Antonio Conte is widely known in the football world. He is a football coach and trainer known for his time at Italian side Juventus FC and London club Chelsea FC with whom he both leads league titles. As a player, he will be remembered for his time with the Old Lady (nickname of Juventus FC) and also with the Italian national team where he played stability in midfield for both teams. We’ll have more on this as we continue.
Biography,
Born to his parents, Cosimino Conte and AdaBriamo, on July 31, 1969, in southern Italy (in Lecce, more precisely), Conte entered the family as the firstborn of his parents. His brothers are Gianluca, also a football coach, and Daniele, a football agent. His father, Cosimino, was a football coach, while his mother, Ada, is a housewife. So it was from home that Conté’s journey into the world of football began.
He fell in love with the game of round leather early enough and would always play with friends on the streets, but his father made sure it didn’t affect his studies. Cosimino would insist on academics first and only allow him to play when he was sure the young Conté was done with his college work.
This discipline at home was reflected in school, and he was often held up as an example to his classmates. He was a balanced student because despite the attention he paid to football at school, his grades were never affected.
Gaming career
Antonio Conte started playing organized football with Juventina Lecce, an amateur football team managed by his father. This gave him the experience required to start his football career with his hometown team, Unione Sportiva Lecce, who at the time were playing in the top division of the Italian league, Serie A.
He made his debut for the team at the young age of 16 against Pisa. Conté would become a full player at the club and amass 99 caps, scoring one goal in his seven years at the club.
He left Lecce in 1991 and signed for Juventus in a £3million transfer which debuted in November of that year against Turin. He will obtain 418 selections in 13 years (1991-2004) with the old lady, will mark 43 goals and will adorn the group of captains from 1996 to 2004, date on which he will hang his boots.
He also won five Serie A championships and a UEFA double title (UEFA Cup in 1993 and UEFA Champions League trophy in 1996). His other trophies with Juventus include the Coppa Italia (1995), the UEFA Super Cup (1996), four Supercoppa Italiana titles and the UEFA Intertoto Cup (1999). He never played for another club after leaving Juventus.
Conte made his debut for the Italian national team in a home friendly against Finland. His first major tournament with the team was the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States. The Italian team made it to the final, but were beaten by the Brazilian’s superior firepower.
The next step was Euro 2000 and his team still made it to the final, but losing to France, Antonio Conte retired from the national team after a career (on the national team front) marred by injuries . He made 20 appearances for the Italian national team (1994-2000) and scored two goals, including his shot on goal against Turkey in the opening match of Euro 2000, dubbed the ‘best goal of the European tournament’ .
Antonio Conte’s coaching career
Conte began coaching at a retired football club in 2004. His first assignment was assistant to Siena manager Luigi De Canio. He would later become the head coach of Arezzo, a Serie B player, but would be sacked a few months later due to a series of poor results.
His replacement not doing any better, he got the job back and faced a relegation battle. He led the team to six wins and a draw to give them 19 points, as they came close to avoiding the pinfall. However, Arezzo would still be relegated with just one point on the final day of the season.
He was signed by fellow Serie B side Bari for the second half of the 2007-08 campaign with the team languishing in the relegation zone. Conte oversaw his move to mid-table that season and in the following season Bari not only earned promotion to Serie A, he was also Serie B champion.
He joined Atlanta in 2009 but was unable to replicate his miracle in Bari and following aggressive confrontations from fans he has no choice but to resign as coach. club as the team struggles to avoid the fall.
Siena signed him for the 2010–11 campaign which the club were pursuing in Serie B after their relegation the previous season. Antonio Conte will eventually knock them out of relegation as promotion won on the first try.
After much skepticism about Conte, Juventus finally decided to give their former player and soccer hero a shot at his dream job. Contrary to expectations, Antonio Conte didn’t need time to settle in. He silenced his detractors and excelled in the role matching several records held by the club’s top managers and even set his own record at the same time.
It led them to their first Coppa Italia final in 8 years. He also won the league that season, conceding just 20 goals, on the back of an unbeaten season, which is an unprecedented feat (since Serie A has developed into a league format at 20 teams that played 38 rounds).
Juventus won the league for all three seasons Conte was in charge, but the Members’ Europe (UCL) campaign meant he would step down as manager in 2014 after winning his third title as manager of his former club.
After his trophy-laden spell with the old lady, he worked for two years as a national team manager before signing for London-based club Chelsea in 2016. He started on a very high note. as he had at Juventus and when it was announced on January 13, 2017, Antonio Conte had won Manager of the Month for December 2016. He became the first Premier League manager to win the accolade three times immediately (October, November and December). He won the Premier League title with Chelsea in his first season with a record 30 wins from 38 league appearances.
The following season, however, after a lackluster campaign, Antonio Conte was sacked as Chelsea manager, despite winning the FA Cup against Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United.
Family life – wife
Antonio Conte is married to Elisabetta Muscarello. He met the Italian beauty while playing for Juventus, but their relationship only started in 2004 when they met at a bar and kicked things off. Their daughter, Vittoria, came in 2007 and they walked down the aisle in June 2013 after being together for nine years.
Height, weight, measurements
The Godfather, as Conté is called. has a sporty build as you would expect from someone who has played football for a long time. He is not a six-footer but Conte has an average height of 1.78 meters (5ft 10in) and weighs 76kg which is 167.5lbs.
