Gianni De Biasi

De Biasi was born in Sarmede, Treviso, Italy. A midfielder, he started his professional playing career for Inter Milan; he was part of the first team squad but, despite this, never played for the nerazzurri and was then loaned to Serie C team Reggiana in 1975 and newly promoted Serie A club Pescara Calcio one year later. He was sold to Brescia in 1977 as partial compensation for the signing of Evaristo Beccalossi by Inter. De Biasi played in Brescia for five seasons, only one of them in Serie A. He then moved to Palermo in 1983, but abruptly left it three years later following the cancellation of the Sicilian club in the summer of 1986. This was followed by a single season with Vicenza and two Serie C2 seasons for Treviso. De Biasi retired from active football in 1990, after a Serie D season with Bassano.

Clubs in Italy

In 1990, De Biasi became youth team coach for Bassano; in 1991, he was appointed by Vicenza to coach the allievi nazionali youth squad. In 1992, De Biasi made his debut as first team coach, being boss of Serie C2 club Vastese (now Pro Vasto); this was followed by three seasons as Carpi boss. In 1996, De Biasi was appointed coach of Serie B club Cosenza, but was fired on Christmas' eve day. After a two-year spell at SPAL, De Biasi was contacted and hired by Serie C1 club Modena in 2000; with the canarini, De Biasi obtained two consecutive promotions that brought Modena back in Serie A after 38 years. For his achievements with Modena, he was the awarded the Silver Bench award in 2002. He left Modena in 2003, after having led his club to safety, achieving an impressive 13th-place finish in the Serie A table, and signed for Brescia, where he had the opportunity to coach Roberto Baggio in his last playing season of his career. He was sacked during the 2004–05 season. In 2005, Torino of Serie B appointed De Biasi as head coach, offering him a squad quickly built in a very few days following the cancellation of the old Torino Calcio club and the forming of a new society, owned by Urbano Cairo. Under De Biasi, Torino obtained immediate Serie A promotion, after having defeated Mantova on play-offs. De Biasi, initially confirmed as head coach also for the 2006–07 Serie A campaign, was however sacked three days before the first matchday and replaced by Alberto…

On 28 March 2015, De Biasi obtained Albanian citizenship. Following Albania's historic participation at UEFA Euro 2016, De Biasi was among the members of the national team who were issued diplomatic passports by the Albanian government in recognition of their achievement.