Maurizio Sarri · Biography

Maurizio Sarri was born in Naples on 10 January 1959. His father, Amerigo, was a former professional cyclist who worked as a crane operator at the Italsider steelworks in Bagnoli. The family moved north while he was a boy. He grew up in Castro, in the province of Bergamo, and later in Faella, near Arezzo, and finished his schooling in Figline Valdarno. He only ever played as an amateur, at centre-back for Figline, after unsuccessful trials with Torino and Fiorentina, and injuries ended his playing days early.

A banker on Tuscany's amateur benches

For years Sarri combined football with a job at Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, work that took him to London, Zürich and Luxembourg. He spent his mornings at the bank and his afternoons and evenings on the training ground. He began coaching in 1990 with Stia, then worked his way through the Tuscan amateur game at Faellese, Cavriglia, Antella and Valdema. After joining Tegoleto in 1999 he gave up banking to coach full time. At Sansovino, from 2000, he won promotion to Serie D in his first season and lifted the Coppa Italia Serie D in 2003. At Sangiovannese he reached Serie C1 in his first campaign, 2003-04.

Serie B, Serie C and the Empoli breakthrough

His first Serie B job came at Pescara in 2005-06, followed by Arezzo in 2006-07. The years that followed were unsettled. He resigned at Avellino in August 2007, then had spells at Hellas Verona, Perugia, Grosseto, Alessandria and Sorrento, who dismissed him in December 2011. Empoli hired him in 2012. In his first season the team reached the Serie B play-off final and lost it to Livorno. In 2013-14 they finished second and won direct promotion to Serie A, a campaign that earned him the Panchina d'Argento. In 2014-15 Empoli stayed up in 15th place.

Napoli and the 91 points

In 2015 Sarri went back to his home city as Napoli coach. In 2015-16 the team led Serie A at the halfway stage, something the club had not done for 26 years, and finished third. That season brought him the Panchina d'Oro. Napoli were third again in 2016-17, when he was named Serie A Coach of the Year and received the Enzo Bearzot Award. In 2017-18, after a club-record run of eight straight league wins, Napoli finished second on 91 points, the club's best total for a Serie A season, four behind champions Juventus.

Chelsea and Juventus

Chelsea appointed him in 2018. He became the first manager to go unbeaten through his first 12 Premier League matches, a run ended by a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham on 24 November 2018. In 2019 Chelsea lost the League Cup final to Manchester City on penalties. On 29 May 2019, in Baku, his side beat Arsenal 4-1 to win the UEFA Europa League without losing a game in the competition. That summer he moved to Juventus and won the 2019-20 Serie A title, the club's ninth in a row. Juventus lost the Coppa Italia final to Napoli on penalties that same season, and Sarri was sacked on 8 August 2020 after a Champions League round-of-16 exit.

Two spells at Lazio and the move to Atalanta

Lazio appointed Sarri on 9 June 2021. After finishing fifth in 2021-22, the team came second in 2022-23 and qualified for the Champions League, where they reached the knockout phase in 2023-24. He resigned on 12 March 2024. He returned to Lazio on 2 June 2025 after fifteen months out of the game. In that second spell the side reached the 2026 Coppa Italia final, losing 2-0 to Inter at the Stadio Olimpico on 13 May with Sarri suspended and absent from the bench, and finished ninth in Serie A. Lazio announced his departure by mutual consent on 27 May 2026. In June 2026 Atalanta appointed him head coach in succession to Raffaele Palladino.