Marco Giampaolo

Although born in Bellinzona, Switzerland, Giampaolo grew up in Giulianova, from where his family originates. He has a brother, Federico Giampaolo, who is a former striker. During his playing career, he was a midfielder who played for several Serie C teams, including Giulianova, Gubbio, Licata and Siracusa, before making his Serie B debut for Fidelis Andria in 1995. He retired in 1997, after a season played with Gualdo, following an ankle injury.

After his retirement, Giampaolo was signed as scout for Serie B side Pescara, and successively promoted as assistant coach in 2000. In 2001, he was appointed assistant coach of Serie C1 side Giulianova, in support of Adriano Buffoni. Both left in April 2002, despite the team was fully involved in a fight for a playoff placement, citing bad relationships with the club's management. In 2002–03, both Buffoni and Giampaolo signed for Treviso of Serie C1, leading the team to an immediate promotion to Serie B and saving the team from relegation the following season. In 2004–05, Giampaolo moved to Ascoli, where he again acted as assistant coach of unknown manager Massimo Silva. This was often cited as a trick in order to allow Giampaolo to coach the team, as he was not in possess of a valid coaching licence at the time. The season ended in a good sixth place, which allowed Ascoli to play promotion playoffs, where it was defeated by Torino Calcio. However, following a serie of cancellations by the federation, Ascoli was admitted to play Serie A the next season, and both Giampaolo and Silva were confirmed to coach a team built in only two weeks, with the only goal to maintain a place in Italian top division. In February 2006, Giampaolo was disqualified for two months by the Italian Football Federation for having acted as first team head coach without a valid coaching licence. Successively, Giampaolo was admitted to join the Coverciano coaching course, and, after having saved Ascoli…