Roberto Mancini Grande Ufficiale OMRI (Italian pronunciation: ; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is the head coach of the Saudi Arabia national team.
As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Sampdoria, where he played more than 550 matches, and helped the team win the Serie A league title, four Coppa Italia titles, and the European Cup Winners' Cup. He was capped 36 times for Italy, taking part at UEFA Euro 1988 and the 1990 FIFA World Cup, achieving semi-final finishes in both tournaments, although he was never put onto the pitch during the 1990 tournament. In 1997, after 15 years at Sampdoria, Mancini left the club to join Lazio, where he won a further scudetto and Cup Winners' Cup, in addition to the UEFA Super Cup and two more Coppa Italia titles. Alongside Gianluigi Buffon, he is the player with the most Coppa Italia titles (6). As a player, Mancini would often give team talks at half-time. Towards the end of his playing career he became an assistant to Sven-Göran Eriksson at Lazio.
His first manager role was at Fiorentina in 2001, at only 36 years old, winning a Coppa Italia title. The following season, he took over as manager at Lazio, where he guided the club to another Coppa Italia title. In 2004, Mancini was offered the manager's job at Inter Milan, with which he won three consecutive Serie A titles, a club record; he was dismissed in 2008. After being out of football for over a year, Mancini was appointed Manchester City manager in December 2009. He helped City win the FA Cup in the 2010–11 season, the club's first major trophy in 35 years, and their first league title in 44 years in the 2011–12 season. Mancini took over managerial duties at Turkish club Galatasaray in September 2013, winning the Turkish Cup in his only season at the club, before returning to Inter Milan for two more years before managing Russian side Zenit. In 2018, he took charge of the Italy national football team after the team had failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In 2021, Mancini guided Italy to their second-ever European Championship at Euro 2020. Under his management, the team was unbeaten from October 2018 to October 2021, and holds the world record for most consecutive matches without defeat (37), but Italy then failed to reach the World Cup for the second time in a row after a play-off loss to North Macedonia.
Mancini has reached at least a semi-final of a major national cup competition in every season he has been a manager, from 2002 to 2014. He holds a number of records, including most consecutive Coppa Italia finals from 2004 to 2008, with Lazio once in 2004 and with Inter Milan in the following four seasons.
Mancini was born in the small town of Iesi, Marche, on 27 November 1964, but then moved onto the mountain town of Roccadaspide and was raised by Aldo and Marianna Mancini along with his younger sister Stephanie. He had served as an altar boy in his youth. In 2012, Mancini made a religious pilgrimage to the site of Our Lady of Medugorje and had stated that he is a believer who prays regularly, "The world would be a better place if everyone practiced the art of praying."
Despite success at club level, Mancini never became a regular for Italy. At the under-21 level, Mancini was part of the team which reached the semi-finals in the 1984 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship and finished runners-up in 1986. He made his international senior squad debut at the age of 19, under Enzo Bearzot, on 26 May 1984, in a 2–0 away win against Canada in Toronto; he later won 36 caps, and scored four goals for his country. Mancini was a starting player at Euro 1988, where Italy reached the semi-finals; during the tournament, he scored a goal in a 1–1 draw against hosts West Germany, in the opening match of the tournament on 10 June. Mancini was also a non-playing member of Azeglio Vicini's Italian squad that finished in third place at the 1990 World Cup on home soil. He was kept out of the side by competition from Gianluca Vialli, Salvatore Schillaci, Andrea Carnevale and Roberto Baggio.
Mancini's international career ended after a dispute with national team coach Arrigo Sacchi, when Mancini was upset because he would not be guaranteed a first team place at the 1994 World Cup. Fierce competition with other creative forwards for places in the starting line-up, such as Gianfranco Zola, Giuseppe Signori, Roberto Baggio and later Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero, hindered his international opportunities, hastening his self-imposed exile from the Italy national team.
Mancini is married to Federica Morelli, although reports in 2015 had stated they had been in the processes of separating. The couple have a daughter and three sons, Filippo, Andrea and Camilla, who have played in the Inter Milan Youth Sector ranks, where Filippo has played ten minutes in a Coppa Italia match. Filippo and Andrea have at one point been a part of Manchester City's under-21 youth team. Filippo trained with the club's youth/reserve team for several months during the 2007–08 season before Roberto was appointed as City's manager, while Andrea was signed by his father for the Elite Development Squad in November 2010 after being released from Bologna. Andrea was released at the end of the 2011–12 season.
Mancini was estimated to have a personal wealth of £19 million in 2011. Mancini has joked about watching the soap opera Coronation Street to help improve his English. Mancini has maintained a tradition of wearing a scarf of his club's colours.
On 6 November 2020, Mancini tested positive for COVID-19, while being asymptomatic, amid its pandemic in Italy; by 20 November, he recovered.
Serie A Footballer of the Year 1997-12-31 |
1981-1982 |
1982-1997 |
1984-1994 |
1997-2001 |
2001 |
2000-2001 Assistant Manager |
2001-2002 Manager |
2002-2004 Manager |
2004-2008 Manager |
2009-2013 Manager |
2013-2014 Manager |
2014-2016 Manager |
2017-2018 Manager |
2018-2023 Manager |
| Sampdoria | Appearances | Italian Serie A | 1990-1991 | 30 |
| Sampdoria | Goals | Italian Serie A | 1990-1991 | 12 |
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