Stefano Pioli

Stefano Pioli (born 20 October 1965) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is currently the manager of Italian Serie A club Fiorentina.

Pioli has managed several clubs in Serie A, including Bologna, Lazio, Inter Milan and Fiorentina. He most notably led AC Milan, whose previous scudetto was accomplished over a decade earlier, to the Serie A title in the 2021–22 season. He was later awarded the Panchina d'Oro for best coach of the season. In 2022–23, he returned Milan to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League before leaving the club at the end of the 2023–24 season. After a brief stint in Saudi Arabia, he returned to Italy in July 2025 as manager of Fiorentina for a second spell.

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 winning the Serie B in the 1993–94 season, before spending two seasons with Padova. 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),^{[citation needed]} and Chievo's in 2002–03.^{[citation needed]} In 2003–04, he was appointed as head coach of Serie B club Salernitana.^{[citation needed]} He moved to Modena, still of Serie B, in 2004.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006, Pioli was named as Parma's head coach,^{[citation needed]} therefore returning to his home city and marking his Serie A debut as a manager. However, he was sacked on 12 February 2007^{[citation needed]} 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 starting three league matches, and managed to lead the Tuscan minnows to an impressive mid-table finish in their debut 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.