Here are five unique facts about Antonio Conte that are not widely known to the public. Talking about the world’s best football coaches, it doesn’t feel right if you don’t include Antonio Conte’s name on the list.
Conte is a former midfielder who was born in Lecce, Italy on July 31, 1969. Working in football with an Italian club as big as Juventus, Conte decided to retire in 2004 and continue his career as a coach.
As a coach, Antonio Conte’s name has been traveling around Europe’s elite clubs. Conte has coached several big clubs such as Juventus, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Tottenham. Not limited to being an ordinary tactician, Conte also presented various trophies to the clubs he defended.
But behind his success as a seasoned coach in European football, it turns out that Conte has kept unique facts that perhaps not many people know about. Here’s the review.
- The reason Conte got the nickname The Godfather
Antonio Conte got the nickname that stuck to him when he coached the Italian national team in the 2014-2016 period, namely The Godfather. This nickname apparently refers to a 1972 mafia film called The Godfather. In that film, Vito Corleone’s character earned the nickname The Godfather because he was able to unite the ruthless mafia under him.
The same trait was shown by Conte when he was in charge of the Italian national team. Conte managed to unite the traits of Italian players for which he is highly respected. Therefore, the figure of Conte is compared to Corleone in the film and is nicknamed The Godfather.
- His career is in jeopardy due to a serious injury
When he was a soccer player, Antonio Conte suffered a fracture of the tibia and fibula in his right leg while defending U.S Lecce in 1987. As a result of this, Conte was unable to play football for up to a year and had to miss the chance to win the intercontinental cup at that time.
But Conte was able to get up and return to playing football even though he was in danger of being paralyzed forever. Luckily, nothing bad happened to him and he managed to join Juventus and has been successful until now.
- Was fired after just two months of training
Who would have thought, a coach of the caliber of Antonio Conte would have had a lifelong career at a club. Antonio Conte once felt sacked when he was only two months as the concoction of the Italian League second caste team, Arezzo. Conte was dismissed by Arezzo’s management due to disappointing results. However, a few months later Arezzo recruited Conte again, even though in the end Arezzo could not be saved and had to be relegated to the third caste.
- Become a Juventus hero
Juventus had to experience difficult times when they returned to the highest caste of the Italian League after being relegated due to the Calciopoli case. However, Juventus’ difficult period was resolved after The Godfather came to be their tactician.
Together with Conte, the club nicknamed The Old Lady managed to win the Italian League again. It doesn’t stop there, in Conte’s first season as Juventus coach, Conte scored an unbeaten record in the Italian League by winning 23 matches out of 38 matches and without losing once.
- Was banned from coaching for 10 months because of a scandal
The Juventus hero was once banned from coaching for 10 months by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). Conte was accused of failing to report alleged match fixing when he coached Siena in 2010-2011. Apart from Conte, the clubs Lecce and Grosseta, who are clubs from his hometown, also had to be relegated to Italy’s lowest league because they were involved in this scandal.
