Stefano Pioli

Pioli, a native of Parma, began his playing career with his hometown 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.

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.

Pioli usually uses a 4–2–3–1 formation, or a 3–5–2 formation, with full-backs or wing-backs who actively take part in the team's attacking plays. During his time at Lazio, he often used a 4–3–3 formation. Due to his passion for basketball, he sought to incorporate strategic elements of the sport into his tactical approach as a football manager. As a head coach of AC Milan, Pioli initially made use of an archaic WM formation, also known as 3–2–2–3. Although presented officially as a 4-3-3, the formation featured the left full-back, Théo Hernandez, in a more advanced position, whereas the right full-back, Davide Calabria's, attacking presence was significantly limited. Another key feature of this formation was in the center, where two pairs of holding and attacking midfielders formed a square, supporting each other offensively and defensively. However, with the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimović in January 2020, Pioli switched Milan's formation to his long favoured 4–2–3–1, primarily in order to accommodate for the ageing yet prolific Swedish goalscorer, in which he would play up front without much of a defensive work other than pressing, alternating between the roles of a classical striker, a target forward, and a false 9. The switch of formation also allowed Hakan Çalhanoğlu, an attacking midfielder in a number 10 role, to return to his preferred position as a playmaker behind the main striker, out of which he had been playing for years in various other formations. Ante Rebić and…

Early career

From 1999 to 2002 Pioli coached Bologna's youth team (winning a championship with Allievi Nazionali's team), and Chievo's in 2002–03. In 2003–04, he was appointed as head coach of Serie B club Salernitana. He moved to Modena, still of Serie B, in 2004. In 2006, Pioli was named as Parma's head coach, therefore returning to his home city and marking his Serie A debut as a manager. However, he was sacked on 12 February 2007 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.

Chievo

On 10 June 2010, Pioli was named head coach of Serie A club Chievo on a 12-month contract.

Palermo

On 2 June 2011, Pioli was named head coach of Serie A club Palermo, but he was relieved of his duties just 90 days later.

Bologna

On 4 October 2011, Pioli was named new head coach of Bologna in Serie A, replacing the sacked Pierpaolo Bisoli.. After two troublesome seasons with Bologna, both ended with the team struggling in the bottom half…