Serse Cosmi

Serse Cosmi

Serse Cosmi
Personal information
Date of birth	(1958-05-05) 5 May 1958 (age 66)
Place of birth	Ponte San Giovanni, Italy
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Managerial career
Years	Team
1990–1995	Pontevecchio
1995–2000	Arezzo
2000–2004	Perugia
2004–2005	Genoa
2005–2006	Udinese
2007–2008	Brescia
2009–2010	Livorno
2010	Livorno
2011	Palermo
2011–2012	Lecce
2012	Siena
2014	Pescara
2015–2016	Trapani
2017–2018	Ascoli
2019	Venezia
2020	Perugia
2021	Crotone
2022	Rijeka

Serse Cosmi (born 5 May 1958) is an Italian football coach, most recently in charge of Rijeka.

Career

Early career

Cosmi was born in 1958 in Ponte San Giovanni, a Perugia frazione . His father, a cycling fan, called him Serse after Fausto Coppi's brother, a cyclist himself, who died following a fall during a sprint. ^[1] He worked nine years as primary school teacher, ^[2] and played amateur football during his freetime for local teams such as Deruta, Cannara, Spello and Pontevecchio, ^[3] in the role of midfielder. ^[4]

He started a coaching career in the late 1980s in Ellera, as under-18 youth team coach. ^[4] His debut as first team coach came in 1990, when he was appointed to coach Pontevecchio, a small amateur team from his native town of Ponte San Giovanni. Cosmi brought it on from the Prima Categoria (fourth level of amateur leagues in Italy) to Serie D (the top one) in just five years. Successively, he joined Arezzo, which he led from Serie D to Serie C1 in five extremely positive years. In 2000, Cosmi received the highest possible mark in the Coverciano coaching course; ^[5] his thesis was entitled "Il Trequartista" ("the advanced playmaker," in Italian football jargon). ^[6]

Perugia

After being noted by Luciano Gaucci, in 2000 Cosmi was surprisingly appointed head coach of Perugia, in the Serie A. He guided the team for four consecutive years, winning a UEFA Intertoto Cup, showing valid coaching abilities and launching several players, including 2006 FIFA World Cup winner Marco Materazzi (who reached a career high of 12 goals in a single season under Cosmi's tenure), then-unknown Japanese Hidetoshi Nakata, Fabrizio Miccoli, Fabio Grosso and Fabio Liverani. Cosmi's period at Perugia would last four years, during which he led the fringe Umbrian club to victory in the 2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup. ^[7]

Genoa and Udinese

In 2004, Cosmi left Perugia, after the team went relegated at the end of the season, and joined Genoa of Serie B, with the clear goal to bring the rossoblu back to Serie A.

At the end of the 2004–05 season, Cosmi managed to win the league and guide his team to Serie A, but he successively left because of discords with club chairman Enrico Preziosi, before the relegation of Genoa itself to Serie C1 because of match frauds.

After his short, but successful, experience with Genoa, Cosmi was signed as new coach of Udinese, in order to replace Luciano Spalletti, who gained the qualification to the preliminary rounds of Champions' League the previous season. But it was Cosmi who led the team on the European competition, defeating Sporting Clube de Portugal in a two-tier qualifying round.

However, after a disappointing series of results, including elimination in Champions League and results in Serie A much below the expected results, Cosmi was finally fired on 10 February 2006.

Brescia and Livorno

On 28 February 2007, he was appointed head coach of Serie B club Brescia. On his very first match after replacing Mario Somma, Cosmi led Brescia to an astonishing 3–1 result against Serie B leaders Juventus. He was fired in September 2008 due to poor results to make room for new boss Nedo Sonetti.

On 20 October 2009, Cosmi made a Serie A comeback as new head coach of bottom-placed relegation battlers Livorno.^{[ citation needed ]} In his first game in charge, he guided Livorno to a surprising 1–0 away win against Roma, which was immediately followed by a second consecutive 1–0 win, against Atalanta, only three days later.

Despite fairly good results at the helm of Livorno, Cosmi resigned from his coaching post on 24 January 2010, in the wake of a 2–0 home loss to fourth-placed Napoli due to disagreements with club chairman Aldo Spinelli. ^[8] Two days later, on 26 January, Cosmi and Spinelli met each other in attempt to clarify each other, also following the supporter fanbase's criticism of the way Spinelli handled the issue. Following the meeting, both parties agreed that the head coach's resignation offer would have been rejected and Cosmi would return at Livorno with immediate effect. ^[9] This however lasted only a few more weeks, and Cosmi was dismissed later on April following a string of negative results that left Livorno down at the bottom of the table. ^[10]

Palermo

After more than a year without a job, Cosmi returned into management on 28 February 2011, taking over coaching duties at Palermo as a replacement for Delio Rossi, who was dismissed from the Sicilian club following a record 0–7 home defeat to Udinese. ^{[11] [12]} At Palermo, Cosmi reunited with former players Fabrizio Miccoli and Fabio Liverani, as well as ex-player and team staff member Giovanni Tedesco.

After three losses and one victory against A.C. Milan, Serse Cosmi was released by club president Zamparini after a disappointing 4–0 loss to Catania. ^[13]

Lecce

On 4 December 2011, Cosmi was unveiled as new head coach of bottom-placed Serie A side Lecce, replacing Eusebio Di Francesco. ^[14]

Later career

On 27 June 2012, Cosmi was appointed the new coach of Siena in Serie A on a two-year contract, but on 17 December he was sacked. ^[15]

On 24 February 2014, Cosmi returned into management as new head coach of Serie B club Pescara, replacing Pasquale Marino ^[16] but failing to turn the team fortunes and missing out qualification for the promotion playoffs. He left the club by the end of the season.

On 11 March 2015, he was named manager of Serie B side Trapani replacing long-serving Roberto Boscaglia. ^[17] Cosmi led Trapani to the 2016 Serie B promotion playoffs, where they were defeated by Pescara in the final round. He was sacked by Trapani on 28 November 2016, after obtaining only eleven points from the first 16 rounds of the season and having his car set on fire by the club's supporters. ^[18]

On 7 December 2017, Cosmi was named as the replacement for Fulvio Fiorin at Serie B side, Ascoli. ^[19] He was replaced by Vincenzo Vivarini on 12 July 2018. ^[20]

On 6 March 2019, Cosmi was appointed as manager of Venezia. ^[21]

On 4 January 2020, Cosmi returned to Perugia after 16 years, replacing Massimo Oddo. He signed a contract until 30 June. ^[22]

Cosmi was appointed as manager of Crotone on 1 March 2021, following the sacking of Giovanni Stroppa, signing a contract until the end of the season. ^[23] After failing to save his team from relegation to Serie B, with Crotone ending in 19th place in the league, the club announced they would not confirm Cosmi for the following season. ^[24]

On 4 September 2022, Cosmi returned into management as the new head coach of Croatian club Rijeka. ^[25] His experience at the club however proved to be short-lived, as he was dismissed on 13 November 2022 following a 2–7 loss to Dinamo Zagreb. ^{[26] [27]}

Style of management

"With his trademark cap and his little goatee beard, Serse Cosmi is one of Italian football's most recognisable figures. His touchline energy, and excitable gestures make him a popular butt of jokes by Italian comedians, too. His provincial accent is often impenetrable for those unfamiliar with the brogue of Perugia. Cosmi is an eccentric goblin of a man, but a wily coach who is greatly liked by fans."

  The National ^[28]

Cosmi is widely popular in Italy for his energetic and excitable behaviour during matches. He is also known for his intelligence and mentality as a manager, as well as his strong character and ability to motivate his players. He is also famous for always wearing a baseball cap (usually that of his team, but often with just his signature printed on it).' ^{[5] [28] [29] [30] [31]}

Tactically, Cosmi's favoured formation is a fluid 3–5–2, which defensively becomes a 5–3–2 when his team are not in possession of the ball, and occasionally a 3–4–1–2 when attacking. He gave his forwards a lot of freedom to move around the attacking third. ^{[7] [30] [32]}

Throughout his career, Cosmi's team often featured Mario Palazzi as his assistant coach, whom he met during their studies at the Coverciano technical centre, ^{[33] [34]} as well as athletic coach Francesco Bulletti, ^[35] and Fabio Bazzani as a second assistant coach, who often specialised in tactics. ^[36] Cosmi's distinctive style has been imitated by comedian Maurizio Crozza. ^[5]

Managerial statistics

As of match played 13 November 2022 ^[37]

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Pontevecchio		1 July 1990	22 May 1995	162	70	61	31	222	146	+76	043.21
Arezzo		22 May 1995	13 June 2000	198	77	71	50	233	194	+39	038.89
Perugia		13 June 2000	23 June 2004	172	56	54	62	219	238	−19	032.56
Genoa		23 June 2004	21 June 2005	45	20	20	5	79	50	+29	044.44
Udinese		23 June 2005	10 February 2006	36	12	8	16	44	54	−10	033.33
Brescia		28 February 2007	25 September 2008	70	35	16	19	98	70	+28	050.00
Livorno		21 October 2009	24 January 2010	15	7	0	8	13	21	−8	046.67
Livorno		26 January 2010	5 April 2010	11	0	5	6	9	19	−10	000.00
Palermo		28 February 2011	3 April 2011	4	1	0	3	1	7	−6	025.00
Lecce		4 December 2011	24 June 2012	25	6	10	9	29	33	−4	024.00
Siena		27 June 2012	17 December 2012	19	6	5	8	22	26	−4	031.58
Pescara		24 February 2014	28 June 2014	16	4	6	6	16	20	−4	025.00
Trapani		11 March 2015	28 November 2016	78	30	27	21	99	91	+8	038.46
Ascoli		7 December 2017	12 July 2018	27	8	10	9	25	32	−7	029.63
Venezia		5 March 2019	30 June 2019	13	3	6	4	14	18	−4	023.08
Perugia		4 January 2020	19 July 2020	17	4	3	10	10	21	−11	023.53
Crotone		1 March 2021	31 May 2021	14	3	2	9	22	35	−13	021.43
Rijeka		4 September 2022	13 November 2022	12	4	1	7	18	23	−5	033.33
Total				934	346	305	283	1,173	1,088	+85	037.04

Honours

Managerial

Perugia (2000–2004)

• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2003

See also

• List of UEFA Intertoto Cup winning managers

References

1. Cosmi's full name is Serse Rolando Thoeni Fiorellino
2. (in Italian)
3. "Archived copy" (PDF) (in Italian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2006. Retrieved 4 March 2007.
4. (in Italian)
5. 1 2 3 Grasso, Aldo (10 May 2001). "«Telekommando» puntato su Serse Cosmi". Il Corriere della Sera (in Italian). p. 40. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
6. Cosmi, Serse (2000). ""IL TREQUARTISTA"" (PDF) (in Italian). FIGC. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
7. "Come giocava il primo Perugia di Serse Cosmi". L'Ultimo Uomo (in Italian). 6 February 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
8. "Rottura con Spinelli Cosmi si dimette" (in Italian). La Repubblica. 24 January 2010. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
9. "Respinte le dimissioni. Cosmi resta al Livorno" (in Italian). AS Livorno Calcio. 26 January 2010. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
10. "Cambio alla guida tecnica: Ruotolo allenatore" (in Italian). AS Livorno Calcio. 5 April 2010. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
11. "ROSSI SOLLEVATO DALL'INCARICO" (in Italian). US Città di Palermo. 28 January 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
12. "COSMI E' IL NUOVO ALLENATORE" (in Italian). US Città di Palermo. 28 January 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
13. "Palermo: Statistiche e classifica | la Gazzetta dello Sport".
14. "Serse Cosmi nuovo allenatore". US Lecce (in Italian). 4 December 2011. Archived from the original on 5 December 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
15. "Quotidiano Nazionale - Notizie in tempo reale".
16. "Serie B, il Pescara sceglie Cosmi: è l'erede di Marino".
17. "Trapani, Cosmi nuovo allenatore" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
18. "Serie B: Trapani sack Cosmi". Football Italia. 28 November 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
19. "Serie B: Ascoli hire Cosmi". Football-Italia. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
20. "Mister Vivarini nuovo allenatore dell'Ascoli: firmato un biennale". Ascoli. 12 July 2018.
21. Presentato il nuovo allenatore Serse Cosmi, veneziafc.it, 6 March 2019
22. "BENTORNATO MISTER" (Press release) (in Italian). Perugia. 4 January 2020.
23. "Official: Cosmi new Crotone coach". Football Italia. 1 March 2021.
24. "Il presidente saluta mister Cosmi" (in Italian). F.C. Crotone. 31 May 2021.
25. "Serse Cosmi novi trener HNK Rijeka" (in Croatian). HNK Rijeka. 4 September 2022.
26. "Serse Cosmi više nije trener HNK Rijeka" (in Croatian). HNK Rijeka. 13 November 2022.
27. "Rijeka, esonerato mister Serse Cosmi. Era arrivato in Croazia appena due mesi fa" (in Italian). TuttoMercatoWeb. 13 November 2022.
28. Livorno Fans see Red – all the Time Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine by Ian Hawkey, The National , 5 February 2010
29. "Is Serse Cosmi The Right Man To Save Lecce?". forzaitalianfootball.com. 22 January 2012.
30. Francesco, Foresi (22 October 2009). "Cosmi ricomincia «Livorno, ci serve solo una scintilla»". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). Retrieved 16 May 2024.
31. "Serse Cosmi è il nuovo allenatore del Crotone" (in Italian). F.C. Crotone. 1 March 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
32. "Allenatori a confronto: Marcolin Vs Cosmi" (in Italian). Catania Channel. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
33. "Arezzo, nasce la squadra di calcio a cinque di soli preti: è la prima volta in Italia, sarà affidata ad un ex vice allenatore di Cosmi all'Udinese". la Repubblica (in Italian). 14 February 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
34. Palazzi, Mario (2011). "L'ALLENATORE IN SECONDA: RAPPORTI CON L'ALLENATORE IN PRIMA, COMPITI SPECIFICI, INTERAZIONE CON LE ALTRE COMPONENTI DI UNA SOCIETÀ DI CALCIO PROFESSIONISTICA" (PDF) (in Italian). Retrieved 16 May 2024.
35. "Ecco Cosmi: "Sarà una stagione complicata"". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 27 June 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
36. "Calcio, sbarca in rossoblù Fabio Bazzani". la Repubblica (in Italian). 2 January 2022. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
37. "Serse Cosmi career sheet". footballdatabase. footballdatabase. Retrieved 13 November 2022.