Eugenio Corini is an Italian association football coach and former player. A talented, dynamic, and hard-working playmaker, known for his precise long passing, flair, and his ability to orchestrate his team's attacking moves or provide assists for teammates, Corini usually played either as an attacking midfielder or as a deep lying playmaker in midfield. A set-piece specialist, he was also known for his accuracy from free kicks, corners, and penalty kicks.
Club career
Corini started his career in the Brescia youth squad, but he soon joined the first team, being called to be part it of when just 16 years old, making his debut the following season. He became a regular for the Lombardian team in both 1988–89 and 1989–90 seasons, before being noticed and signed by Juventus. In his first season with Juventus, at just 20 years old, Corini played 25 times and scored one goal. In 1992–93, Corini was sold to Sampdoria, where he made 24 appearances, and had several injury problems. In the next few years, Corini moved from team to team almost every season without being able to show his full potential. In October 1998, Verona loaned him to city rivals Chievo Verona, in Serie B. Corini soon became a mainstay of the team, being named captain and leading his team to an extraordinary promotion to Serie A in 2001, and UEFA Cup qualification the following season, after having been first-placed at the winter break. Corini joined Palermo in 2003, helping the Sicilian team win the 2003–04 Serie B league title, followed by UEFA Cup qualification the following season. He later served as the club's captain. In June 2007, he announced he was not going to renew his contract with Palermo, and a few days later he was signed by Torino, aged 37. He was confirmed with the granata also for the 2008–09 season, which he stated it would be his final one as a footballer. On May 2009 Corini confirmed his retirement as a player, after he failed to recover from a recurring Achilles tendon injury which forced him to have surgery, which caused him to miss the final part of the season which saw Torino being relegated to Serie B. He also stated his intention to try himself as a head coach in the next future.
International career
Corini became a regular also in the Italy national under-21 football team squad of the early 1990s, winning a UEFA European Under-21 Championship, and representing Italy in the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona. Despite his success for Italy at the youth levels and for various teams at club level, he has never been capped for the full national team in a career spanning almost two decades. However, he did receive call-ups during the 1992–93 season, and more recently on November 2002.
Managerial career
After announcing his retirement, Corini confirmed his interest in becoming a coach, being successively linked on a number of vacancies in the Italian football panorama. On 5 July 2010 Eugenio Corini was then unveiled as new head coach of Portosummaga, a newly promoted 2010–11 Serie B club; he agreed to become the club's new head coach despite not having the required coaching badges, so it was agreed that UEFA Pro graduate Salvatore Giunta would work alongside him. However, Corini unexpectedly left the club only twelve days later, together with director of football Giuseppe Magalini, due to disagreements with the board regarding the transfer market policy and the future plans for the team. On 27 November 2010 he was appointed head coach of Serie B club Crotone, replacing Leonardo Menichini. His experience with the Calabrian club turned out to be short-lived, as he was dismissed later on 20 February 2011 following a string of poor results that left Crotone in danger of relegation. From 30 November 2011 through the end of the season he coached Frosinone in Lega Pro Prima Divisione in place of the resigned Carlo Sabatini. On 2 October 2012 he was named new head coach of Chievo in place of Domenico Di Carlo, after the team suffered five consecutive defeats in the first six games of the season. Corini and Chievo parted ways on 29 May 2013 by mutual consent; only for Corini to return to Chievo 4 months later, appointed on 12 November 2013 to replace Giuseppe Sannino. He guided Chievo to maintain Serie A status by the end of the season and was thus confirmed as head coach, but was successively sacked on 19 October following a 0–3 defeat to Roma that left his club with four points in seven games. On 30 November 2016, Corini was appointed manager of Palermo. He resigned on 24 January 2017. On 4 February 2018, he was fired as manager of Novara. He returned into management on 18 September 2018, by being named new head coach of Brescia, his first club as a player, in place of David Suazo. He was sacked on 3 November 2019. He was rehired by Brescia on 2 December 2019. On 5 February 2020, he was dismissed by Brescia once more.
