I LOVE AZZURRI :: Marcello Lippi

Full Name :Marcello Lippi
Date Of Birth: April 11, 1948 (age 59)
Place of Birth:Viareggio, Italy
Playing Position:Defender
National Career:2004-06
Coached Games:-

Marcello Lippi, (born April 11, 1948) is an Italian World Cup-winning football coach and former player.
Born in Viareggio, in northern Tuscany, he served as Italian national team head coach from July 16, 2004 to July 12, 2006 and led Italy to win the FIFA World Cup 2006. He resigned from this position following his victory after dismissing widespread calls for him to remain in the position by saying "I believe that I have achieved what I set out to achieve as the coach of the Italian team".

Career
Playing career
In a professional career as a midfielder that started in 1969, Lippi spent most of his playing years with Sampdoria, where he played consecutively from 1969 to 1980, except for a year loan at Serie C side Savona. In 1980 he joined Pistoiese, being part of the arancioni 's only Serie A campaign in history.

Coaching career
Lippi retired from active football in 1982, at the age of 34, to pursue a coaching

career. He consequently became a coach with the Sampdoria youth teams, and, after various stints in Italy's lower divisions, became a head coach in Serie A in 1989 with Cesena. Lippi then moved on to Lucchese and Atalanta. The turning point for Lippi came in the 1993–94 season when he led Napoli to a place in the UEFA Cup. The achievement was all the more remarkable given the financial turmoil of a club still basking in the past triumphs inspired by Diego Maradona.
Lippi was now a managerial target for the top clubs with Juventus winning the race to secure his services. He won the Serie A title in his first season with a team that included Gianluca Vialli and Ciro Ferrara, a player he had coached at Napoli and who later acted as his assistant with the Azzurri. The trophies began to flow thick and fast, including the UEFA Champions League in 1996.
After five highly successful seasons at Juventus, Lippi moved to Internazionale in 1999, but was sacked after the first 2000–01 matchday after having faced a lot of criticism due to his poor results in his previous season with the nerazzurri. He was then again appointed as coach of Juventus for the 2001–02 season and managed to win two other scudetti, also leading the bianconeri to the finals of UEFA Champions League in 2003 held at Old Trafford. Juventus lost to AC Milan in a penalty shootout after both the teams failed to score during the normal time and extra time.
Despite never having played for Italy at senior level, Lippi gained a wealth of experience over the years playing in his country’s top flight as a central defender for Sampdoria. His rise to the top of the managerial tree also began at the Genoese club where he started as a youth-team coach.
Italy coach Marcello Lippi was something of an exception at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Unlike most of his counterparts, the Tuscan-born coach had only ever worked in his country of birth.
A motivator rather than a strategist, Lippi is not bound by a rigid tactical approach. He earns the respect of his players thanks to this flexibility as well as his own personal charisma and sincerity.
Lippi is considered by many to be one of the best managers in the history of Italian football.

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Italy national team
Lippi was appointed at the helm of the Italian national team on July 2004, following a disappointing EURO 2004 campaign by Giovanni Trapattoni. The azzurri secured their passage to the FIFA World Cup finals with relative ease and subsequent victories over the Netherlands and a 4–1 win to Germany in friendly matches raised expectations considerably. Explosion of the 2006 Serie A scandal (Calciopoli) during the late weeks of the 2005–06 season however lowered such expectations and raised critics towards the whole Italian football people, including Lippi, blamed because of his long-standing ties and previous history with Juventus. In any case, Lippi opted to ignore such critics and instead looked after to consolidate the team spirit.
In the FIFA World Cup 2006 Marcello Lippi led Italy all the way to the final, where they beat France 5-3 in a penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw.
After winning the World Cup Lippi stated that this was his "most satisfying moment as a coach", even after winning the Intercontinental Cup and the UEFA Champions League with Juventus.
His 2006 victory was praised as reminiscent of FIFA World Cup 1982's triumph, as coach Enzo Bearzot then faced lots of criticisms as well, including a recent matchfixing scandal (Totonero) which involved Paolo Rossi, who later became the World Cup topscorer and was called-up despite media opposition due to his Totonero involvement.
Three days after the final, Lippi did not renew his expiring contract with the Italian Football Federation, declared his desire for a sabbatical, and left his office as the coach of the Italian national team. He was succedeed by Roberto Donadoni.

Europe XI
Marcello Lippi managed the Europe XI side for a one off match at Old Trafford against Manchester United F.C. which commemorated the 50th anniversary of United's first competitive European fixture as well as the founding of the Common Market. The game was played on March 13, 2007. Manchester United won the game 4-3, including two goals from United's Wayne Rooney.

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Honours
Club
Juventus
Seria A: 1994-95, 1996-97, 1997-98, 2001-02, 2002-03 (5 Titles)
Coppa Italia: 1994-95
Supper Coppa Italiana: 1995-96, 1997-98, 2002-03, 2003-04 (4 Titles)
UEFA Champions League: 1995-96
UEFA Cup: 1994-95
European Super Cup: 1996
International Cup: 1996
International
FIFA World Cup: 2006

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