Giovanni Stroppa

Giovanni Stroppa (; born 24 January 1968) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He is the head coach of club Venezia. Club career

AC Milan and loan to Monza Stroppa started his playing career in AC Milan's youth system, and was loaned for two seasons at Monza, a de facto Milan feeder club at the time. He returned to Milan in 1989, making his professional senior debut for the club in the Coppa Italia on 23 August, in a 0–0 away draw against Parma; Milan later reached the Coppa Italia final, only to be defeated by Juventus. He made his Serie A debut on 27 August 1989, in a 3–0 away win over Cesena, marking the occasion by scoring a long-range goal. Stroppa finished his first season with the team by winning a European Cup, a European Super Cup, and an Intercontinental Cup in 1990, under coach Arrigo Sacchi.

Lazio and Foggia In 1991, he signed for Lazio, and in 1993 he moved to Foggia, then an outsider Serie A team known for their spectacular, offensive style of play under the coach Zdeněk Zeman.

Return to AC Milan After an impressive season with Foggia, he returned to the Stadio San Siro to play with Milan for a single season, winning his third UEFA Super Cup with the club, as well as the Supercoppa Italiana. In total, Stroppa made 85 appearances for Milan, scoring nine goals; he made his final appearance for the club in a 1–0 away defeat to Napoli, in Serie A, on 18 May 1995.

Managerial career

AC Milan U21 Stroppa was coach of Milan's under-21 team for the 2010–11 season, but was relieved of his duties on 11 June 2011, with a year still to run on his contract, and just one week after losing 1–0 to Roma in the quarter-finals of the Campionato Primavera.

Südtirol On 13 July 2011, he was unveiled as new head coach of Südtirol.

Pescara On 8 June 2012, he was named head coach of Serie A newcomers Pescara, replacing Zdeněk Zeman, his former boss during his first spell as a player at Foggia, who was signed by Roma a few days before his appointment. He was assisted by Andrea Guerra, Francesco Sità, Andrea Tonelli and Massimo Marini. He resigned as coach of Pescara on 18 November 2012, after a series of bad results and the team has fallen in the middle of the relegation zone. He left the club along with Guerra (vice-coach) and two assistants Sità and Tonelli.

Spezia In June 2013, he was named new head coach of Serie B club Spezia.

Return to Südtirol On 20 April 2015, Stroppa returned as head coach of Südtirol, ending the 2014–15 season in tenth place. The following season, Stroppa helped the side finish in tenth place once again. On 12 May 2016, Südtirol communicated that Stroppa's contract would not be renewed following its expiration on 30 June.

Foggia On 14 August 2016, he was appointed by Foggia. He reached a promotion to Serie B with the Pugliese team.

Crotone In June 2018, Stroppa was appointed as coach of Crotone, replacing Walter Zenga. Crotone announced the dismissal of Stroppa on 29 October 2018. He was reinstated as head coach on 28 December 2018, following the resignation of Massimo Oddo, who had previously replaced him in charge of the Calabrian club.

Since his return at Crotone, Stroppa led the Calabrian club to twelfth place in his first season, and was awarded a new contract. On his second season, he led Crotone to automatic promotion to Serie A, leading the Rossoblu back to the top flight after a two-year absence. His debut season as a Serie A manager however did not prove to be successful, as Crotone struggled to stay out of the relegation zone, leading to Stroppa being sacked on 1 March 2021.

Monza On 28 May 2021, it was announced that Stroppa would be appointed head coach of Monza on 1 July. He returned to the club 32 years after his experience as a player.

He guided Monza to fourth place in the regular season, missing out on automatic promotion following a 0–1 loss to Perugia in the final game, which allowed Cremonese and Pisa to overtake the Biancorossi, who were placed in second place with one game to go. In the promotion playoff tournament, Monza entered in the semifinals, where they eliminated Brescia, and then defeated Pisa in a two-legged final on a 6–4 aggregate result (after extra time), thus ensuring themselves a historical first promotion to Serie A in the 110-year club history.

Confirmed in charge of the Brianzoli for the club's debut Serie A season, Stroppa was dismissed on 13 September 2022 after achieving only one point in the first six games.

Cremonese On 19 September 2023, Stroppa was named the new head coach of Serie B promotion hopefuls Cremonese, replacing Davide Ballardini.

Stroppa led Cremonese to the promotion playoff finals in his first season in charge, then losing to Venezia 0–1 on aggregate. After being confirmed for the 2024–25 season, Stroppa was relieved of managerial duties on 8 October 2024 due to a negative start in the new campaign. He was however reinstated just a month later, on 11 November, after Cremonese decided to dismiss Eugenio Corini, who had previously replaced him in charge of the Grigiorossi. He ended the season in fourth place in the regular season, and eventually led Cremonese to win the playoffs after defeating Spezia in a two-legged final, on what was his personal third promotion to Serie A in his career. Despite that, on 13 June 2025, Cremonese announced they would not confirm Stroppa in charge of the club for their comeback campaign in the top flight.

Venezia On 26 June 2025, freshly-relegated Serie B club Venezia announced the appointment of Stroppa as their new head coach. On 1 May 2026 Stroppa led Venezia to a Serie A promotion after a 2-2 draw against La Spezia. On 14 May 2026 Stroppa confirm he will be Venezia's coach for the next Seria A season

Style of play A quick, energetic, and talented, yet injury-prone player, Stroppa was mainly known for his technical skills, and his ability to create chances for teammates, which enabled him to play in several creative midfield and attacking roles: he was initially deployed as an attacking midfielder, or as a supporting striker, but he was also used as a winger, and even as a central midfielder on occasion; he later played as a deep-lying playmaker during the final seasons of his career.

Career statistics Managerial

Honours Player AC Milan European Cup: 1989–90 UEFA Super Cup: 1989, 1990, 1994 Intercontinental Cup: 1989, 1990 Supercoppa Italiana: 1994