Arturo Di Napoli (born 18 April 1974) is an Italian football coach and former player, who played as a striker. He is currently head coach of Italian amateurs Cologno.

Arturo Di Napoli
Personal information
Date of birth (1974-04-18) 18 April 1974 (age 50)
Place of birth Milan, Italy
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 9+12 in)
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
Cologno (head coach)
Youth career
Acireale
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1994 Acireale 21 (0)
1994–1995 Gualdo 31 (28)
1995–1997 Napoli 28 (5)
1997 Inter 6 (9)
1997–1999 Vicenza 25 (26)
1998–1999Empoli (loan) 25 (11)
1999–2000 Piacenza 18 (4)
2000–2002 Venezia 60 (50)
2002–2003 Palermo 30 (8)
2003–2007 Messina 126 (43)
2007–2008 Siena 0 (2)
2007–2008Salernitana (loan) 32 (21)
2008–2009 Salernitana 37 (13)
2009–2010 Messina 32 (30)
2010 Venezia 11 (2[1])
2010–2012 Caronnese 44 (27)
Managerial career
2012 Rieti
2013 Riccione
2014 Savona
2015 Vittoriosa Stars
2015–2016 Messina
2018– Cologno
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

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From Empoli to Messina

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Di Napoli started his career in minor Italian clubs, before being picked up by Napoli when Freddy Rincón's loan deal expired. Di Napoli scored five times for the Neapolitans, before being sold to Internazionale, where he was unable to make an impact.[2]

In 1998, he was signed by Empoli on loan.[3] In June 1999, he was signed by Piacenza for 7 billion Italian lire.[4]

In January 2005, his contract with Messina was extended to summer 2008.[5]

From Salernitana to Messina

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After Messina went bankrupt, Siena signed him on free transfer and loaned him to Salernitana. He guided the Campanian side to promotion in the Italian Serie B, and was acquired half of the registration rights in July 2008. In his Serie B season with Salernitana, he provided 13 goals, being instrumental into guiding his side into their relegation escape.

In September 2009, he left Salernitana by mutual consent in order to return to Messina, joining the giallorossi, now in Serie D, on a free transfer with the aim to guide them back into professionalism.[6]

From Venezia to Caronnese

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The forward joined in summer 2010 from Italian Serie D football team Messina to Venezia. He played in the first half of the season 11 games and scored two goals for Venezia before joined on 2 December 2010 to Caronnese.[7]

Coaching career

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After his retirement, Di Napoli took his first full coaching role in July 2012 at amateurs Rieti of Eccellenza Lazio, then resigning later in November 2012 for personal reasons. In August 2013 he took the reins of Serie D club Riccione, resigning in December 2013 due to financial issues.

On 26 July 2014 he was named new head coach of Lega Pro club Savona.[8]

Di Napoli undertook his first move abroad in late 2014, when on 31 January 2014, he signed for Maltese club Vittoriosa Stars, in view of the 2015 remaining season.

He was successively named head coach of Serie D club Messina in August 2015, but was forced to quit in February 2016 after being disqualified for four years due to his involvement in the 2015 Italian football scandal.[9] His sentence was then reduced to 3 years and 6 months on appeal.[10] In December 2017, he was acquitted from all charges on the related criminal trial (unrelated to the sports trial).[11] His disqualification ended officially on 12 July 2019, on which day he announced he was in talks to become head coach of amateur club Cologno.[12] He was formally announced as new Cologno coach, in the Prima Categoria league, on 8 September 2018.[13]

References

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  1. ^ Arturo Di Napoli – Carriera: Tuttocalciatori.net
  2. ^ (in Italian) Gazzetta dello Sport player profile
  3. ^ "Maini dice si' al Bologna". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 23 October 1998. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
  4. ^ "Ora l' Inter vuole Seedorf e Pancaro La Roma di Capello prende Oliseh". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 12 June 1999. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  5. ^ "Di Napoli agrees new Messina deal". UEFA. 11 January 2005. Retrieved 20 April 2008.
  6. ^ "L'ACR annuncia gli acquisti degli attaccanti Di Napoli e Konte" (in Italian). Messina Sportiva. 5 September 2009. Archived from the original on 8 September 2009. Retrieved 7 September 2009.
  7. ^ Arturo Di Napoli è della Caronnese
  8. ^ "UFFICIALE SAVONA: ARTURO DI NAPOLI NUOVO TECNICO". Liguria Notizie. 26 July 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  9. ^ "Messina, stangata per Di Napoli Tecnico squalificato per 4 anni" (in Italian). LiveSicilia.it. 1 February 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  10. ^ "Dirty soccer, ridotta di sei mesi la squalifica di Arturo Di Napoli" (in Italian). MessinaNelPallone.it. 7 March 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  11. ^ ""Di Napoli, niente combine": ora vuole cancellare la squalifica" (in Italian). Mediaset Sport. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  12. ^ "Di Napoli: "L'Inter è il mio rimpianto, oggi nel calcio non c'è meritocrazia. Ho in mente un progetto folle…"" (in Italian). Il Posticipo. 12 July 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  13. ^ "Arturo Di Napoli nuovo allenatore dell'F.C Cologno" (in Italian). MondoCalcioNews. 8 September 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2021.