Cesare Prandelli

Prandelli was a midfielder who moved from Atalanta to Juventus in 1979. His first game for Juventus was in the 1979–80 European Cup Winners' Cup against Raba ETO Győr. He played six seasons with Juventus, with his final game in the 1984–85 Coppa Italia against Milan. In total, Prandelli played in 197 Serie A matches.

Early years as club coach

Prandelli began his managing career as youth team coach for Atalanta, achieving excellent results from 1990 to 1997, save for a seven-months parenthesis – from November 1993 to June 1994 – in which he served as caretaker for the first team, then relegated to Serie B. After a poor 1997–98 Serie A campaign as Lecce head coach ended in a sacking in January 1998, Prandelli headed Hellas Verona for two seasons, leading the gialloblu to an immediate promotion to Serie A, and then to a solid ninth-place finish the next year. He later spent two years with Parma. Starting the 2004–05 season for Roma, he left the team because of personal problems involving his wife, with her being seriously ill.

Fiorentina

Prandelli joined Fiorentina as manager in the summer of 2005. His first season in Tuscany proved to be a huge success, as Prandelli transformed Fiorentina from relegation strugglers into a team worthy of a UEFA Champions League spot, finishing the season in fourth place. Unfortunately for Fiorentina and Prandelli, however, as a result of the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal, Fiorentina was stripped of its Champions League spot and started the 2006–07 season in Serie A with a 15-point deduction. The next year, despite the points deduction, Prandelli was able to guide Fiorentina to a sixth-place finish in Serie A (with the same point tally as fifth placed Palermo), securing UEFA Cup qualification for the 2007–08 season. The team performed…

As manager of Fiorentina, Prandelli made use of a 4–4–2 formation; the team's style of play was based on pace and ball-distribution, rather than physical power, with a centre-forward being supported by a second striker up-front. He also used a more defensive-minded 4–5–1 formation on occasion. In his second spell at the club, he made use of the 4–2–3–1 formation. During his time as manager of the Italy national football team, Prandelli was known for his offensive tactics and for implementing an attractive playing style based on passing and ball possession, which was likened to Spain's tiki-taka. He also used the 3–5–2 formation on occasion at Euro 2012, with wing-backs and a ball-playing sweeper, before reverting to a stylish attacking system using their 'standard' 4–4–2 diamond formation for the knockout stages. He often deployed deep-lying, defensive, or box-to-box midfielders, such as Riccardo Montolivo, Alberto Aquilani, Marco Verratti, Daniele De Rossi, Antonio Nocerino, or Thiago Motta, seemingly as a number ten behind the forwards, while actually acting as a false attacking midfielder in his 4–3–1–2 formation; as such this formation was devoid of an authentic attacking midfielder, and was centred on the midfielders constantly switching positions. He also used them in other midfield roles on occasion. Prandelli's midfield was focussed on the creative playmaking of Andrea Pirlo and Montolivo in their respective deep-lying playmaker and false attacking midfield roles,…

Prandelli is a widower. He was married to Manuela Caffi. They met in his hometown of Orzinuovi when he was 18 and she was 15. They married in 1982, with footballers Antonio Cabrini and Domenico Pezzolla witnessing the event, and they had two children named Carolina and Nicolò. In 2001, Manuela was diagnosed with breast cancer; her worsening health conditions led Prandelli to resign from his coaching post at Roma only days after his signing. After a short recovery, her conditions worsened and she died on 26 November 2007 in Florence. On 29 November, Fiorentina travelled to Athens to play Greek side AEK Athens, with Prandelli's assistant Gabriele Pin deputizing for him. The Fiorentina team attended Prandelli's wife's funeral along with her personal friends. The team was shaken by the turn of events. Prandelli's son Nicolò has also embarked on an off-pitch football career, having been chosen as a fitness coach by Parma in 2009, and then by the Italy national team during the buildup to the Euro 2012 finals. Prandelli is a devout Catholic. As of 2010, he has been in a relationship with his partner Novella Benini. Prandelli has spoken out against homophobia and racism in football; in 2012, he wrote a preface to a book on homosexuality in sport by Alessandro Cecchi Paone and Flavio Pagano which stated, "Homophobia is racism and it is indispensable that we make further steps to look after all aspects of individuals living their own lives, including sporting figures, ... In the…