Italy: a country steeped in football history.
Four world champions and two-time European Championship winners, Italy has undoubtedly produced some of the greatest footballers to ever grace the field. Their ability to produce exceptional managers is to be applauded, too.
However, the Italians never transferred their skills to English shores. The Premier League has been proud of the Azzurri’s impressive stars but many of their greatest have remained placed in Serie A. In fact, only a few Italians have ever laid their hands on the Premier League trophy, most of them have done it from the dugout.
Here are the Italians who have won the Premier League, as a player or manager.
Carlo Ancelotti
Don Carlo Ancelotti became the first Italian – player or manager – to lift the Premier League title, doing so in a team that had celebrated its fair share of Azzurri greatness. The likes of Gianfranco Zola, Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Di Matteo have all failed to secure a title in England before, but a star-studded Chelsea side lifted the trophy at the end of the 2009/10 season.
Ancelotti has won silverware almost everywhere he has been and pipped a good Manchester United side to first place by one point in an unforgettable campaign. The Blues finished with 86 points and scored 103 goals – 17 more than second-placed Man Utd – and won on the final day with an 8-0 demolition of Wigan Athletic.
Their win over Latics was the fourth time they had scored seven or more in a game that season, and Ancelotti’s men also won the FA Cup six days into the Premier League campaign, conceding just one goal in the competition.
Roberto Mancini
Roberto Mancini can lay claim to the most impressive Premier League title ever won. Taking charge of Manchester City in the 2011/12 season, the Sky Blues needed a win on the final day of the campaign to beat rivals Man Utd to win the title but found themselves beaten 2-1 by Queens Park Rangers heading into the quarter-finals.
The rest, as they say, is history. Edin Dzeko produced the all-important equalizer in the 92nd minute before Sergio Aguero scored the most famous goal in the tournament’s history two minutes later. The Argentine’s close-range effort embarrassed Man City and handed them their first Premier League crown and first league title since 1968.
Claudio Ranieri
If Mancini’s victory with Man City was the most amazing way the title was won, Claudio Ranieri’s with Leicester City is even more amazing. Given odds of 5000/1 to win the league before kick-off, the Foxes somehow saw off the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City and Man Utd for a stunning victory.
Ranieri, who endured a difficult time at Chelsea in his only other Premier League career until joining the Foxes, managed to create an impressive atmosphere at the King Power Stadium in his first season in charge, with the right approach and excellent recruitment allowing him. Leicester is doing the unthinkable.
N’Golo Kante, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez all starred as Leicester finished top of the table, but the likes of Wes Morgan, Christian Fuchs, Danny Drinkwater and Shinji Okazaki all found their place is a hero for their good performances on the way to an unexpected success story. .
Antonio Conte
The fourth and latest Italian manager to claim the Premier League title, Antonio Conte managed to win the league in his first season in the competition. Hired as Chelsea manager in 2016, the Blues’ top-flight finish came despite a slow start to Conte’s tenure, sealing the title at the Hawthorns in May thanks to a rare strike from Michy Batshuayi.
Chelsea saw off another impressive Tottenham side and despite conceding a few goals and letting the Lilywhites down, Italian Conte’s tenacity helped the west Londoners get over the finish line.
It certainly wasn’t the most talented Chelsea team ever assembled but Conte, thanks to a little help from Eden Hazard and Diego Costa, has been able to achieve incredible success.
Mario Balotelli
This is a surprisingly short list. The only Italian player to ever win the Premier League was none other than Mario Balotelli. Doing so under teammate Mancini in 2011/12, the striker scored 13 goals in just 23 appearances (only 14 starts), including two famous efforts in a 6-1 derby day win over Man Utd at Old Trafford.
He also picked up two red cards because, well, he’s Balotelli, but his most important contribution came on the final day in that stunning 3-2 win over QPR. It was the Italian who slipped past Aguero to score the winner, his only assist of the campaign.
It was Maverick’s best season in England before returning to Italy, with Balotelli setting a record that still stands today as the only Italian player to win the Premier League.
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