Paolo Zanetti (born 16 December 1982) is an Italian professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the head coach of Serie A club Hellas Verona. As a player, he played as a midfielder.

Club career Zanetti started his career at his hometown club Vicenza.

Empoli Zanetti was sold to Empoli in a co-ownership deal in July 2003, for €671,400 fee (about 1.3 billion lire).Vicenza Calcio S.p.A. bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2007, PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A. (in Italian)

In his first season with Empoli, he just made 13 appearances in Serie A. However, Empoli was relegated to Serie B at the end of the season and Zanetti followed the club.

Zanetti played 30 games in the 2004–05 Serie B season, helping the club to win promotion back to Serie A. However, he just made nine appearances for the club in Serie A in the following season. In June 2006, Empoli signed him outright from Vicenza, for an additional €125,000 fee, making Empoli had paid Vicenza €796,400 in total.

Ascoli After acquiring the remaining 50% registration rights from Vicenza in June 2006 for an additional €125,000 transfer fee, Empoli sold Zanetti to Ascoli in another co-ownership deal for €400,000 transfer fee in July.Empoli F.C. S.p.A. bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2007, PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A. (in Italian)

Torino In May 2007, Zanetti said he would stay on at Ascoli, despite them being relegated to Serie B.Ascoli midfielder Zanetti: I'll renew my contract, ontheminute.com, 24 May 2007 Ascoli bought the full registration rights of the player for an additional €750,000 fee, (making the amount Ascoli had paid €1.15 million in total) but sent Zanetti, along with Saša Bjelanović, to Torino in another co-ownership deals for €1 million fee each, in a five-year and three-year contract respectively.Torino F.C. S.p.A. bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2007, PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A. (in Italian) In the middle of same season, Torino bought him outright for an additional €500,000 (making the amount that Torino paid Ascoli for Zanetti €1.5 million in total)Torino F.C. S.p.A. bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2008, PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A. (in Italian) and Bjelanović was also bought by Torino for an additional €60,000 in June 2008.

During 2009–10 season, the ultras of Torino attacked the players during David Di Michele's birthday party. After the incident, the players involved - Di Michele, Massimo Loviso, Riccardo Colombo, Aimo Diana, Marco Pisano, Francesco Pratali and Zanetti - were transferred to other clubs, and only Rolando Bianchi, Matteo Rubin and Angelo Ogbonna remained.

On 19 January 2010, Atalanta signed him on loan from Serie B club Torino until the end of the season.

Grosseto After being inactive from football for a season, Zanetti joined Grosseto on 8 August 2011 in a one-year deal. Torino and Zanetti terminated the contract between the two parties by mutual consent.Torino F.C. S.p.A. bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2011, PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.

Sorrento In January 2012, he was signed by Sorrento. In May 2012 he signed a new two-year contract with Sorrento.

Reggiana On 23 January 2013, he was signed by Reggiana. On 26 August 2013, he signed a new two-year contract. On 18 November 2014 Zanetti retired and became a backroom staff of the first team ().

International career Zanetti was a player of Azzurrini in 2001 UEFA European Under-18 Championship qualificationThe event was renamed to U-19 from 2001 onward to reflect the age limit at the end of the season instead of the start of the season. i.e. age limit unchanged He played twice. After the elimination of Italy from the competition, he also played for the U-19 team (de facto U-20 B) in two friendlies, against Netherlands (who still in the Euro U-19 competition) and Germany respectively in March and May 2001. In the 2001–02 season, he played 13 times for the U-20 team, including matches in a four nations tournament. In the following season, he played once for the U-21 team in 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification as well as 3 friendlies. In his only competitive appearance in the U-21 Euro, he was a substitute of Samuele Dalla Bona.Match Report from FIGC archive (in Italian) He played his final appearance in national team against Austria on 19 August 2003, another friendly match.

Managerial career After retiring, Zanetti stayed at Reggiana as a technical collaborator and then as a youth coach.

In 2017, Zanetti took on his first head coaching job at Serie C club Südtirol. After two seasons ended with two consecutive promotion playoff appearances, on 7 June 2019, he left Südtirol for Serie B club Ascoli. He was sacked by Ascoli on 27 January 2020 following a 0–1 home loss to Frosinone that left the club in the bottom half of the Serie B league table.

On 27 May 2021, Zanetti secured Venezia's return to Serie A after a 2–1 aggregate win in the promotion play-off over Cittadella, thus ending their 19-year exile from the top flight. On 27 April 2022, Zanetti was sacked by the club following a run of eight straight defeats that saw Venezia bottom of the Serie A table.

On 6 June 2022, Serie A club Empoli, a former team of his as a player, announced they had hired Zanetti on a two-year deal as their new head coach. After guiding Empoli to a mid-table placement in the club's 2022–23 Serie A campaign, Zanetti was dismissed on 19 September 2023 following a dismal start to the new season, with four losses in the first four games and following a 0–7 defeat against Roma.

On 13 June 2024, Zanetti was unveiled as the new head coach of Hellas Verona, signing a one-year contract with an extension option for one further year. He was sacked on 1 February 2026.

Managerial statistics

+ Managerial record by team and tenure TeamNat.FromToRecord Südtirol6 July 20177 June 2019Ascoli7 June 201927 January 2020Venezia14 August 202027 April 2022Empoli1 July 202219 September 2023Hellas Verona12 June 20241 February 2026Total

Notes

References

External links

2005–06 Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport