Massimo Ficcadenti

Massimo Ficcadenti (born 6 November 1967) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a midfielder.

Playing career Ficcadenti was born in Fermo. He started his playing career with Sambenedettese, where he played from 1985 to 1989. He then signed for Messina, playing for the Sicilian side for a total of three seasons before to join Verona in 1992. At Verona, he also had the opportunity to make his Serie A debut; he stayed with the gialloblu for a total of five seasons before moving at Torino in 1997. He left Torino for Ravenna in 2000, and retired from active football one year later to become a coach.

Coaching career Ficcadenti's first coaching experience came in 2001 as boss of Serie C2 team Fiorenzuola. Ficcadenti, at the helm of a club under serious financial struggles, ended the regular season in 17th place, but later lost the relegation play-offs to Trento. Despite the Serie D relegation, his work at Fiorenzuola was praised by a number of pundits, given the circumstances, and he was successively appointed by Avellino of Serie C1, being however fired before the beginning of the season due to poor performances in the Coppa Italia Serie C and a number of friendly matches. However Verona did not give Ficcadenti permission to make the move, and on 27 June, the club announced on their website to have reappointed him as their head coach for the upcoming 2007–08 Serie C1 campaign. The issue finally came to an end on 1 July, when Ficcadenti rescinded his contract with Verona and Reggina announced on their website to have appointed him as coach.

In February 2009, Ficcadenti returned to Hellas Verona, serving as transfer market consultant to new club owner and chairman Giovanni Martinelli.

In November 2009, he returned into management, being appointed head coach of Serie B side Piacenza as a replacement for dismissed trainer Fabrizio Castori.

In June 2010, Ficcadenti signed for newly promoted Serie A club Cesena. After a hugely successful season which culminated with Cesena achieving 15th place in Serie A, 7 points clear of relegation, it was decided by mutual consent not to renew Ficcadenti's contract, thereby making him a free agent as of May 2011.

On 16 August 2011 he was introduced as new head coach of Serie A club Cagliari, taking over from dismissed predecessor Roberto Donadoni. On 8 November 2011 he was sacked following a winless run in their past five matches in the season. On 11 March 2012, after sacking Davide Ballardini, Cagliari Calcio recalled him to coach the team, struggling for remaining in Serie A. He left the club by mutual consent on 2 October 2012 after a dismal start to the new season that left Cagliari bottom-placed in the league table.

In January 2014, he began an overseas career at FC Tokyo replacing Ranko Popovic. His two-years tenure ended in November 2015, after the team finished the J1 League at the 4th place, which meant they missed the right to participate in both J1 final championships, and the AFC Champions League 2016 playoff match.

In 2016 season, he got a new job as manager of Sagan Tosu, and served until October 2018.

In the fall of 2019 Ficcadenti replaced Yahiro Kazama as manager of Nagoya Grampus.

Managerial statistics

Honours Nagoya Grampus J.League Cup: 2021