Stefano Vecchi

An Inter youth product, Vecchi had an unremarkable career as a central midfielder in the lower leagues of Italian football, not going any further than Serie C1 and narrowly missing a historical promotion to Serie B during his stint at Fiorenzuola. He retired in 2005.

After his retirement, Vecchi started a coaching career in the amateur leagues of Lombardy. He had a breakthrough during his two-year period at Tritium, leading the small club from Trezzo sull'Adda to two consecutive promotions from Serie D to Lega Pro Prima Divisione (ex-Serie C1) before accepting an offer from fallen giants SPAL, a former team of his as a player; however, this season, characterized by financial and off-field issues, ended with relegation to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione. He successively took another coaching role at Südtirol, reaching the promotion playoffs in his only season. The team lost to Carpi, Vecchi's future employer. The Serie B newcomers offered him their managerial spot despite his lack of a valid coaching license to serve as head coach in the second tier of Italy. However, his stint at Carpi was cut short in March 2014 when he was removed from managerial duties due to disappointing results. In mid-2014, he joined former club Inter's non-playing staff as coach of the Primavera under-19 team, which he led to victory at the 2015 Torneo di Viareggio and the 2016 Coppa Italia Primavera. In November 2016, he also served as caretaker manager for the first team, filling in after Frank de Boer's dismissal for the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League game against Southampton (a 1–2 loss) and a Serie A league game against Crotone (ended in a 3–0 win). He was then once again appointed as caretaker on 9 May 2017 for the final three games of the season, in place of…