Carlo Ancelotti

Carlo Ancelotti

Personal information
Full name	Carlo Ancelotti
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Midfield
Youth career
	Parma
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1976–1979	Parma	55	(13)
1979–1987	Roma	171	(12)
1987–1992	Milan	112	(10)
Total		338	(35)
International career
1980	Italy U-21	3	(0)
1981–1991	Italy	26	(1)
Managerial career
1995–1996	Reggiana
1996–1998	Parma
1999–2001	Juventus
2001–2009	Milan
2009–2011	Chelsea
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Carlo Ancelotti (born 10 June 1959) is an Italian football manager and former manager of English Premier League club Chelsea.

Nicknamed Carletto, Ancelotti played as a midfielder and had a successful career with Roma – captaining the team – with whom he won one Scudetto and 4 Coppa Italia and was part of the legendary late 80's Milan team, with whom he won two Scudetti and two European Cups in a five-year period. He was capped 26 times and scored one goal for the Italian national team and appeared at the 1986 and 1990 World Cups.

After spells as manager of Reggiana, Parma and Juventus, Carlo Ancelotti was appointed Milan manager in 2001. He won the Scudetto in 2004, the Champions League in 2003 and 2007 and the Coppa Italia in 2003. They were also Serie A and Champions League runner-ups in 2005. He is one of six men to have won the European Cup as player and manager. In May 2009 he was appointed Chelsea manager and in his first season led them to a historic Premier League and FA Cup Double. He became only the second non-British manager to win the double, the other being Arsène Wenger.

Club career

Carlo Ancelotti began his career in 1974 with Parma. In 1979, he transferred to Roma, as captain and midfielder, where he won the Italian championship in 1983, the Coppa Italia four times and helped Roma to reach the European Cup final in 1984. From 1987 until 1992, he played for Milan, and was part of the Milan squad that won consecutive European Cups in 1989 and 1990. During this time, Milan played with one of their finest teams ever assembled in that decade, with Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Mauro Tassotti and Alessandro Costacurta as defenders, Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Roberto Donadoni as midfielders and Marco van Basten upfront. His finest moment with Milan was when he received a pass from Ruud Gullit, dribbled around two Madrid players, and netted a powerful long-range shot during the Rossoneri's 5–0 thrashing of Real Madrid in the 1989 European Cup semi-finals. He went on to play all 90 minutes in Milan's 4–0 dismantling of Steaua Bucureşti in the final.

International career

Ancelotti made his debut and scored his first and only goal on 6 January 1981, in a one-off tournament against Netherlands, which ended in a 1–1 draw. He was very likely to be capped for the 1982 World Cup campaign, but a dramatic knee injury forced him away for several months. He also went on to appear in the 1986 and 1990 World Cups, along with Roberto Donadoni, Roberto Mancini and Paolo Maldini. Ancelotti made a total of 26 performances, scoring one goal for Italy, before he announced his retirement from international football in 1991.

Managerial career

A student at Coverciano, where he penned a research article entitled "Il Futuro del Calcio: Più Dinamicità" (English: The Future of Football: More Dynamic)

Reggiana

Ancelotti began his managerial career with Reggiana in 1995, where Reggiana achieved promotion to Serie A. However, he left the following year for Parma.

Parma

In 1996, Ancelotti was appointed manager of Parma, which included Gianluigi Buffon and Fabio Cannavaro. Parma finished 2nd in the 1996–97 season, which guaranteed them a Champions League place. The following season, Ancelotti guided them to a fifth place, qualifying for the UEFA Cup.

Juventus

In 1998, he was appointed Juventus manager, where he both succeeded and preceded Marcello Lippi, who returned to the club when Ancelotti left. Ancelotti's season began promisingly, winning the Intertoto Cup by beating Rennes 4–2 on aggregate. However, the following season, he went trophyless, finishing runner-up twice in Serie A.

Milan

Ancelotti at Milan

Ancelotti was appointed Milan manager in 2001, after Fatih Terim was sacked, due to poor results. He was inheriting another recently trophyless team in Milan, as the Rossoneri had floundered domestically and in Europe since their last Scudetto victory in 1999. In his first full season, Ancelotti soon had Milan back in European competition, leading them to the semi-finals of the 2001–02 UEFA Cup.

The following season, Ancelotti, who was heavily criticized by Silvio Berlusconi, due to his defensive tactics, was able to adopt a creative play in Milan while making several roster changes. He made Dida, still maligned for his 2000–01 Champions League howler against Leeds United, his new starting goalkeeper barely a month into the 2002–03 season, while converting budding attacking midfielder Andrea Pirlo to a defensive playmaker and playing him behind Rui Costa. At the same time, Filippo Inzaghi and Andriy Shevchenko were dominant and dynamic. Milan won the 2003 Champions League, beating Juventus 3–2 on penalties at Old Trafford and the Coppa Italia and took home the Scudetto in 2004.

Under Ancelotti's reign, Milan were also back-to-back Serie A runners-up to Juventus in 2004–05 and 2005–06 (both Scudetti were later wiped from the record books due to Juventus' involvement in the Calciopoli scandal), and lost the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final to Liverpool losing 3–2 on penalties after leading 3–0 at halftime. Two years later, though, Milan avenged their defeat to Liverpool with a 2–1 win at the Olympic Stadium in Athens on 23 May 2007, leading to Ancelotti's second Champions League trophy as Milan coach and his fourth title overall, having also won it twice as a Milan player in 1989 and 1990. Ancelotti announced his resignation from Milan less than an hour following their 2–0 victory over Fiorentina on 31 May 2009, after the club terminated his contract by mutual consent with one year remaining.

Chelsea

Carlo Ancelotti celebrates Chelsea's first League and Cup Double with team captain John Terry

He was confirmed as the new Chelsea manager after agreeing to a three-year contract worth £9 million. Ancelotti, succeeding temporary replacement Guus Hiddink, became the club's fourth permanent manager in 21 months, following José Mourinho, Avram Grant, and Luiz Felipe Scolari. He is also the third Italian to manage Chelsea, after Gianluca Vialli and Claudio Ranieri.

On 9 August 2009, Ancelotti won his first trophy as Chelsea manager, the Community Shield, beating Manchester United on penalties, following a 2–2 draw. His first Premier League game in charge of the Blues ended in a 2–1 home victory over Hull City on 15 August 2009. Chelsea lost their first game under Ancelotti at the DW Stadium against Wigan Athletic on 26 September, losing 3–1. They were eliminated from the League Cup on 2 December, reaching the quarter-finals stage after a penalty shootout defeat to Blackburn Rovers after a 3–3 draw at Ewood Park. Chelsea crashed out of the Champions League on 16 March 2010 after a 1–3 aggregate loss to Internazionale, having lost both home and away, in the Round of 16 stage.

On 9 May 2010, Ancelotti led Chelsea to win the Premier League title, beating Manchester United by one point and setting scoring records. The team finished the campaign with 103 goals, becoming the first team to score more than 100 goals in the top flight of English football since Tottenham Hotspur in the 1962–63 First Division season (Tottenham finished second). Chelsea secured the title with a 8–0 victory over Wigan Athletic at Stamford Bridge. Ancelotti also became the first Italian manager to win Premier League; and only the fifth manager overall in the league's eighteen seasons.

On 15 May 2010, Ancelotti led Chelsea to win the 2009–10 FA Cup, beating Portsmouth 1–0 in the final at Wembley. This was the third time Chelsea had won the FA Cup in four years, equalling the record set by Arsenal between 2002 and 2005. This also accomplished the club's first ever domestic double within the one season.

Though having lost to Manchester United in the Community Shield in August, Ancelotti led Chelsea to the top of the table on the first weekend of the new Premier League season thanks to a 6–0 rout of newly-promoted West Bromwich Albion. Chelsea followed this result with another 6–0 win, this time over Wigan, whilst Stoke were beaten 2–0. Chelsea had a good start to the season, winning the first five matches. However, his success was easily forgotten, as he failed a second time in the League Cup, losing 4–3 to Newcastle United on 23 September 2010. He then went on to lose against Manchester City in the Premier League, on a 1–0 loss due to a cleverly taken strike by City skipper Carlos Tevez. He made a good start in Europe by beating Marseille and MSK Zilina 2–0 and 4–1 respectively. After a disappointment at the City of Manchester Stadium, Chelsea beat 4th placed Arsenal 2–0, thanks to a goal from Didier Drogba and a free-kick by defender Alex.

His next defeat of the season came against Liverpool at Anfield where they lost 2–0. A week later, Chelsea suffered their second Premier League defeat in three matches with a remarkable 3–0 home defeat to Sunderland. They then lost to Arsenal 3–1 at the Emirates Stadium.

On 5 January 2011, Chelsea suffered a shock 1–0 defeat at struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers, leaving them fifth in the Premier League and in real danger of missing out on a Champions League place for the first time since 2002. This result led to Ancelotti ruling out Chelsea's chances of retaining the title, but he insists that he does not fear that he will be sacked.

However, since 15 January 2011, Chelsea's form began to turn with a 2–0 home victory against Blackburn followed by emphatic away wins against Bolton and Sunderland putting them fourth, still 10 points behind leaders Manchester United.

On January 31, Chelsea signed Liverpool striker Fernando Torres for a British record £50 million and Benfica defender David Luiz for £22 million. Chelsea lost 1–0 to Liverpool at Stamford Bridge but beat league leaders Manchester United, on 1 March 2011 in a 2–1 comeback that saw Luiz get his first Chelsea goal, which was followed by a 3–1 win away to Blackpool. Chelsea were later defeated by Manchester United at home and away (aggregate of 1–3) in the Champions League quarter-finals 2011.

Following their defeat in Champions League, Ancelotti shifted his entire focus on Premier League. Chelsea made a remarkable comeback deafeating Wigan 1–0 at home, West Bromwich Albion 3–1 away, Birmingham City 3–0, West Ham United 3–1 and Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea, who were fifth and fifteen points behind leaders Manchester United, came second in league three points behind them. On 8 May 2011, Chelsea lost to Manchester United 2–1 at Old Trafford to be second in the league and six points behind them with just two more games to play. He was sacked less than 2 hours after a 1–0 defeat at Everton on 22 May. He is now considering managerial positions at West Ham United, AS Roma and AC Milan.

Personal life

Ancelotti has two children: a daughter, Katia, and a son, Davide, who also played in the Milan youth team and later joined Borgomanero in June 2008. In 2008, Carlo Ancelotti confirmed in an interview that he had broken up with his wife of 25 years.

In May 2009, Ancelotti's autobiography, Preferisco la Coppa ("I Prefer the Cup", with a word-play by Ancelotti on the Italian word "coppa" that stands both for "cup" and a type of cured cold pork meat cut), was published, with all proceeds from sales of the book going to the Fondazione Stefano Borgonovo for the funding of research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Recently, Ancelotti has had to travel back to Italy on a regular basis to visit his 87-year-old father who was in poor health with diabetes and other issues. On the issue he said "I don't have a problem managing the team for this reason. It's difficult, emotionally, when it's your father... but this is life. I have to do my best to stay close to him, but this is the life." Giuseppe Ancelotti died in the early hours of 30 September 2010.

Career statistics

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1976–77||rowspan="3"|Parma||rowspan="2"|Serie C||1||0|||||||| |- |1977–78||21||8|||||||| |- |1978–79||Serie C1||33||5|||||||| |- |1979–80||rowspan="8"|Roma||rowspan="8"|Serie A||27||3|||||||| |- |1980–81||29||2|||||||| |- |1981–82||5||0|||||||| |- |1982–83||23||2|||||||| |- |1983–84||9||0|||||||| |- |1984–85||22||3|||||||| |- |1985–86||29||0|||||||| |- |1986–87||27||2|||||||| |- |1987–88||rowspan="5"|Milan||rowspan="5"|Serie A||27||2|||||||| |- |1988–89||28||2|||||||| |- |1989–90||24||3|||||||| |- |1990–91||21||1|||||||| |- |1991–92||12||2|||||||| Template:Football player statistics 3338||35|||||||| Template:Football player statistics 5338||35|||||||| Template:Football player statistics end

Manager

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Reggiana		1995	1996	38	16	13	9	042.11
Parma		1996	1998	102	48	31	23	047.06
Juventus		1999	2001	114	63	18	33	055.26
Milan		6 November 2001	31 May 2009	413	234	100	79	056.66
Chelsea		1 July 2009	22 May 2011	109	67	20	22	061.47
Total				776	428	182	166	055.15

22 May 2011

Honours

Player

Roma

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Milan

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Italy

• FIFA World Cup 1990: Bronze Medal

Manager

Juventus

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Milan

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Chelsea

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Individual

• Serie A coach of the Year: 2001, 2004
• Albo Panchina d'Oro: 2002–03, 2003–04
• UEFA Manager of the Year: 2002–03
• World Soccer Magazine Manager of the Year: 2003
• The World's best Club Coach 2007
• Premier League Manager of the Month : November 2009, August 2010, March 2011, April 2011
• UEFA Champions League Manager of the Year: 2002–03

External links

• Carlo Ancelotti management career statistics at Soccerbase
• Carlo Ancelotti at National-Football-Teams.com