He made politeness his style, a distinctive trademark, from the early years when he chose to pursue a coaching career. He can boast of something few have: two teams in the same stadium applauding him without rivalry, which happened when Roma and Leicester crossed paths in the Europa League a few years ago. We are talking about Claudio Ranieri.
However, Ranieri kept his word: when he brought Cagliari to Serie A, he had already announced that it would be the last team he would coach. He left the door open for a possible national team, but who knows how many offers he had to decline this summer, given the many coaching changes that have occurred in Italy and abroad.
Claudio Ranieri first experienced top-tier football at Cagliari, arriving after a regional championship in Calabria with Vigor Lamezia and after managing Campania Puteolana in C1. He won the C1 championship with the islanders in 1988/89 and stayed until 1990/91 when he brought the Rossoblù to the top division. He remained in Serie A the following year, leading Napoli post-Maradona: he did well in the first year, a bit less in the second. In 1993/94, he started again in Florence, in Serie B: he led Fiorentina to promotion and stayed until 1996/97, also winning an Italian Cup the previous year, with eight wins in eight matches.
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He landed in Spain, at Valencia, in 1997/98: he was not the only Italian at Mestalla, as Amedeo Carboni, a Roma legend, was also there. At Valencia, Ranieri won the Intertoto Cup and the Copa del Rey, both in 1998/99. He stayed in Spain and signed with Atletico Madrid, following in the Italian tradition after Sacchi: with the Colchoneros, Ranieri remained only until March 2000 when he was dismissed.
He stayed abroad and went to Chelsea: he took over mid-season in 2000/2001, finishing sixth for two consecutive years. Then, fourth place in 2002/03, and second place in 2003/04. At the end of this season, he returned to Valencia, but the experience was not fortunate: he stayed until February 2005, when he was relieved of his duties.
He remained inactive for nearly two years until he was called to Italy to lead Parma, which was destined for relegation, but he managed to keep them in the top division. The following year, he was called to Juventus, where he remained for two years. Then, he coached Roma between 2009 and 2011. Still in Italy, this time at Inter, from September 2011 to March 2012. Ranieri then took another plane to France, to the principality of Monaco: with the relegated red and whites in Ligue 2, he won the championship and achieved an incredible second place the following season.
The miracle happened in 2015 when he led Leicester, a modest Premier League team, to the championship victory. After the fantastic experience in the Premier League, he went to Nantes, then Fulham, back to Roma between March and June 2019, and then Sampdoria in Italy until 2021. A new experience in England at Watford, from October 2021 to January 2022.
Finally, Cagliari, where he was rightfully welcomed as a hero, won the playoffs in the first year in Serie B, and maintained the category the following year, finishing in sixteenth place after an inconsistent season.
