Mauro Camoranesi

Mauro Germán Camoranesi Serra (, ; born 4 October 1976) is an Argentinian-Italian football manager and former player who played as a right midfielder or right winger.

Camoranesi began his career in Argentina in 1995, where he played for Aldosivi and Banfield, also having spells in Mexico with Santos Laguna and Cruz Azul, and in Uruguay with Wanderers. In 2000, he moved to Italy, joining Verona, where his performances earned him a transfer to defending Serie A champions Juventus in 2002. Camoranesi won the league title and the Supercoppa Italiana in his first season with the club, also reaching the UEFA Champions League final; he spent most of his career with the Turin side, also winning a second Supercoppa Italiana during his eight seasons with the Bianconeri. In 2010, he joined German side VfB Stuttgart for a season before returning to Argentina to play for Lanús, and subsequently Racing Club, where he retired in 2014. Following his retirement, Camoranesi began his managerial career later that year and has since coached Mexican club Coras de Tepic, Argentine side Tigre, Slovenian teams Tabor Sežana and Maribor, Maltese sides Floriana and Cypriot clubs Karmiotissa, Anorthosis Famagusta and AEK Larnaca.

Born and raised in Argentina, Camoranesi represented Italy at international level, making his debut in 2003. With Italy, he took part at UEFA Euro 2004, UEFA Euro 2008, and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup; he also took part in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and was a member of Italy's winning squad at the 2006 World Cup.

Club career

Early career

Born in Tandil, Camoranesi was a fan of River Plate growing up. He started his career at Aldosivi, 100 miles away from his hometown. He moved to Mexico to begin his professional playing career at Santos Laguna during the 1995–96 season and scored one goal in 13 games for the team; Santos Laguna fans nicknamed him "El Cholo". in cash plus player deal (which Max Vieri was sold for €517,000 (or 1 billion lire) plus €2.324 million cash (or 4.5 billion lire cash)) On 26 June 2003, he was signed outright by the Bianconeri on a permanent basis for an additional fee of €5 million; this was the same day Juventus signed Marco Di Vaio in similar deal.

Camoranesi put on some notable performances and contributed to a number of goals for Juventus during the 2006–07 Serie B season, scoring 4 in total, as his team won the title and earned promotion back to the Italian top flight. Just days before he had scored a header in the 2–0 victory against close title contenders Napoli.

Despite initial rumours of his departure, on 10 July 2007, he extended his contract with the club until 2010. For the 2007–08 Serie A season, his shirt number was changed from 16 to 8. In spite of suffering several injuries during the 2007–08 season, he scored 5 goals in 22 appearances and also won the Guerin d'Oro award as the player with the highest average rating. His contract with Juventus was mutually terminated on the same day. On 26 January 2011, his contract with Stuttgart was mutually terminated, with Camoranesi admitting that he "just didn't fit in the club sporting wise, although he liked the team, the people and the city." He expressed a desire to continue his career in Argentina.

Lanús On 2 February 2011, Camoranesi signed a two-year contract with Lanús with the option to coach youth players if he chose to retire. In October 2011, he made headlines for kicking an opponent in the head. In a match against Racing Club, he fouled Patricio Toranzo and was shown a red card by the referee. Instead of walking off, Camoranesi ran back and kicked the same opponent in the head while Toranzo was still lying on the ground. Toranzo later commented that Camoranesi is "not much of a man, just a coward" and suggested Camoranesi would need to see a psychiatrist for his violent behaviour. Camoranesi faced a long ban from football for this incident.

Racing Club On 20 July 2012, Camoranesi signed in for Argentine side Racing Club. On 13 June 2013, he announced that he would retire from football at the end of the season in June, although rumours circulated he could be close to joining Leicester City to link up with Argentine midfielder Esteban Cambiasso. On 16 March 2014, he came on as a 68th-minute substitute for Rodrigo De Paul, as his side lost 0–2 away to Newell's Old Boys, for whom former Juventus teammate David Trezeguet scored the second goal in the 83rd minute. This turned out to be Camoranesi's last game in his career.

International career Camoranesi was eligible for Italian citizenship through a great-grandfather, Luigi, who in 1873 emigrated from Potenza Picena, in Italy's Marche region, to Argentina. His dual citizenship made him eligible to play for either Argentina or Italy, but the Azzurri showed interest in him first and, on 12 February 2003, he made his international debut in a friendly match against Portugal, which his team won 1–0 under manager Giovanni Trapattoni; consequently, Camoranesi became the first oriundo to appear for Italy in 40 years, with the last being the Brazilian-born Angelo Sormani. Under Trapattoni, Camoranesi played for Italy at UEFA Euro 2004, where they were eliminated in the first round. Camoranesi's first senior international goal came in a 2006 World Cup qualifier away to Belarus on 7 September 2005, which the Italians won 4–1.

Camoranesi was also part of Marcello Lippi's Italy team which won the 2006 FIFA World Cup. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany, he admitted the reason for not singing Italy's national anthem before their matches was because he did not know the words, although he could be seen singing (at least a part of) the anthem during the World Cup celebrations in Circus Maximus on 10 July 2006. Camoranesi was not the first Juventus player born in Argentina to play for Italy; Omar Sívori played for the Azzurri, as well as Luis Monti and Raimundo Orsi, who also won the World Cup while playing for Juventus. Fellow oriundi Anfilogino Guarisi, Attilio Demaría, Enrique Guaita, and Michele Andreolo also won the World Cup with Italy before him under manager Vittorio Pozzo in the 1930s, with Camoranesi being the only oriundo to win the World Cup with Italy after World War II.

At the end of 2006 FIFA World Cup Final match in Germany, in which Italy defeated France 5–3 in a penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw, Camoranesi had teammate Massimo Oddo chop off a large chunk of his long hair as the rest of the squad danced around them in a circle. Camoranesi then went up to the camera and dedicated the triumph by saying in Spanish: "Para los pibes del barrio" (For the guys from the neighbourhood).

He was successively called up to Italy's squad for UEFA Euro 2008 under manager Roberto Donadoni; Italy were knocked out on penalties by eventual champions Spain, following a goalless draw. Upon Lippi's return, he also took part at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, in which Italy were eliminated in the group stage following a 3–0 loss to eventual champions Brazil in their third first-round match. Later that same year, he scored Italy's first goal with a header from a corner in a 2–2 away draw against Ireland on 10 October, which allowed Italy to qualify for the 2010 World Cup with two games to spare; this was his final international goal. Camoranesi took part at the 2010 FIFA World Cup; the latter tournament was his last experience with the Italy national team, with his final appearance coming in Italy's second group match, a 1–1 draw against New Zealand. Italy were eliminated in the first round once again, following a 3–2 defeat to Slovakia, finishing bottom of their group. In total, Camoranesi was capped 55 times by Italy between 2003 and 2010, and scored four goals.

Managerial career On 15 December 2017, Camoranesi received his coaching licence.

Camoranesi was appointed manager of Slovenian PrvaLiga side Tabor Sežana on 3 January 2020, signing a one-and-a-half-year contract. Eight months later he signed a three-year contract at Maribor in the same league. He was sacked on 23 February 2021.

On 5 July 2022, Camoranesi was appointed assistant manager of Olympique de Marseille after Igor Tudor became the manager of the club. However, he left the team only a week later when Tudor named Hari Vukas as his assistant.

Camoranesi was appointed head coach of Maltese Premier League club Floriana on 5 June 2023 for the 2023–24 season.

On 2 October 2024, Camoranesi was hired as the new head coach of Cypriot First Division club Karmiotissa. He departed Karmiotissa later on 24 October, after less than a month since his appointment, having served for only two games in charge of the team.

On 27 November 2024, Camoranesi signed for another Cypriot team, Anorthosis Famagusta, agreeing on a deal until the end of the season.

Style of play Camoranesi was a dynamic, hard-working, and skillful midfielder, who usually deployed on the right wing, or on occasion on the left flank, or as a central or attacking midfielder behind the strikers. He was a quick, energetic, and technically gifted player, with excellent ball control, who excelled at dribbling and beating players in one on one situations and getting up the flank. In addition to these characteristics, he also had an accurate and powerful shot, in particular from outside the penalty area, and was known for both his offensive and defensive contribution, which enabled him to start attacks after winning back the ball.

Aldosivi 1994–95 Primera B Nacional

Santos Laguna 1995–96 Primera División de México

Montevideo Wanderers 1997 Uruguayan Primera División

Banfield 1997–98 Primera B Nacional

1998–99 Primera División de México

1999–2000 Primera División de México

2000–01 Serie A

2001–02 Serie A

2002–03 Serie A

2003–04 Serie A

2004–05 Serie A

2005–06 Serie A

2006–07 Serie B

2007–08 Serie A

2008–09 Serie A

2009–10 Serie A

224!!27!!11!!1!!50!!4!!3!!0!!288!!32 VfB Stuttgart 2010–11 Bundesliga

2010–11 Argentine Primera División

2011–12 Argentine Primera División

2012–13 Argentine Primera División

2013–14 Argentine Primera División

488!!74!!16!!1!!64!!5!!3!!0!!571!!82

International

Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Camoranesi goal.

Managerial statistics

Honours Cruz Azul Mexican Primera División runner-up: Invierno 1999

Juventus

Orders