In the last few years, we have witnessed an exodus of Italian coaches who quit their homeland to ply their trade elsewhere.
The list of those who sought pastures new includes some prestigious names.
Among them are Fabio Capello (Real Madrid and England), Giovanni Trapattoni (Bayern Munich, Benfica, Stuttgart, Salzburg and Ireland), Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea and PSG), Edy Reja (Hajduk Split), Walter Zenga (coached in the USA, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and currently in the UAE), Roberto Mancini (Man. City), Luciano Spalletti (Zenit St Petersburg), Alberto Zaccheroni (Japan), Roberto Di Matteo (West Brom, Chelsea) and more recently Marcello Lippi (Guangzhou, China).
Most of them enjoyed great success and the outgoing season was no exception as more Italian mentors left their mark on the international scene.
Mancini had a memorable season at Manchester City as the former Inter coach led the cash-rich Blues to their first title in the top flight since 1968.
City’s season was full of ups and downs. They started the campaign strongly only to suffer a blip in form as competition was entering a decisive stage.
At one stage, the Blues were trailing Manchester United by no fewer than eight points and the writing was on the wall for Mancini and his players.
But Man. United dropped some vital points in their league run-in against less-quoted opposition to put City back in contention.
A 1-0 win over United in a decisive derby on April 30 put City on their way as they went on to chalk up a hard-fought 2-0 win at New-castle before their last match at home to struggling QPR .
An early lead was the prelude to a match full of action and drama which eventually saw City come from behind to beat QPR 3-2 with two goals in stoppage time. Thus, Mancini became the second Italian to lift the Premier League title after Ancelotti.
Their league triumph made up for a poor show in cup competitions as City bowed out in the group stages of the Champions League and were ousted in the Last 16 of the Europa League.
They also made early exits in the FA Cup and League Cup.
On Saturday, at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Di Matteo, formerly of Aarau and Lazio, led Chelsea to their first ever Champions League.
This triumph enabled Russian owner Roman Abramovich to finally lay his hands on the trophy that had obsessed him since he took over at Chelsea nine years ago.
Over the years, Abramovich put his fortune behind the building of a team that could challenge for trophies both domestically and in Europe.
Apart from signing quality players at staggering prices, his investment in the club, touted to be in the region of £1 billion, included hiring some of the best coaches in the world including Jose Mourinho, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink, Ancelotti and Andre Villas-Boas.
However, none of them managed to lead the team to European Cup glory.
Before Saturday’s dramatic victory over Bayern Munich, the closest Chelsea had come to claim the coveted title was in 2008 (under Avram Grant) when they lost to Manchester United in a penalty shoot-out in Moscow.
Chelsea were simply heading nowhere under Villas-Boas, who had reportedly fallen out with the team’s senior players before he got the sack.
On March 4, when the unassuming Di Matteo, 41, was unveiled as the Blues’ caretaker manager for the remainder of the season, Chelsea’s fortunes were to change overnight.
In a short space of just 76 days, Di Matteo went on to lead Chelsea to their seventh FA Cup – the fourth in the last six years – and for them to become the first London club to lift the European Cup.
Spalletti also had another outstanding season in the Russian league.
The former Roma and Udinese coach took over at Zenit St Petersburg in December 2009 and did well to lead his side to two league titles since then.
Spalletti won his first league title in Russia in 2010 and wrapped up his first campaign in Eastern Europe when with the double as Zenit also won the cup competition.
The following year, Zenit St Petersburg failed in their bid to retain the league title but they bounced back in style this time around as they finished top of the lead and also reached the Last 16 of the Champions League.
The bald Italian was rewarded for his successes when he signed a contract extension that will keep him at the club until 2015.