Walter Sabatini

A midfielder, Sabatini made his professional debut with Perugia in 1973, playing at Serie B level with the Umbrian club. After a short stint at Varese, he was acquired by Roma in 1976, where he had the chance to make his Serie A debut. He successively returned to Perugia, where he was prevented from playing because of a muscular injury that did not allow him to play any games for two years, including a season with no appearances at Palermo. After two years of inactivity, Sabatini found himself out of the limelight and spent the following years playing in the lower ranks of Italian professional football before retiring in 1984.

Early years

In 1986, he returned to Perugia, this time as an assistant coach in the youth system. He was then promoted to youth sector chief in 1990 and first-team assistant to head coach Paolo Ammoniaci. In 1992, he went on to join Lazio, where he served as youth sector chief together with Giuseppe Dossena and Roberto Ottaviani. In 1994, he was appointed director of football of Triestina. In 1998, he left Triestina to become director of football at third division side Arezzo, with Serse Cosmi as head coach. Both men left Arezzo in 2000 to join Perugia.

Director of football at Lazio

In 2004, Sabatini left Perugia to become director of football at Lazio. He worked for four years at Lazio and was instrumental in signing players such as Aleksandar Kolarov, Valon Behrami, Fernando Muslera, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Modibo Diakité, Ștefan Radu, Libor Kozák and Luis Pedro Cavanda.

Director of football at Palermo

In 2008, after his contract with Lazio expired, Sabatini went on to fill the same position at Palermo, penning a two-year contract with the Rosanero club. He agreed a one-year extension to his contract in May 2010. His most notable signings included Afriyie Acquah (who was signed as an unknown player at the age of 17), Abel Hernández, Josip Iličić (who was discovered during a UEFA Europa League qualifying game against Slovenian side Maribor), Michel Morganella, Javier Pastore, Matteo Darmian and Ezequiel Muñoz. On 2 November 2010, Palermo confirmed…

Sabatini's brother Carlo Sabatini is also involved in football, having last served as head coach of Serie B club Padova, which he led to win the Lega Pro Prima Divisione playoffs during the 2008–09 season. Sabatini is well known in Italy for his smoking habit. During a press conference at Suning Training Center in Milan, Italy, he notably asked for a pause while a journalist was asking him a question so he could go outside for a smoke. On 10 September 2018, Sabatini was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit at the Hospital of Rome after having intense difficulty breathing and suffering a collapsed lung.