Antonio Conte

Antonio Conte (born July 31, 1969 in Lecce) is an Italian former football player turned manager who recently became the new manager of Juventus.

Football career

Conte began to play football in this city, within the U.S. Lecce youth team, before making his Serie A debut with the first squad in 1985. He was signed by Juventus in 1992, being later made captain before the promotion of Alessandro Del Piero to this role. During the 1998–1999 season when Del Piero suffered a horrendous leg injury, Conte returned to the captaincy and led Juventus to the UEFA Champions League semifinals. He maintained the captaincy till the 2001/02 season.

In 2002–2003, Conte was part of the Juventus team that reached the UEFA Champions League final only to lose on penalties to AC Milan, with Conte himself coming closest to winning the game for Juventus in normal time when he crashed a header off the crossbar early in the second half.

Conte became one of the most decorated and influential players of Juventus F.C. history.

He played for the Italian national team and was a participant at the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 UEFA European Championship.

Manager career

After having retired as a footballer, Conte worked as an assistant manager for Siena alongside Luigi De Canio in the 2005–06 season.

In July 2006 he was appointed coach of Serie B side Arezzo; however, after a series of disappointing results, he was sacked on October 31, 2006. On March 13, 2007 he was...
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