Stefano Pioli

Stefano Pioli (born 1965) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a defender.

He is currently the manager of Serie A club AC Milan.

He has managed European several clubs in Serie A, including Bologna, Lazio, Inter Milan and Fiorentina in recent years.

He most notably led AC Milan, to win a thrilling scudetto in 2022, securing the title in the last match of the season against Sassuolo, this was also the first scudetto since the club last won it in the 2010–11 Serie A season, and the first silverware since the 2016 Supercoppa Italiana, and was also a year where he was awarded the Panchina d'Oro for best coach of the season.

The following season, in 2022–23, he returned Milan to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

Pioli, a native of Parma, started his own playing career for his home city team, Parma.

Successively, he was signed by Juventus, with whom he made his Serie A debut in 1984, winning the league title, the European Cup, the European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup during his three seasons with the club.

After being sold to Hellas Verona in 1987, Pioli moved to Fiorentina in 1989, where he spent six years of his career, before spending two seasons with Padova.

Milan scored four goals against Juventus in Serie A for the first time since March 1989, when the score was 4–0.

After successive season-long spells in Serie C with Pistoiese and Fiorenzuola, he ended his career in 1999 with Colorno of Eccellenza Emilia-Romagna (the sixth-highest level of Italian football at that time; the top level of the Emilia-Romagna regional league system), playing alongside his brother Leonardo.

An elegant, tenacious, physical, and mobile defender, Pioli was capable of playing anywhere along the back-line, although he performed best as a man-marking centre-back, or "stopper," in Italian.

Considered to be a promising and consistent player in his youth, his career was affected by numerous serious injuries.

From 1999 to 2002 Pioli coached Bologna's youth team (winning a championship with Allievi Nazionali's team), and Chievo's in 2002–03.

In 2003–04, he was appointed as head coach of Serie B club Salernitana.

He moved to Modena, still of Serie B, in 2004.

In 2006, Pioli was named as Parma's head coach, therefore returning to his home city and marking his Serie A debut as a manager.

However, he was sacked on 12 February 2007 after a 3–0 loss to Roma which brought Parma down to second-last place and replaced by Claudio Ranieri.

On 11 September 2007, Pioli was unveiled as new head coach of Serie B club Grosseto, replacing Giorgio Roselli, who was sacked after three consecutive defeats in the first three league matches, and managed to lead the Tuscan minnows to an impressive mid-table finish in their first season in the Serie B. He then served as head coach of Piacenza for their 2008–09 Serie B campaign.

In July 2009, he left Piacenza to join Sassuolo as new head coach of the neroverdi.

On 10 June 2010, Pioli was named head coach of Serie A club Chievo on a 12-month contract.

On 2 June 2011, Pioli was named head coach of Serie A club Palermo, but he was relieved of his duties just 90 days later.

On 4 October 2011, Pioli was named new head coach of Bologna in Serie A, replacing the sacked Pierpaolo Bisoli.

Pioli's Milan finished the season in sixth place in Serie A. The team scored 63 goals in the competition, their highest total since 2013.

After two troublesome seasons with Bologna, both ended with the team struggling in the bottom half of the Serie A table but always escaping relegation, he was removed from his managerial duties on 8 January 2014, with Davide Ballardini appointed as his replacement.

On 12 June 2014, it was confirmed Pioli's appointment as new head coach of Lazio in place of Edoardo Reja.

In his first season at the club, he led Lazio to a third-place Serie A finish.

On 11 June 2015, he was offered a new 2-year contract with an additional year option.

On 3 April 2016, Pioli was sacked after a 4–1 home defeat to city rivals Roma.

On 8 November 2016, Pioli was appointed as the new head coach of Internazionale on an 18-month contract.

On 20 November, Inter drew 2–2 against AC Milan in a Serie A Derby della Madonnina match, Pioli's first competitive match as head coach of the club.

It was Milan's first win against Juventus since 2016.

On 21 July, Pioli reached an agreement with Milan for a two-year deal extension of his contract as head coach to June 2022.

He was sacked on 9 May 2017.

Inter had won 12 of the first 16 Serie A matches that Pioli was in charge of (draw with Milan, losses to Napoli, Juventus and Roma), but this was followed by two draws and five losses in their last seven Serie A matches prior to his sacking.

On 6 June 2017, Pioli was named new head coach of Fiorentina.

He signed for two years with another optional year.

Pioli was in charge of the team when on 4 March 2018 central defender and captain Davide Astori died unexpectedly; to honour the memory of the player, Pioli got a commemorative tattoo.

On 9 April 2019, Pioli resigned as manager.

The day after Marco Giampaolo's sacking, on 9 October 2019, Pioli was appointed as the new coach of AC Milan, on a deal to the end of the season.

On 7 July 2020, Milan defeated Juventus 4–2.