Gianni De Biasi
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Giovanni De Biasi | ||
| Date of birth | 15 June 1956 | ||
| Place of birth | Sarmede, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Albania (manager) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1974–1975 | Treviso | 25 | (5) |
| 1975–1976 | Inter | 9 | (0) |
| 1976–1977 | Reggiana (loan) | 24 | (0) |
| 1977–1978 | Pescara (loan) | 24 | (0) |
| 1978–1983 | Brescia | 161 | (14) |
| 1983–1986 | Palermo | 105 | (9) |
| 1986–1987 | Vicenza | 19 | (0) |
| 1987–1989 | Treviso | 51 | (3) |
| 1989–1990 | Bassano | ? | (?) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1990–1991 | Bassano (youth team) | ||
| 1991–1992 | Vicenza (youth team) | ||
| 1992–1993 | Vastese | ||
| 1993–1996 | Carpi | ||
| 1996–1997 | Cosenza | ||
| 1997–1999 | SPAL | ||
| 1999–2003 | Modena | ||
| 2003–2005 | Brescia | ||
| 2005–2006 | Torino | ||
| 2007 | Torino | ||
| 2007–2008 | Levante | ||
| 2008 | Torino | ||
| 2009–2010 | Udinese | ||
| 2011– | Albania | ||
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
Giovanni De Biasi or Gianni De Biasi (born 16 June 1956 in Sarmede, Treviso) is an Italian and Albanian football coach and former player, who serves as head coach of Albania national team. He holds dual Italian and Albanian citizenship. De Biasi was the first coach of Albania to qualify them for a major tournament, and he achieved that by qualifying the team for the Euro 2016 championship.
Personal life
On the March 28, 2015 De Biasi obtained Albanian citizenship [1] therefore making him a dual citizen. He is married.
Playing career
De Biasi, a midfielder, started his professional playing career for Inter Milan; he was part of the first team squad but, despite this, never played for the nerazzurri and was then loaned to Serie C team Reggiana in 1975 and newly promoted Serie A club Pescara Calcio one year later. He was sold to Brescia in 1977 as partial compensation for the signing of Evaristo Beccalossi by Inter. De Biasi played in Brescia for five seasons, only one of them in Serie A. He then moved to Palermo in 1983, but abruptly left it three years later following the cancellation of the Sicilian club in the summer of 1986. This was followed by a single season with Vicenza and two Serie C2 seasons for Treviso. De Biasi retired from active football in 1990, after a Serie D season with Bassano.
Coaching career
Clubs
In 1990, De Biasi became youth team coach for Bassano; in 1991, he was appointed by Vicenza to coach the allievi nazionali youth squad. In 1992, De Biasi made his debut as first team coach, being boss of Serie C2 club Vastese (now Pro Vasto); this was followed by three seasons as Carpi boss. In 1996, De Biasi was appointed coach of Serie B club Cosenza, but was fired on Christmas' eve day. After a two-year spell at SPAL, De Biasi was contacted and hired by Serie C1 club Modena on 2000; with the canarini, De Biasi obtained two consecutive promotions that brought Modena back in Serie A after 38 years. He left Modena in 2003, after having led his club to a good 13th place in the Serie A table, and signed for Brescia, where he had the opportunity to coach Roberto Baggio in his last playing season. He was sacked during the 2004/2005 season.
In 2005, Torino F.C of Serie B appointed De Biasi as head coach, offering him a squad quickly built in a very few days following the cancellation of the old Torino Calcio club and the forming of a new society, owned by Urbano Cairo. Under De Biasi, Torino obtained immediate Serie A promotion, after having defeated Mantova on play-offs. De Biasi, initially confirmed as head coach also for the 2006/2007 Serie A campaign, was however sacked three days before the first matchday and replaced by Alberto Zaccheroni. On 26 February 2007 Torino FC chairman Cairo decided to sack Zaccheroni too and recall De Biasi at the helm of the granata, leading them to escape from relegation.
After several rumours regarding a possible move to La Liga side Levante UD, he was announced on 9 October 2007 to have reached an agreement with the Spanish side, where he will join fellow Italians Damiano Tommasi, Christian Riganò, Marco Storari and Bruno Cirillo.[2] He did not manage to save the club from relegation, mainly because of financial struggles which questioned the club's own survival and led to sell several key players during the January transfer window. Despite the lack of top-quality players and as the risk of bankruptcy loomed, he led the team to some unexpected victories, displaying linearity and tactical discipline that gained him the love of the Spanish fans and esteem of the critics: in one of its editions, the popular sports daily “As” declared him the best coach in the championship
On 16 April 2008 he was announced by Torino to replace Walter Novellino for the five final matchdays, with the aim to save the club from relegation once again. Once again, De Biasi saved the team.[3] On 8 December 2008 he was sacked after fifteen matches, blamed by the team's manager for the fact that Torino was once again struggling to avoid relegation. However, despite hiring and then dismissing a second and then a third coach, the team was still relegated at the end of the championship.[4]
On 22 December 2009 Udinese dismissed manager Pasquale Marino and appointed De Biasi to take charge of the struggling team from North-Eastern Italy. However, results did not particularly improve under his tenure as head coach, and De Biasi himself was removed from his post on 21 February 2010 with Marino being named back at the helm of the club.[5]
Albania national team
On 14 December 2011, De Biasi was named as the successor to Josip Kuže in charge of the Albanian national side.[6] De Biasi has proved to be pivotal in convincing to play for Albania promising players such as Mërgim Mavraj and Edgar Çani, who had previously refused the national team, but were convinced by De Biasi's project. De Biasi also has tried to get into the national team Migjen Basha, who had been refused clearance by Switzerland, as he had been capped with the Switzerland national under-21 football team earlier, but who had declared that he would play only for Albania.[7] In May 2012, in two friendlies played by Albania against Iran and Qatar, De Biasi launched young players such as Hair Zeqiri, Mërgim Brahimi, and Etrit Berisha, whereas in the friendly against Moldova, scheduled on 16 August 2012, he convocated three young players, Erjon Dushku, Erjon Vuçaj, and Renato Arapi.[8]
The first match in the qualifiers of the 2014 World Cup was a win for De Biasi: Albania played against Cyprus and the result was a 3–1 win with goals of Sadiku (who had been launched in the national team by De Biasi), Çani, and Bogdani. The two last goals for Albania came on the 84th and 88th minutes by substitutes Çani and Bogdani, whereas Çani's assist came from the other substitute, Hyka. This match saw two newcomers to the Albania's midfield, Alban Meha and Burim Kukeli, who played for the entire match. Meha was the assistman of Albania's first goal.[9] He got an historic win against Norway at Oslo with Albania who got three points after a 1–0 win. This moved Albania into joint 2nd place in the group 9 points, ahead of Norway who were left on 7 points.[10][11][12]
Gianni De Biasi started UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier with a 1–0 win over against group favorites Portugal.[13] This victory was described as historic by Albanian and international medias,[14] and caused the resignation of Portugal's coach, Paulo Bento.[15]
On 29 March 2015, in the fourth qualifying match against Armenia, Albania was behind after only four minutes, but with the smart substitutes of De Biasi, Albania come back and won the match 2–1 thanks to goals from Mërgim Mavraj and Shkëlzen Gashi, a player who came on in the 46th minute.[16] This match caused the resignation of Armenia's coach, Bernard Challandes.
On 13 June 2015, Albania beat one-time World Champions France at Elbasan Arena for the first time in history, with a free-kick from Ergys Kaçe in the 43rd minute.[17] For this match, De Biasi had left some of the starter players out, in order to rest. The victory subsequently allowed Albania to climb 15 positions to 36th place in the July 2015 FIFA world rankings for the first time in history.[18] Gianni De Biasi became the first coach of the Albanian national side to lead the team to qualify for the UEFA European Championship, when the team sealed qualification for UEFA Euro 2016 on 10 October 2015.[19][20] For this achievement De Biasi, as well as the entire team were bestowed the Honor of Nation Order by Albania's President Bujar Nishani.[21]
Manager Statistics
- As of 29 March 2016.[22]
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Albania | 14 December 2011 | Present | 38 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 39.47 |
| Total | 38 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 39.47 | ||
References
- ↑ Lajme Flash (2015-10-08). "De Biazi merr pasaportën shqiptare: Dua të rinovoj, dëshiroj të qëndroj gjatë". Panorama-sport.com. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
- ↑ "El Levante UD y el técnico Giovanni De Biasi llegan a un acuerdo verbal" (in Spanish). Levante UD. 9 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
- ↑ "Torino sack Novellino". SKY Sports. 16 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-16.
- ↑ "De Biasi esonerato dal suo incarico" (in Italian). Torino FC. 8 December 2008. Retrieved 13 December 2008.
- ↑ "L'Udinese riaffida la guida tecnica della Prima Squadra al Signor Pasquale Marino" (in Italian). Udinese Calcio. 21 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-21.
- ↑ "Albania name De Biasi coach". Fifa.com. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-14.
- ↑ Rosso, Stefano (30 July 2012). "Basha verso De Biasi: Toro news: Attivate le pratiche per ottenere passaporto albanese" (in Italian). Toro news.
- ↑ "Portali me popullor ne Shqiperi". InfoAlbania. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
- ↑
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/20130518042417/http://au.eurosport.com:80/football/world-cup/2014/norway-stunned-by-albania_sto3679386/story.shtml. Archived from the original on 18 May 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2014. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "Ice-cold Albanians stun ‘Drillos’". Newsinenglish.no. 2013-03-22. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
- ↑ "FIFA World Cup 2014 - Norway-Albania –". Uefa.com. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
- ↑ ""Bekim" kuqezi në Aveiro, Shqipëria shokon Portugalinë". Panorama Sport. 7 September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/20140910010702/http://www.fifa.com:80/world-match-centre/news/newsid/243/707/7/. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2014. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "BBC Sport - Portugal coach Paulo Bento leaves role after shock Albania defeat". Bbc.com. 2014-09-11. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
- ↑ "Albania head off Armenia threat". Panorama Sport. 29 March 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
- ↑ "Kjo është Shqipëria e vërtetë, mposht Francën". Kosova Press. 13 June 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
- ↑ "http://fshf.org/index.php/sq/lajme/2972-rekord-historik-shqiperia-renditet-e-36-ne-bote". FSHF.org. 9 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ "De Biasi: 'Albania lives a dream'". Football Italia. 11 October 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ↑ Manlio Gasparotto (13 October 2015). "De Biasi esalta la sua Albania: "Proveremo ancora a stupire"" [De Biasi praises his Albania: "We will try to keep surprising everyone"] (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ↑ Ora News (11 October 2015). "Shqipëria kualifikohet, Presidenti Nishani vlerëson kombëtaren me dekoratën “Nderi i Kombit”". Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ↑ "Albania - Albania - Results and fixtures". Soccerway. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
External links
- (Italian) Personal website
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