Luigi De Canio

Infobox Football biography
playername = Gigi De Canio
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1957|9|26
cityofbirth = Matera
countryofbirth = Italy
position = Manager (former full back)
years = 1978-1979
1979-1980
1981-1986
1986
1986-1987
1987-1989
clubs = Matera
Chieti
Matera
Livorno
Galatina Pro Italia
Pisticci
caps(goals) = 0|0,032 (0)
0|0,028 (0)
0|0,111 (1)
0|0,005 (1)
0|0,008 (0)
nationalyears =
nationalteams =
manageryears = 1988-1993
1993-1995
1995-1996
1996-1997
1997-1998
1998-1999
1999-2001
2001-2002
2002-2003
2004
2005-2006
2007-2008
managerclubs = Pisticci
Savoia
Siena
Carpi
Lucchese
Pescara
Udinese
Napoli
Reggina
Genoa
Siena
Queens Park Rangers

Luigi "Gigi" De Canio (born September 26, 1957 in Matera) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently unemployed after leaving his managerial post at Queens Park Rangers on May 8 2008

Career

Player

De Canio, a full back, played mostly with Serie C1 and Serie C2 teams, his lone season in Serie B being 1979-80 with Matera, marking his debut in the division on September 16, 1979 against Genoa. [cite web|url=http://www.akaiaoi.com/Tabellini_1979-80.htm|publisher=Akaiaoi|language=Italian|title=Tabellini Genoa 1979-80|accessdate=2007-10-25] He retired in 1989 with amateur team Pisticci, of which he successively became head coach.

Coach

De Canio started his coaching career in 1989 with "Promozione" team Pisticci, immediately winning the league, being thus promoted to Serie D. He served as Pisticci boss for four more seasons before joining Serie C2 team Savoia during the 1993-94 season, and winning the promotion playoffs the following season. In 1995-96 he coached Siena of Serie C1, leading the "Robur" to an eighth place. In 1996-97 he signed for Serie C1 minnows Carpi, a team which featured a young Marco Materazzi among their players, [cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/2006/materazzigrosso.html|title=Accidental heroes|publisher=Football Italia|accessdate=2007-10-25] and led the Emilia-Romagna side to a surprising fourth place which allowed them to play the promotion playoffs. In 1997-98 he moved to Serie B club Lucchese, hardly saving them from relegation with a final 16th place. Initially with no club for the following season, De Canio was then signed by Pescara, where he narrowly missed a surprising promotion to the top flight.

De Canio took charge of a Pescara side that had slumped to 13th place in 1997-98 [cite web|url=http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classifica_calcio_Serie_B_italiana_1998|title=Classifica Calcio Serie B Italiana 1998] and lost 2 of its opening 3 matches in 1998-99 [cite web|url=http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classifica_calcio_Serie_B_italiana_1999|title=Classifica Calcio Serie B Italiana 1999] . He guided "i biancoazzuri" to 65 points, finishing 5th, just one point from 4th, and only missed out on promotion due to the incredible, much-discussed victory of Reggina at Torino on the last day of the season (13 June 1999), which was called a few minutes early due to a pitch invasion [cite web|url=http://www.olympuslabs.org/?p=180|title=Se non siete di Reggio Calabria non sapete cosa vi perdete|publisher=Francesco Biacca] . Following his departure from Pescara, it finished 13th again the next season.

His impressive coaching performance with Pescara caused interest by Serie A club Udinese, which appointed him for the 1999-2000 season. His first Serie A campaign ended in an eighth place for the "bianconeri" and a place in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, which they successively won, thus ensuring a place in the UEFA Cup 2000-01.cite web|url=http://www.udinese.it/home_udinese.php?n=59&l=it|publisher=Udinese Calcio|language=Italian|title=LA SOCIETA' BIANCONERA MODELLO ISPIRATORE|accessdate=2007-10-25] In 2000-01, after a very impressive start, Udinese entered into a long result crisis which brought to De Canio being sacked on March 19, 2001 following a home loss to Parma and his replacement with Luciano Spalletti, who managed to save the club from relegation. [cite web|url=http://www2.raisport.rai.it/news/sport/calcio/200103/20/3ab6974006a22/|publisher=RAI Sport|date=2001-03-19|title=De Canio esonerato|language=Italian|accessdate=2007-10-25]

In 2001-02, De Canio was appointed as Napoli boss with the goal to lead the "azzurri" back to Serie A; however he failed to do so, as Napoli ended their Serie B campaign in fifth place, six points shy of the fourth Serie A spot. He consequently left Napoli and was appointed at the helm of Reggina during the 2002-03 season, maintaining their place in the Italian top flight after winning a tie-breaking playoff to Atalanta. During the 2003-04, De Canio was called to replace Roberto Donadoni at the helm of Serie B club Genoa, which were sadly fighting to escape relegation despite their initial promotion claims, leading the club to a final 16th place in the league table. He was later sacked by Genoa only a handful days before their Serie B 2004-05 debut to appoint Serse Cosmi at his place. He was then appointed on January 2005 by Serie A minnows Siena, a team which he already coached some years earlier, to replace Luigi Simoni, leading his side to escape relegation for two consecutive seasons.

Queens Park Rangers

De Canio was announced as first team coach of English Championship team Queens Park Rangers on October 29 2007, succeeding the recently-sacked John Gregory. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/q/qpr/7067651.stm|publisher=BBC News|title=Former Napoli boss takes QPR role |date=2007-10-29|accessdate=2007-10-29] He started his QPR experience with a 2–0 home win to Hull City on November 3. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/7065228.stm|publisher=BBC Sport|title=QPR 2-0 Hull|date=2007-11-03|accessdate=2007-11-06] . Rangers signed several players during the January transfer window: Ákos Buzsáky who had previously been on loan from Plymouth Argyle, Hogan Ephraim from West Ham, Kieran Lee on loan from Manchester United, Gavin Mahon on loan from Watford, Matthew Connolly from Arsenal, Patrick Agyemang from Preston and Fitz Hall from Wigan. Early in January QPR also managed to secure striker Rowan Vine in a permanent move following his brief loan spell which had ended in December. During his period in charge of the club, De Canio became a very popular figure among the QPR faithful, due to the style and flair he brought back to their game. As a result he was, along with the club's owners, immortalised in the supporters' song "Gigi De Canio, Bernie and Flavio" (to the tune of "La donna è mobile"). [cite web|url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/considerablyricherthanyou/may08/change-is-vital-for-qpr.htm|publisher=Daily Telegraph blog|title=Changes are vital for QPR |date=2008-05-07|accessdate=2008-05-09]

De Canio left the club by "mutual consent" after the end of the season in May 2008, having guided them to fourteenth place in the Championship. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/q/qpr/7390743.stm BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | QPR | De Canio parts company with QPR ] ] His record at the club comprised 12 wins, 12 losses and 11 draws in 35 games.

Name spelling

Some sections of the media, particularly the English language media commonly misspell his surname as "Di" Canio, instead of the correct "De" Canio. [cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20010320/ai_n14367642|publisher=The London Independent|title=Sporting digest: Football|date=2007-10-25|accessdate=2007-10-25] The mistake is likely made due to the world renown of footballer Paolo Di Canio, who played his career while "De" Canio managed; the two are not related.

References

External links

*it icon [http://www.gazzetta.it/speciali/statistiche/2006/giocatori/de_canio_lui.shtml De Canio's coaching profile @ Gazzetta.it (updated as of 2006)]
*it icon [http://www.footballplus.com/players/6155/Luigi-De-Canio.html De Canio's playing profile @ FootballPlus.com] Persondata
NAME= De Canio, Luigi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= De Canio, Luigi
SHORT DESCRIPTION=footballer, football manager
DATE OF BIRTH= 1957-9-26
PLACE OF BIRTH= Matera, Italy
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=