Franco Baldini

Born in Reggello, Baldini most notably played for Bari and Bologna. In 1981, he was called up to the Italian under-21 national team, but did not go on to make a competitive appearance.

Roma

Baldini became director of football at Roma in 1999, where he remained until his resignation in March 2005. He joined Fabio Capello at Real Madrid in 2006, and when Capello took over as the England manager in December 2007, Baldini became his assistant manager. His role at the national team of England involved scouting, managing the supporting staff (e.g. the doctors, physiotherapists, masseurs and kit managers) and generally making the job as easy as possible for Capello. He left England after their successful UEFA Euro 2012 qualification and joined Roma before the start of 2012, but was assisting the team well before then. Since then, former Roma manager Luis Enrique, Director Walter Sabatini and himself have undergone a major revolution at the club alongside new owner Thomas R. DiBenedetto to try and instil a system of running a football club similar to that of Barcelona. However, his time at Roma was criticised by removing Luis Enrique as manager and replacing him with Zdeněk Zeman; Baldini believed appointing Zemen was a mistake and said that the club wanted to give the fans a spectacle. Baldini left his post at Roma by mutual consent on 5 June 2013. On 19 June 2013, Baldini was confirmed in the role of technical director of Tottenham Hotspur.

Tottenham Hotspur

At the end of the 2012–13 Premier League season, then-Tottenham manager André Villas-Boas openly pushed for someone to be employed as a technical director, "someone who has experience of…