan between 2010 and 2014, delivering both the scudetto and the Supercoppa Italiana in 2011.
💪 The highly experienced coach, who also won five scudetti with Juventus, replaces Sérgio Conceição, who parted ways with Milan last week.
🆕 Allegri’s appointment is part of a front office change that has also seen the arrival of new Sporting Director Igli Tare, who previously held the same role at Lazio.
🐍 Inter’s search for a new coach begins
There will be two new coaches at San Siro next season, after Inter parted ways with Simone Inzaghi following last weekend’s Champions League final.
🏆 Inzaghi won six trophies at Inter (the scudetto, two Coppa Italias, and three Supercoppa Italianas) and reached two Champions League finals.
🗣️ "The time has come for me to say goodbye to this club after a four-year journey, during which I gave everything," said Inzaghi. "I want to dedicate one last word to the millions of Nerazzurri fans who cheered me on, cried and suffered in difficult moments, and laughed and celebrated in the six triumphs we experienced together. I will never forget you."
🇺🇸 Inter will next be in action at the Club World Cup - they play Monterrey in Los Angeles on June 17th, Urawa Reds in Seattle on June 21st, and River Plate on June 25th, also in Seattle.
💫 The future is definitely looking bright for Inter: their Primavera (U-19) side won the youth championship for the eleventh time over the weekend.
👍 Napoli confirms Conte will stay in charge
Italian champions Napoli have made an announcement that will be music to the ears of their fans: coach Antonio Conte will be in charge next season.
👉 Conte delivered the Partenopei’s fourth scudetto in dramatic fashion on the final day of the season and has put to rest any speculation that he will move elsewhere in 2025-26.
😲 The Lecce native has now won 10 scudetti: five as a Juventus player, three as Juve coach, one during his tenure at Inter, and his most recent triumph.
✍️ Conte is under contract in Naples through the 2026-27 season.
🎉 Elsewhere in staying-with-their-club news, Vincenzo Italiano has signed with Bologna through 2027.
👉 Sarri returns to Lazio
Milan isn’t the only team welcoming back a former coach for next season: Maurizio Sarri has taken the reins at Lazio once again.
👏 Sarri’s return to Rome comes 15 months after he ended a three-year spell as Lazio coach.
🚬 Lazio announced Sarri’s return with a reference to the habit for which the coach is well-renowned: their cheeky video showed cigarette smoke billowing from the locker room!
👉 Sarri replaces coach Marco Baroni, whose side narrowly missed out on European qualification on the final day of the season.
🗣️ "His return is a choice of heart, conviction, and vision,” said Lazio president Claudio Lotito. “With him, we want to resume a path that was interrupted too soon, aware that together, we can bring back enthusiasm, identity, and ambition.”
😲 Sarri had an unusual path to elite-level management: the 66-year-old never played professionally and started his coaching career in the Italian lower league while working his full-time job as a banker.
👉 Gasperini ends nine-year spell at Atalanta
There’s one more coaching change to note this week: Gian Piero Gasperini has brought his transformative time at Atalanta to a close.
💙 The coach, affectionately known as Gasp, took charge at Atalanta in the summer of 2016. He transformed La Dea from a side that regularly battled for survival to a Champions League regular.
🏆 Gasp brought Atalanta its greatest ever moment last season when his side defeated a dominant Bayer Leverkusen to win the Europa League.
🗣️ “After so many years spent together, we felt it was our duty to respect his desire to seek new stimuli, knowing full well that our relationship will never end and that our mutual respect will never diminish,” said an official club statement.
🍾 Cremonese wins the Serie B playoffs!
Cremonese will return to Serie A next season after a promotion playoff victory over Spezia.
🙏 Cremonese - who are based in the northern city of Cremona, Lombardy - are back in the top flight after a two-year absence.
🫡 As our friends at Destination Calcio note, this was a very important victory for La Cremo, who lost out in the promotion playoff to Venezia last season.
⬆️ Cremonese will be promoted alongside Serie B champions Sassuolo and Pisa, the latter of whom is coached by Filippo Inzaghi.
🇺🇸 Come see Cagliari in Carolina!
Cagliari are currently competing in The Soccer Tournament, the annual seven-a-side open cup tournament in Cary, North Carolina, which offers a $1m prize.
⚽️ The 48-team men’s tournament combines professional teams from around the world with semipro and amateur teams. Cagliari sits at the top of Group B after its first two matches.
🎫 Tickets for the tournament, which takes place at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, are available here.
💬 Calcio Conversations
Summer vacation season is upon us, and the Serie A table is a great place to start when looking for places to visit in Italy! This week, we look at Cagliari, the stunning historic capital of the island of Sardinia.
🤷♂️ What does Cagliari have to offer? Packed with beautiful churches, historic monuments, and within easy reach of pristine beaches, Cagliari is a city with something for everyone. It is also an ideal jumping-off point for exploring the island at large, where you can find rugged mountains, crystal-clear seas, and stunning coastline.
🍴 What about the food? Always an important question in Italy! Cagliari is renowned for its seafood (unsurprisingly for a port city). From fried fish to zuppa di cozze (mussel soup) and spaghetti with clams and bottarga (salted and cured fish roe), it is a seafood fan’s paradise. Also try the thin Carasau bread, orziadas (fried sea anemones), and the local couscous-like pasta fregula.
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🇺🇸 Social Post of the Week: Americans in Italy season review
Some of the USMNT’s biggest stars have played a key role in Serie A this season, including national team captain Christian Pulisic, who earned an incredible 29 goal contributions across 50 games for Milan.
👉 The season review video above also spotlights the sizable roles that Weston McKennie and Tim Weah have played with Juventus, Yunus Musah’s key contributions with the Rossoneri, and the ever-presence of Gianluca Busio at Venezia.
👉 Here’s how the current crop of American Serie A stars rank among the list of all-time appearances for US players in the league.
🗓️ Serie A’s 2025-26 schedule drops tomorrow!
On Friday, the full Serie A fixture list will be announced via a live event that will be broadcast on the league’s YouTube channel.
👉 The schedule release event will take place at Festival della Serie A in Parma from 12.30pm ET.
🎤 The show will feature insight and analysis from Serie A legends Christian Vieri and Ciro Ferrara.
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Ciao ciao!
Given struggle clubs are facing in getting better coaches, think that Bologna's extension of Vincenzo Italiano's contract will prove to be one of the better pieces of business of the summer.