Paolo Zanetti

Club career Zanetti started his career at his hometown club Vicenza.

Empoli Zanetti was sold to Empoli in a co-ownership deal in July 2003, for €671,400 fee (about 1.3 billion lire).

In his first season with Empoli, he just made 13 appearances in Serie A. However, Empoli was relegated to Serie B at the end of the season and Zanetti followed the club.

Zanetti played 30 games in the 2004–05 Serie B season, helping the club to win promotion back to Serie A. However, he just made nine appearances for the club in Serie A in the following season. In June 2006, Empoli signed him outright from Vicenza, for an additional €125,000 fee,

Torino In May 2007, Zanetti said he would stay on at Ascoli, despite them being relegated to Serie B. Ascoli bought the full registration rights of the player for an additional €750,000 fee, (making the amount Ascoli had paid €1.15 million in total) In the middle of same season, Torino bought him outright for an additional €500,000 (making the amount that Torino paid Ascoli for Zanetti €1.5 million in total) and Bjelanović was also bought by Torino for an additional €60,000 in June 2008. After the incident, the players involved - Di Michele, Massimo Loviso, Riccardo Colombo, Aimo Diana, Marco Pisano, Francesco Pratali and Zanetti - were transferred to other clubs, and only Rolando Bianchi, Matteo Rubin and Angelo Ogbonna remained.

On 19 January 2010, Atalanta signed him on loan from Serie B club Torino until the end of the season.

Grosseto After being inactive from football for a season, Zanetti joined Grosseto on 8 August 2011 in a one-year deal. Torino and Zanetti terminated the contract between the two parties by mutual consent.

Sorrento In January 2012, he was signed by Sorrento. In May 2012 he signed a new two-year contract with Sorrento.

Reggiana On 23 January 2013, he was signed by Reggiana. On 26 August 2013, he signed a new two-year contract. On 18 November 2014 Zanetti retired and became a backroom staff of the first team .

International career Zanetti was a player of Azzurrini in 2001 UEFA European Under-18 Championship qualification He played twice. and Germany respectively in March and May 2001. In the 2001–02 season, he played 13 times for the U-20 team, including matches in a four nations tournament. In the following season, he played once for the U-21 team in 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification as well as 3 friendlies. He played his final appearance in national team against Austria on 19 August 2003, another friendly match.

On 27 May 2021, Zanetti secured Venezia's return to Serie A after a 2–1 aggregate win in the promotion play-off over Cittadella, thus ending their 19-year exile from the top flight. On 27 April 2022, Zanetti was sacked by the club following a run of eight straight defeats that saw Venezia bottom of the Serie A table.

On 6 June 2022, Serie A club Empoli, a former team of his as a player, announced they had hired Zanetti on a two-year deal as their new head coach. After guiding Empoli to a mid-table placement in the club's 2022–23 Serie A campaign, Zanetti was dismissed on 19 September 2023 following a dismal start to the new season, with four losses in the first four games and following a 0–7 defeat against Roma.

On 13 June 2024, Zanetti was unveiled as the new head coach of Hellas Verona, signing a one-year contract with an extension option for one further year. He was sacked on 1 February 2026.

Managerial statistics