By AS Roma has confirmed the appointment of Daniele De Rossi as head coach until 30 June 2024.
This follows the sacking of Jose Mourinho, with Roma sitting ninth in the league after Sunday’s 3-1 loss to AC Milan.
The incoming De Rossi is a highly experienced player who won a FIFA World Cup with Italy in 2006, but his only managerial work came with Serie B side SPAL last season. SPAL dismissed De Rossi late in his first and only season as their manager while they were in 18th place.
Mourinho was let go on the back of the club’s 3-1 defeat to AC Milan, with the Portuguese boss not in the dugout as he served his latest suspension.
The 60-year-old was sent off in the closing stages of Roma’s draw with Atalanta on January 7, which was followed by a 1-0 loss to rivals Lazio in the Rome derby last week.
De Rossi, who, though he made 616 appearances and scored 63 goals for the Giallorossi in all competitions, ranks second in the club’s all-time appearance record. He has limited coaching experience, having worked with the Italian federation and Serie B side SPAL, who sacked him a year ago, but has put pen to paper on a deal until the end of the season.
He played for the club between 2001 and 2019, having joined the club’s academy in 2000. He went on to captain the club and win two Coppa Italias before leaving for Boca Juniors.
In addition to his record-breaking accomplishments with Roma, Rossi has also had a successful international career.
He played 117 games in the Italian shirt and has represented the Azzurri in eight major international competitions. In 2006, he won the World Cup with his Roma teammates, Francesco Totti and Simone Perrotta.
After retiring from football, De Rossi joined the Italian national team’s coaching staff, where he lifted the European Championship trophy on July 11th, 2021, at Wembley Stadium, before taking over as head coach of SPAL last season.
Roma have had various managers throughout their history, with some relatively successful names still not getting too long in the job
Mourinho’s sacking meant he did not join a select group of coaches to have spent three uninterrupted seasons on the touchline for the club.
Since taking over from Paulo Fonseca in 2021, Mourinho has gone on to post a record of 36 wins, 19 draws, and 24 defeats from his 79 matches in charge of the Giallorossi in Serie A.
Those results equal a record of 1.61 points per game in the league, the 13th-best performance of all Roma coaches since the club’s foundation in 1927.
Current Italy national team head coach Luciano Spalletti comes out as the most successful coach in Roma’s history, averaging exactly two points per game during his second stint with the club between 2016 and 2017.
Just below Spalletti is current Napoli boss Rudi Garcia, who posted a record of 1.99 points per game.
Cagliari’s Claudio Ranieri comes in third with 1.93.
Fourth to 10th place is made up of coaches Eusebio Di Francesco, Fabio Capello, Hubert Burgess, Paulo Fonseca, Luis Carniglia, Sven-Goran Eriksen, and Lajos Kovacs.
