Sean Sogliano

Born in Alessandria, Sogliano started his career with Serie C2 club Varese at the age of 18. In 1991, he joined Serie B outfit Ancona, with whom he won a historical first promotion to Serie A for the small club from Marche and made his personal top-flight debut in 1992. In 1994, he joined Torino, where he played a single season with little success. After a few minor league experiences with Lucchese and Ravenna, he returned to play at Serie A level with Perugia in 1998. In 2003, aged 32, Sogliano left Perugia to join Napoli, then in Serie B, in what turned to be the club's final season before being declared bankrupt; his experience in Naples proved to be rather unsuccessful, with only six appearances until January 2004, when he was sold to Serie A club Ancona. After playing 11 games with the Dorici, Sogliano retired from active football in June at the age of 33.

In the summer of 2004 Sogliano accepted to become general manager of Varese after the club was declared bankrupt and then admitted to the Eccellenza league (sixth level of Italian football) under a new ownership that also included his father Riccardo as vice-president and member of the consortium that controlled the club. Under his tenure as general manager, Sogliano was a key factor in acquiring many of the players that led the club back into professionalism through two consecutive promotions. In 2008 entrepreneur Antonio Rosati took over the club from the previous owners but confirmed Sogliano as general manager: a few weeks after the beginning of the season, after a series of disappointing results, Sogliano agreed to remove Pietro Carmignani as head coach and hire Giuseppe Sannino as replacement. The appointment proved to be a turning point in the season, as well as in Varese's future fortunes, as the club won two successive promotions to Serie B in 2009 and 2010 under the new head coach, also thanks to Sogliano's interventions during the transfer market windows. In 2010–11, Varese gained national news as the team completed the regular season in fourth place and won a place in the promotion playoffs, then lost to fifth-placed Padova in the semi-finals. Sogliano's impressive work at Varese became popular nationwide and led to a serious interest from Maurizio Zamparini, chairman and owner of ambitious Serie A club Palermo, who offered him the director of football position…