Ciro Ferrara

Napoli

A native of Naples, Ferrara began his career with the youth system of hometown club Napoli in 1980. He graduated from the primavera youth squad in 1984 and began to earn first-team call-ups that season. He made 14 total appearances with the club in his first full season. The following season, Ferrara became a part of the starting XI, and he soon began earning call-ups to the Italy national team, making the squad for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. He also scored one of Napoli's goals as they won the 1989 UEFA Cup final. In addition to the UEFA Cup, with Napoli he won two Serie A titles (in 1986–87 and 1989–90), the 1987 Coppa Italia final, and the 1990 Supercoppa Italiana, the latter over his future team, Juventus.

Juventus

In the summer of 1994, Ferrara transferred to Turin-based club Juventus under coach Marcello Lippi, and was quickly introduced into the starting XI, making over 40 total appearances for the club in all competitions in his first season, scoring one goal. He is considered one of the best central defenders of his generation, not relinquishing his starting position for the club for the next ten years. He also captained the team from 1995 to 1996 and became one of the most experienced and decorated players of the past two decades, winning eight Serie A championships, six of which were with Juventus, and two with Napoli. Ferrara was also part of two Coppa Italia titles (one with each team), three Supercoppa Italiana titles (two with Juventus,…

In June 1987, Ferrara debuted for the Italian senior squad in a friendly match against Argentina. In 1988, he was a member of the Italy team that finished in fourth place at the 1988 Summer Olympics after reaching the semi-final.

Ferrara was known for his composure, anticipation, technical ability, and versatility as a defender. Although primarily a centre-back, he was capable of playing across the back line, including as a man-marker ("stopper") or as a right-back, allowing him to adapt to a variety of tactical systems. He is regarded as one of the leading Italian centre-backs of his generation. Welsh former winger Ryan Giggs described Ferrara and his defensive teammate at Juventus, Paolo Montero as "...the toughest defenders [he] played against", also adding that they were often very hard to face in their challenges, compared to Polish former midfielder Zbigniew Boniek, who has stated that Ferrara was the best defender that he ever faced. Described as a precocious talent in his youth, Ferrara later established himself as one of the best defenders in the world, in his prime. He was considered to be an experienced, consistent, cautious and successful defender, with a good positional sense, who was quick, athletic, strong in the air, a good tackler, and someone who excelled at reading the game and marking his opponents. These skills enabled him to be effective in both man-marking and zonal marking defensive systems. In addition to his defensive skills, he was also known for his offensive contribution as a centre-back, and he was also capable of playing as a sweeper. In spite of his tenacious playing style, he was also known to be a fair and correct player, and for his professionalism, leadership,…

Ferrara was part of the Italian technical staff for the 2006 World Cup. After winning the World Cup, he became part of Juventus' staff, joining former club and national teammate Gianluca Pessotto, with Ferrara being named youth system chief (responsabile settore giovanile), dealing mostly with organisational aspects of the Juve academy. In July 2008, Ferrara took the UEFA Pro License coaching badges following training at Coverciano, Florence. After Juventus fired Claudio Ranieri following a string of seven league games without a win in the 2008–09 season, Ferrara was named interim head coach of Juventus on 18 May 2009 for the remaining two weeks of the season, with the goal of maintaining second place in the league table, and the possibility of being appointed on a full-time basis for a longer period. In his two games as caretaker manager, he led Juventus to 3–0 and 2–0 wins over Siena and Lazio respectively, thus ensuring a second-place finish over rivals Milan. Following these results, he emerged as a strong candidate to take the job permanently for the next season. On 5 June 2009, Juventus formally announced his appointment as manager for the 2009–10 season. During the summer, the team was then strengthened with high-profile signings such as Brazilian internationals Diego and Felipe Melo; 2006 World Cup champions Fabio Cannavaro and Fabio Grosso in defence; and young Uruguayan international Martín Cáceres, on loan. After winning his first four league matches, Ferrara's…