48 Facts About Claudio Ranieri

Claudio Ranieri Grande Ufficiale OMRI is an Italian football manager and former player, serving as the head coach of Serie B club Cagliari.

Claudio Ranieri later went on to manage Napoli, where he led the team to qualify for the UEFA Cup, only to be dismissed the following season.

In 2000, Claudio Ranieri moved to England to become head coach at Chelsea.

Claudio Ranieri returned to England once more in the summer of 2015 as manager of Leicester City.

Claudio Ranieri was awarded the Grand Officer of the Italian Order of Merit and the Enzo Bearzot Award as best Italian manager of the year, as well as the 2016 Best FIFA Men's Coach Award.

Claudio Ranieri was dismissed by the club in February 2017 after a run of poor results.

Claudio Ranieri was appointed Fulham manager in November 2018 before being dismissed in February 2019.

Claudio Ranieri first signed as a professional football player with Roma, though in his two seasons with the club he only made six appearances; he had a one-month loan spell with Siracusa.

Claudio Ranieri was involved in four successful promotion campaigns.

Claudio Ranieri later resigned for refusing to use the players that were brought by an agent close to the president.

From 1991, Claudio Ranieri managed for two seasons at Napoli, who were facing financial difficulties at the time.

Claudio Ranieri did introduce Gianfranco Zola to the first team to replace the suspended star Diego Maradona, who had recently left the club, as well as Daniel Fonseca, whom he played alongside veteran striker Careca in the team's front line.

In 1997, Claudio Ranieri moved to Spain to take over at Valencia.

Claudio Ranieri was the coach from 1997 to 1999 and guided Valencia to a fourth-place finish in La Liga, achieving UEFA Champions League qualification in 1999; he won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1998, and the Copa del Rey in 1999.

Claudio Ranieri was responsible for the development of several youth players at the club, among them Claudio Lopez, Gaizka Mendieta, Miguel Angel Angulo, and Javier Farinos.

Claudio Ranieri signed some players who would become highly successful at Mestalla, among them goalkeeper Santiago Canizares.

Claudio Ranieri subsequently signed for Atletico Madrid in 1999; during his time as the club's coach, the team went into administration and struggled on the pitch.

Claudio Ranieri had a talented squad at his disposal containing such players as Jose Molina, Joan Capdevila, Ruben Baraja, Santiago Solari, Kiko, Juan Carlos Valeron and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

Claudio Ranieri was criticised both for selling fan favourite Dennis Wise and the fact Chelsea's league performance did not improve much on the previous season.

Claudio Ranieri's achievement, coming after a close season where the club was in a difficult financial situation and the only arrival was Enrique de Lucas from Espanyol on a free transfer, was greatly appreciated by fans and the media alike.

When Chelsea were taken over by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2003, Claudio Ranieri was given a large transfer fund but found his job under threat.

The club reached the semi-finals of the Champions League; Chelsea eliminated Arsenal en route, although Claudio Ranieri's position was weakened by the semi-final loss to Monaco, a reverse the manager himself was blamed for due to several bizarre substitutions and tactical changes.

Claudio Ranieri published in September 2004 a book named Proud Man Walking chronicling his last year at Chelsea.

On 8 June 2004, Claudio Ranieri returned for a second stint as coach of Valencia on a three-year contract.

Claudio Ranieri took over after Rafael Benitez, who had led Valencia to the UEFA Cup and La Liga double the previous season, resigned and then promptly joined Liverpool.

Claudio Ranieri made a series of signings from Serie A, including Marco Di Vaio, Stefano Fiore, Bernardo Corradi and Emiliano Moretti.

Claudio Ranieri was dismissed on 25 February 2005 after Valencia were eliminated from the UEFA Cup by Steaua Bucuresti.

On 12 February 2007, one day after the 23rd Serie A matchday, Claudio Ranieri was announced as the new Parma manager following the dismissal of Stefano Pioli.

Claudio Ranieri signed names such as Vincenzo Iaquinta from Udinese and Zdenek Grygera from Ajax.

Claudio Ranieri was replaced by youth system chief Ciro Ferrara.

Claudio Ranieri had led Juventus to the Coppa Italia semi-finals that season, where they were eliminated by Lazio, who went on to win the title.

Under his guidance, Roma dramatically improved their performances and thrust themselves into the championship battle, reducing the gap between themselves and leaders Inter to only one point after Claudio Ranieri's team defeated Mourinho's Nerazzurri on matchday 31.

On 22 September 2011, Claudio Ranieri was named as the new manager of Inter, replacing Gian Piero Gasperini, who was dismissed for poor performances after losing four out of five matches.

Claudio Ranieri signed a contract with the club until 30 June 2013.

On 30 May 2012, Claudio Ranieri signed a two-year contract with Ligue 2 club Monaco.

Claudio Ranieri led Monaco to promotion to Ligue 1, with the club winning the Ligue 2 championship title for the first time in its history.

Claudio Ranieri reflected in a 2015 interview with the Leicester Mercury:.

Claudio Ranieri's appointment was initially met with scepticism; Marcus Christenson of The Guardian called it "baffling" given Ranieri's frequent recent dismissals and Greece's loss to the Faroe Islands.

On 16 May, Claudio Ranieri was named Manager of the Year for 2016 by the League Managers' Association, and on 18 May, he was named the 2016 Barclays Premier League Manager of the Season.

Claudio Ranieri was awarded Grand Officer of the Italian Order of Merit and the Enzo Bearzot Award as best Italian manager of the year.

In December, Claudio Ranieri was named as one of the three finalists for the 2016 Best FIFA Men's Coach; he won the award on 9 January 2017.

Graeme Souness commented that while Claudio Ranieri had probably treated the players the same way as last year, the players had "allowed themselves to get into the armchair"; while Claudio Ranieri had paid the price for a poor season, the players were to blame.

Ahead of Nantes' final game of the season, it was announced that Claudio Ranieri would leave the club following its conclusion.

On 14 November 2018, Claudio Ranieri was appointed as the manager of Fulham, replacing Slavisa Jokanovic.

Claudio Ranieri was dismissed as the manager of Fulham and replaced by then assistant manager Scott Parker on 28 February 2019, having won only 3 of his 17 matches in charge.

Coincidentally, Jokanovic had been Claudio Ranieri's first signing for Chelsea and Parker had been his last.

On 8 March 2019, Claudio Ranieri came back to Roma after eight years.

On 12 October 2019, Ranieri signed a contract with Sampdoria, which would see him remain as the club's manager until 2021; at the time of his appointment, the team were sitting in last place in Serie A He guided them to fifteenth place at the end of the season.