Italian footballer Ciro Ferrara: biography, achievements and interesting facts

In the history of Italian football there are quite remarkable personalities who have won worldwide fame. And Ciro Ferrara is one of those players. He recorded his name in history, demonstrated incredible football qualities, and now continues to work in the field of football, becoming a professional coach. But how did his journey begin? What clubs did he play for? In what became a coach? What did you achieve? Ciro Ferrara is a legendary central defender, which every football fan should know about.

Carier start

Born Ciro Ferrara in 1967 in Naples, and in many ways it determined how his further career developed. In the youth academy he was enrolled at the age of thirteen and there and remained until his majority. When he was eighteen years old, Ciro signed a professional contract with the club "Napoli", which was then one of the leading in Italy - and remains so to this day. But Ferrara managed to play two matches while still a minor. But the next year, when he turned 18, he pleasantly surprised the audience - Ciro had already appeared on the field much more often, for a year he had spent sixteen matches, and when he was only 19 years old, Ferrara had already become a key player in the defensive line of the Neapolitans. Eleven years of his professional career Ciro gave his native club, playing for him in the amount of 322 matches and scoring 15 goals. During this time, he managed to become a true legend of Italian football, get into the Italian national team, and also win many trophies. Together with Napoli, Ciro Ferrara won two championships in Italy, one in the Italian Cup and one in the Italian Super Cup, but the best achievement was of course the victory in the 1989 UEFA Cup. But what happened after eleven years of faithful service? In the summer of 1994, the 27-year-old player received an offer, which he simply could not refuse. He wanted in his ranks to see Turin's Juventus, Italy's strongest club and one of the strongest clubs in the world.

Going to Juventus

Naturally, Ferrara Ciro agreed to the transfer and immediately from the first season became the team's main player. For another eleven years, the defender spent in professional football, and he did not change the club more than once - all eleven years he spent at Juventus. For this club, he played even more matches - 358, and in many respects it was due to the fact that Juventus were much more likely to take part in European competition than Napoli. For these eleven years, Ciro has achieved incredible results - six times he became the champion of Italy, once won the Italian Cup, four times the Italian Super Cup, but much more interesting is what he could achieve in the international arena. In 1996, Juventus won the Champions League, the most prestigious trophy in club football - then Ferrara was in the new club for only the second year, but already managed to become one of the main players of the base, and his contribution to the victory can not be underestimated. Later the victories in the Intercontinental Cup, in the UEFA Super Cup followed, and the Intertoto Cup in 1999 became the last trophy internationally won by Ferrara. Ferrara Ciro is a legend both of Napoli and Juventus, as well as of all Italian football in general.

National team appearances

In the Italian team, Ciro Ferrara (Chiro Ferrara) made his debut in 1987 at the age of 20 years. The first match for him was a friendly game against Argentina, in which Italy defeated the enemy with a score of 3: 1. Then Ferrara played in two qualifying matches for the 1988 European Championship, which was eventually invited, but remained on the bench during the whole tournament. At the 1990 World Championship, Ferrara was also a substitute, but went to the third place match against England, in which the Italians won. After this, Ferrara for a long time fell out of the team's cage and was called only occasionally for friendly matches. He was not even called to the European Championships in 1996, although he played well in the qualification. The same goes for the 1998 World Cup - only in 2000 he was called to the European Championships, but held only one non-decisive group match against Sweden. Immediately after this championship, Ferrara announced that he was completing his career in the team - in the end, all that he could achieve with Italy - is the third place at the 1990 World Cup and the second place in the European Championship ten years later. As for the career of the player as a whole, Ferrara played five more years, then in 2005, at the age of 38, announced that he was leaving the big sport. However, this did not end the story of a footballer like Ferrara Ciro - football for him was life, so he was not ready to say goodbye to your favorite thing.

Assistant coach

Back in 2004, when footballer Ferrara Ciro was listed as a full-fledged player, he already began to think about his future. Therefore, he joined the coaching staff of one of the most famous Italian trainers in the world, Marcello Lippi, under whose guidance he played in Juventus. Together with Lippi, he coached the Italian team, which was to perform at the 2006 World Cup - and it was then that the Italians won the World Cup, so that Ferrara successfully managed to put his hand to this achievement. Lippi left the post of national team coach immediately after the championship, and Ferrara also left with him.

Coordination of youth and return to the national team

He took up the post of youth coordinator in Juventus, where he worked for two years before Lippi was called back to the team - Ciro followed him, again becoming his assistant. So he worked for another year, combining the position of coordinator in Juventus, assistant coach in the Italian team, and also passing courses for a coaching license. In 2009, Ciro Ferrarra received permission to independently train a professional club, so it's time to tie in with the position of coordinator - he became the head coach of Juventus. Naturally, everyone here knew that such a Ciro Ferrara - biography, goals, selections of this player were remembered by the fans on the eleven-year history of his and the club.

Beginning of coaching activities

Ciro Ferrara is an Italian football player, who in the past undoubtedly had the highest level of the field. However, was he able to show the same result outside of him, at the helm of the team? Unfortunately, the beginning of his coaching career was far from the best - having issued an excellent start with five consecutive victories, gradually, "Juventus" Ferrara began to show a horrific for the best club in Italy football. The last straw was three defeats in a row in the championship and a run in the ¼ Cup of Italy. Ferrara was fired in January 2010 and remained out of work until October, after which he was promoted to the Italian youth team.

Coaching in the youth team

It was here that Ferrara showed himself from the best side, proving to everyone that he is not a disastrous coach - just swung at once to too large a team. Ferrara team of nineteen matches lost only one, and 12 won. And he, most likely, would have achieved even greater success if he had not received an offer from Sampdoria. Whatever the successes of the youth team, any coach is striving for more, so the proposal from the club from the higher league could not be rejected. Therefore, Ferrara, finally playing a draw with the Irish, in July 2012 he became the head coach of the Italian "Sampdoria". Well, as it turned out, he, most likely, it would be better to remain the coach of the youth team and lead it to success at the European Championships.

The failure in Sampdoria

The club most likely regretted the appointment of Ferrara after his first match - it was the third round of the Italian Cup, where the "Sampdoria" caught the simplest opponent - "Juve Stabia". Wards Ciro opened the scoring in the second half, but could not hold the advantage. The main and extra time ended in a draw, and in the penalty shootout the club from the third division knocked out of the competition team from the top division. After that, it was the impression that Sampdoria found its game under the leadership of Ferrara - they followed three victories in the championship in a row, one of which was over the menacing "Milan". But it was too early to rejoice - three victories followed two draws, and then a series of seven defeats in a row. Then "Sampdoria" managed to win two more matches, play one draw, and after another two defeats the leadership decided to send Ferrara to resign. So already in December 2012, Ciro was left without a job and decided to take a break from coaching activities, as he was very disappointed with what had happened to him.

Return to the coaching bridge

Perhaps Ferrara's career as a coach would end in 2012, if not for money. In July this year, the management of the Chinese club Wuhan Zhuer, who offered the former legend of Italian football a million-dollar contract to head this club, came out to communicate with Ferrara. At the moment he has managed to hold four matches at the helm of the new team - and now he can boast of only variable success: in two cases, his wards won, and in two - lost.